In Colombia, there were close to 12,000 victims of land mines from 1985 to 2014, making it the country with the second highest number of victims of this scourge. For the first time in 60 years of armed conflict, we Colombians have a message that brings hope of peace. The de-mining of a large part of our territory is among the main points of the peace talks being held in Cuba between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrilla force.

“Walk with me” is a campaign that invites Colombians to walk together for Colombia’s recovery. It is about the possibility of joining in the country’s reconstruction, beginning with the most urgent matter: the needs of people who are direct victims of land mines.

In order to draw attention to the campaign, we enlisted very successful, young Colombian athletes who, in addition to serving as the image of the campaign, donated the use of their most valuable possession: their legs. The athletes’ legs served as models for prostheses that would be given to victims of the conflict, in a priceless symbolic action that raised awareness about the Comprehensive Rehabilitation Center of Colombia (CIREC) and the seriousness of the country’s land mine problem.

The initiative is not only about enabling victims to walk again with the aid of prosthetic limbs; it is about them walking with the legs of the idols of an entire country. We are all involved in the reconstruction of the country.

The first step was to draw attention to the symbolic donation of our athletes’ legs and get it into the news. We turned that news story into a message of peace and hope that connected Colombians with victims of land mines. Then we selected two victims of land mines who were undergoing rehabilitation at CIREC.

Angie and Onofre, two young Colombians, each benefited not only from a prosthetic leg, but also from the “leg” of Mariana Pajón and Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, respectively. It was a symbolic action through which the athletes not only sent a message to these two young people, but also to the entire country of Colombia. “Walk with me” is a way of saying we are going to work together for a new, more optimistic Colombia.

Mariana Pajón with 3.5 MM followers on social networks, and Juan Guillermo Cuadrado with over 4.2 MM followers, were in charge of spreading the message.

This campaign made the news:

Noticias Caracol dedicated 3 minutes, with a 3.02% rating in number of listeners, generating a 573,792 target reach.

El Espectador, the second newspaper in Colombia (weekday circulation 95,000) gave us its entire front page as news coverage and replicated the message with 2 ads, reaching over 300,000 readers.

Also, the news was replicated in digital media and on the networks. And this continues!

The value of this coverage is estimated at (COP$175.291.000), but it cost nothing.

WE RECEIVED THE VALUE OF:

THE FRONT PAGE OF EL ESPECTADOR AS NEWS COVERAGE.

NEWS REPORT ON CARACOL TV

NEWS REPORT ON PULZO / EL PAIS.COM.CO / LATIN SPOTS / ZONA CERO / EL ESPECTADOR.COM

TWEETS AND POSTS ON MARIANA PAJON’S FACEBOOK PAGE.