A record number of blogposts. A shortlist of 80. A team of hand-picked jurors from around the world. And just three winners.
The wait is over for Osocio’s campaign of the year 2011.
The winning campaign:
The Return of Ben Ali
An entry that comes, not from the West, not from a mainstream cause. But from the Arab Spring, the spontaneous grassroots movement that 2011 will always be remembered for.
We loved it because it shows that even in the midst of chaos and conflict, a great idea can still inspire action.
We also introduced a new category to highlight technology ideas that change lives. The winning Innovation:
A Litre of Light
A simple, cheap, spreadable innovation that will bring free light to the homes of people in Manila and change lives forever. With a lovely film to show it off.
And finally, this year we had to introduce a new category for social movements. Because change isn’t always driven by NGO’s, but can still rely on a powerful communications idea. The winning Social Movement:
Occupy
Our jurors picked ‘Occupy’ as a powerful and unifying rallying cry that brought the politicised, the dispossessed and the just plain angry together in cities all over the world.
Thank you to all our readers, all our bloggers, all our commenters and jurors – and most importantly to all those using their talent and creativity to make the world turn in a more positive direction.
This funny video is from Ecotricity, a green energy company based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, England specialising in selling and generating wind power.
It is part of their new campaign entitled “Dump The Big Six”.
The Big Six stands for British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON, Npower, Scottish & Southern and Scottish Power.
Ecotricity founder Dale Vince OBE, the man credited with kick-starting the world’s green electricity market, believes now is the moment to topple the grey giants and bring the UK into the renewable energy future.
Ecotricity: Half of Britons feel the source of future energy supplies is one of the most important environmental issues facing the nation yet less than 1% currently use a green energy supplier (Ofgem, October 2011).
Over 60% of UK households could switch to Ecotricity and get greener energy for not one penny more than they are currently paying.
The collapsing cooling tower imagery was inspired by web artist Herman Bailey’s “Sad Chimney” gif. Herman is credited as part of the creative team behind the campaign.
A masterpiece from McCann Digital, Tel Aviv: after the “drugs set your timeline” campaign that focused on hard drugs prevention - here’s a new one for the israeli anti drug authority, this time on Weed effects.
In 3 interactive videos, they showed young people talking about marijuana as a deadly drug, and telling it’s the best thing that ever happened to them.
Teen audience can switch freely between the two offered solutions, watch the stories of drug addicts and realize that none of them are actually true, and learn about the real effects of smoking weed.
Take a look here the great interactive page and find out the truth about the Weed http://www.grass-truth.co.il/indexEn.asp
During the Jewish Holiday of Hanukkah, Latet (Hebrew for “to give"), a humanitarian aid organization, wanted to create a unique fundraising event.
In collaboration with Shaker, an app that turns Facebook into a virtual bar, Latet created a one-of-a-kind fundraising event– a street party inside Facebook.
Israeli celebs, who received special avatars, held live performances inside the virtual street party. In addition, users could chat and take pictures with them. Users that donated by texting received a virtual Latet T-shirt that showed everybody they had donated. The party self-promoted itself and reached 2 million unique users. Most importantly- Latet signed on 129 new volunteers.
Shaker is a Facebook application which essentially aims to turn Facebook into a virtual bar via a social game. It has won the Techcrunch disrupt startup contest 2011
This really weird campaign for the Beneva Foundation (which appears to be based in Romania, even though the ads are Slovakian) assumes that you are aware of some of the most infamous internet shock sites of the past few years. If you are (and I have to admit that I am) then these children’s versions — implying that your kids have visited those sites themselves — are horribly hilarious. If you are not familiar, I will do my best to explain in the most professional manner possible.
Lemon Party (Wikipedia link) is the least shocking, at least in internet terms. It shows three naked, elderly men having a graphic threesome. The ice cream cone seems like a nod to the SFW Porn meme.
The other two are more infamous. See them after the break.
No pitiful, neglected and abused animals in this campaign from the American Shelter Pet Project. Just sweet cuteness with our favorite hairballs. Unconditional love and understanding, who doesn’t want that?
The Shelter Pet Project is a public service ad campaign focused on spreading the word that pets in shelters are wonderful and lovable, and encouraging potential adopters to consider the shelter as the first place to find a new best friend.
The Project is the result of a collaborative effort between two leading animal welfare groups, The Humane Society of the United States and Maddie’s Fund, and the leading producer of public service advertising (PSA) campaigns in the USA, The Ad Council.
In this post 4 videos and two print ads from the campaign which started last November.
More print ads, radio spots and web banners here.
Last weeks I discussed with friends and allies about the cultural and regional differences in communication, and therefore in cause marketing, several times. It is a very interesting subject. Our Campaign of the Year competition shows how big those differences can be.
As a European I know the sentiment about Americans. Mostly ambivalent. But there’s one thing no one can beat them: storytelling. Americans are the best speakers in the world. Fluent, robust and convincing.
That is what I was thinking about seeing this video from Linda. She made a strong statement about the Susan G. Komen Foundation debacle from last week. Linda is a breast cancer victim and a Komen supporter.
The reason for this video is bizarre but it shows the strength of the story. I already got over 200,000 views on YouTube.
One of the biggest challenges for charities and NGOs is how to use storytelling in their communication strategy. Or a more ethical question: should they do? It is a subject we like to discus in various posts this year.
According reports of the UN, violence against women is the biggest killer of women (Age 15-44 years). One form of violence against women is the so-called “honor killing”. Honor killings are a pre-Islamic practice that is not justified with the theology of Islam. They are characteristic of archaic tribal societies organized before particularly in the Middle East.
The honor killing is not only practiced in the Islamic context, however, is a special honor killings of accumulation observed in Islamic societies.
But such practices persist in Sikh and Hindu communities as well, and only a few decades ago, crimes were still committed in the name of honor in Mediterranean countries like Italy, Spain, Greece, and are still happening in Albania, Kosovo, Montenegro, in the eastern parts of Turkey…
India occupies a particularly prominent role. This video of International Campaign Against Honour Killings shows us the world where the crime is still happening, where the crime is part of tradition.
Posted by Marc | 5-02-2012 13:19 | Category:
Activism
Nice idea for activists and grassroots. Make your presence seen with the location based service from Foursquare.
Occupy Amsterdam used the service to occupy all companies around the hearth of the Amsterdam financial center Damrak.
This nifty tool is easy to use, low budget and perfect for making a cause visible at crowded locations.
It isn’t a new idea. Occupy Wall Street used it across the US. See this map at the Washington Post.
Disclaimer: I combined a few Foursquare screens to make the image above.
Strong traditions have always kept domestic violence hidden behind closed doors.
We know that only a few want to talk about it. It’s a vicious circle where the history of violence in many cases ends with murder. It is easy to judge from the outside and say: why did not the woman leave the man ... how it could happen, they looked so happy ... we have not seen it coming ... they were a very normal family ... An ordinary family. You can see the family photos and wonder: happy faces. But I’ll tell you one thing: domestic violence victims do not run around with the sign where it stands on it: this is happening in my family…
If we would care more about the people around us, if we would hear exactly what they say ... if we could hear better ... could see it ... it would be clear. The neighbors, work colleagues, teachers, doctors and family members ... You’ve missed all the signals and you overlook it every day. One should not hide it. You should report it. The times have changed. We can All help.
This Domestic Violence PSA, to be broadcast as soon as next week by Maine television stations, features photos of murdered women and children, and Gov. Paul LePage standing with a group of men who denounce the violence.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo or DRC, sexual violence is a community-wide problem. Rape, in the DRC has been used as a weapon of war and sadly continues to increase even after. According to the peacebuilding NGO Search for Common Ground or SFCG, it is estimated that there…
In the movie Hot Tub Time Machine, John Cusack goes “back to the future” and discovers that his friend Lou has become incredibly wealthy due to a little search-engine-that-could that he aptly named “Lougle.” It’s a fun example of how an individual’s name can become a familiar household term…
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Osocio is dedicated to social advertising and non-profit campaigns. It’s the place where marketing and activism collide. Formerly known as the Houtlust Blog, Osocio is the central online hub for advertisers, ad agencies, grassroots, activists, social entrepreneurs, and good Samaritans from around the globe.
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