What if we could turn everyday objects made of paper and fabric into protection from mosquitoes by sealing in a repellent activated by touch and movement? Our client, Ananse, was intrigued. Could we invent an entirely new class of repellent – and even better -- one made entirely of natural repellent ingredients? It had never been done.

To appeal to children, who dislike sticky, smelly topical repellents, we’d make the products educational and fun to use at school and playtime. We tapped an author to write and illustrate a story that would bring the region’s rich mythology of Amazon Warriors to life. To create a collection, we produced a repellent coloring book, crayons and a superhero’s cape for imaginative children. Activated by mere movement, the repellent sealed inside these objects would create a six-hour window of mosquito protection, extending up to five feet in diameter, and lasting three months.

Ananse spent a year developing the coating technology to seal in repellent to paper, fabric and crayons. During this time, we wrote “Amazon Warriors,” bringing a mythology of warriors, summoned to save the forest from devastation, to life.

Working with IPAM, we first visited Tapara Miri in Pará, an isolated community of 1,896 people, living in swampland teeming with mosquitoes, crocodiles, and snakes. G1, a division of Globo TV, the country’s largest TV network, trekked 4,000 km with us—via aircraft, jeep and boat—to break the story.

Initially, villagers were suspicious of strangers bearing unexpected gifts. Our volunteers visited every home to provide a collection to every child. We filled the school with books and crayons, arming teachers with new lessons and mosquito-fighting tools.

Today, there’s a welcome new sight: Amazonian children wearing superhero capes.

The story has reached a half-billion people.

Ananse’s campaign put the international spotlight on a new class of mosquito repellents, while literally turning Brazil’s war against mosquitoes into “child’s play.”

National “Outbreak” of Coverage

Every major Brazilian media outlet covered the story, including Globo TV, and coverage spilled over to 30 countries, transforming Tapara Miri from an unknown village into a global testing ground for everyday objects that repel mosquitoes. More than 67,000 earned media stories appeared within three weeks of our visit to this Amazon village, producing a total audience reach of 500 million people. Another 300 stories ran on social media, viewed and shared over 4.5 million times.

Protection through Education

Our “Safe Collection” campaign has won the endorsement of the Brazilian Health Department, whose minister had previously said, “We’re losing the battle against the mosquito in an ugly way.” The department has approved the Safe Collection for use and distribution throughout Brazil. Leading pediatricians and IPAM also endorse the collection. The books have been added to the curricula of schools in the State of Pará, and according to IPAM, 90% of Tapara Miri children are still reported to be wearing the capes each day and reading the books, weeks later.

There have been no reports of a malaria or yellow fever outbreak in the village now for a month.

IPAM will replenish the village’s Safe Collection kits every three months. Twenty thousand more collections are being distributed now throughout other remote parts of the Amazon.

The mosquito claims one million lives and afflicts 700 million people annually with diseases like yellow fever and malaria. The Amazon is plagued by high rates of infection. Families in remote, impoverished villages have limited access to vaccines and medicines, and repellents are unaffordable and in short supply, leaving children especially vulnerable. We approached Brazilian chemical manufacturing leader Ananse with an idea to invent a new form of protection that would turn everyday objects – like books and toys– into safe and natural mosquito repellents. With children foremost in mind, our first repellent collection turned mosquito protection into "child's play."

Given alarming concern over the rising spread of yellow fever, malaria and Zika, demand for vaccines, medicines and repellents among Brazil’s 200 million population has skyrocketed. However, for many Brazilians, these solutions, especially outside large cities, aren’t available or affordable. In contrast, mosquito-repellent books, crayons and children’s costumes could become familiar items that any child could use, requiring little education. The idea was so simple, and yet so complex, no one had thought of it, until now.

Our PR-driven CSR campaign for Ananse would bring aid to Brazilian families who most needed protection for their children, but couldn’t get it. Teaming up with the nonprofit Amazon Research Institute (IPAM), we began by targeting villages in the Amazon rainforest where mosquito-borne diseases raged. Our strategy relied on going school-to-school and door-to-door with the new ‘collection’ – an effort which we’d amplify through Brazil’s leading media and social influencers, keen on solutions.

Yellow fever (YF), spread by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, is the “Brazilian plague,” with a kill rate equal to Ebola’s. Brazil’s current YF outbreak (with 144 confirmed deaths) is the largest since the 1980s. Malaria cases have risen 35% in one year, with 2,000 infections. Children are at risk; 86% of malaria deaths globally occur under age five.

Brazil’s Health Ministry is hard-pressed to stop the spread. A vaccine exists for YF, but the sheer size of Brazil coupled with vaccine shortages mean that widespread inoculation in remote regions could take years.

Meanwhile, topical repellents are largely unattainable and unaffordable in the Amazon, a natural mosquito breeding ground containing half of the planet’s rainforests. We approached our client Ananse, a leading chemical company that develops high tech coatings and sealants for consumer products, with an idea to develop a new form of mosquito protection to aid the country’s most vulnerable.