Best PR Campaign – Public Awareness: UNHCR

Entry Details Entry Category (12) Best PR Campaign – Public Awareness Name of Campaign Hong Kong Makes a Difference for Refugees #itstartswithus Name of Organisation United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Name of Brand United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Name of PR Agency Edelman Hong Kong

Entry Video Campaign Entry Video Other supporting videos: #itstartswithus Campaign Video Campaign Video Campaign Petition (English) Campaign Petition (Chinese)

Led by an insight that the best way to change the conversation was with a peer-to-peer approach, we created content using voices of everyday Hong Kongers who told emotional stories of why they care about the refugee issue and how they were doing their part to make a difference and create change. It starts with us. Challenge Our objectives were to 1) build an effective and sustainable platform to help significantly increase the organization’s longer term fundraising capabilities in Hong Kong and Macau, 2) drive awareness, and 3) increase fundraising leads and donations for UNHCR. Situation Analysis We are facing the biggest refugee crisis in history. Worldwide displacement has hit an all-time high of 65 million people as war and persecution tragically increase. The problem is so big the UN’s Refugee Agency has a USD 7 billion global funding gap. UNHCR needs all of us to contribute so it can provide basic food, water, and shelter to the millions of vulnerable refugees. The complexity and distance of the refugee issue create the unfortunate reality is that most Hong Kongers are indifferent – and feel it is irrelevant or that they can’t do anything about it.

Strategy Research There are 12,100 charities competing for a share of wallet in Hong Kong. Despite a significant number of Hong Kong citizens having migrant lineage themselves, local sentiment was not supportive of refugees. Through media analysis, social listening and vox pop interviews, we found that Hong Kongers didn’t feel the issue was important and something they need to care about. Local media coverage labeling refugees as ‘bogus’ and controversial policy announcements from HK Chief Executive CY Leung haven’t helped. Insight People trust people like themselves. Peer-to-peer storytelling would make the refugee issue more relatable and actionable. This was supported by Edelman’s 2016 Trust Barometer research, which shows that a ‘person like yourself’ is the most trustworthy source of information. Our key to converting potential donors was to target people that already had an interest in social causes. To identify these humanitarian hearts, we analyzed previous and current UNHCR donor data to develop donor profiles for locals that had a strong interest in making the world a better place. The campaign would then expand via wider social audiences to inspire hope and reignite our audience’s heartstrings to care for others.

Strategy We created compelling piece-to-camera videos capturing caring locals’ stories of why they care about the refugee issue and how they were doing their part to make a difference and create change. They challenged people’s indifference; to take the first step, pledge their support and donate to the refugee cause. Every voice supported a core narrative: With a relatable, inspiring narrative, the #itstartswithus campaign creative was then brought to life through a surround sound approach of our marketing initiatives for UNHCR around World Refugee Day. Each of us can make a difference. It all starts with little gestures. It starts now. It all starts with us.

Execution We created a targeted and seamless donor experience through an inspiring and integrated ecosystem of digital and offline channels to engage our carefully selected audience. Our success came from weaving all of the elements into a fluid, integrated campaign to ensure people’s continued engagement through the campaign journey. As the central hub of the campaign, we designed and built a mobile-first microsite. Key to the user experience was an invitation to join the movement simply by sending your contact details for fundraising lead generation. On Facebook we sequenced and targeted the creative to dozens of different segments – ensuring our audience heard from people they would most trust, people like themselves – key to effective peer-to-peer marketing campaigns.

To create an even better experience for supporters, we went one step further and integrated Facebook with an EDM platform so we could instantly send people welcome s once they’d signed up. s were also sent three days and seven days after they’d opted in encouraging people to donate. The campaign also took a creative approach to search engine marketing (SEM). Targeting key campaign terms, and niche terms using dozens of adsets – this meant we could drive donations for the UNHCR without having to spend heavily on media. Execution To get the best performance we conducted rigorous testing and optimization. This included testing 50 types of creative and messaging, audience groups, placement, and timings. We also leveraged the latest lead generation ad product from Facebook, making it easy for people to send us their contact details without having to leave the platform. Of course, media relations was central to the campaign with 35 placements of relatable, action-oriented stories encouraging people to visit the campaign microsite. Earned coverage was then shared on the UNHCR social media and ultimately drove more people to the microsite. A digital billboard in Central Hong Kong also displayed the lead campaign video. Central Billboard

Results Within just two months and with a limited budget*, we:  developed mobile optimized microsite, Facebook lead generation platform with automated EDM functionality, and SEM strategy  earned 35 pieces of media coverage  secured 2,000 petition signatures  engaged over 300,000 people on Facebook  raised USD65,000  generated USD 4 for every media dollar The results exceeded what UNHCR thought was possible in this market. While these numbers are important, what is more significant is that we helped Hong Kongers realize that the refugee crisis needs their help, and that they can create change through simple acts, #itstartswithus Budget * USD 62,000 in fee + Edelman probono hours USD 15,000 media spend (Confidential)

Campaign Petition Videos (in both English and Chinese) Results 35 pieces of articles are generated with 19 event listings, 16 story coverage and 3 media interviews 2,000+ people signed an online petition to the UNHCR calling on governments to do more Over 300,000 Hong Kongers engaged on FB, generating more than 950 leads and 29,493 website clicks

#itstartswithus Website Direct Marketing (EDM) Supporting Visuals

Live Video with UNHCR on-field staff #itstartswithus Campaign Video Billboard Display (for 2 minutes per hour on the Landmark Billboard)