SAVING A GENERATION

Coronavirus is the biggest threat to children since World War II. Save Generation Covid is Unicef’s biggest ever response.

Generation Covid is a child dying every 15 seconds if we don’t act now. It’s malnourished children in Yemen who won’t survive when coronavirus stops food and medicine from getting through. It’s children in refugee camps, where social distancing is impossible. It’s children in Syria where healthcare is fragile – and will be overwhelmed by a pandemic. 

This integrated emergency campaign built intrigue, challenged perceptions and interrupted the narrative about both coronavirus and children. This is not how we save one child, or a thousand, or even a million, but a generation of children under threat.

A CAMPAIGN SYMBOL

The mask was the symbol of our campaign, as they were (and are) are the symbol of this time. We’re wearing them, making them, writing messages on them, making political statements out of them. It’s both a visual shorthand for the virus, but also symbolic of the protection and care we’re asking donors to provide.

TV 60”

This disruptive style continued on TV with a 60” film introducing the generation of children facing this crisis. It’s not your average DRTV ad – with full-screen motion graphics and a soundtrack donated by Fatboy Slim – it’s a rousing film to match the scale of the challenge with the scale of Unicef’s response, and an invitation to play your vital part.

Agency: Open
Creative Concept & Idea: James Dawe & Nayyar Mughal
Creative Director: Jamie Tierney
Production: Craft Films
VFX: Peter Anderson Studio

TOOLKIT

A selection of pages from the Save Generation Covid Toolkit, developed to ensure consistency and integration across teams working on the campaign. Click to enlarge.

ENGAGEMENT

The campaign launched at the time when the national conversation about wearing masks was really taking off. To tap into this we created a mask pattern, microsite and donation mechanism so people could make a mask and give them to friends and family, in exchange for a donation to UNICEF. The pattern was downloaded over 22,000 in it’s first weekend, creating strong engagement with the first phase of the campaign.

DIRECT MAIL

THE CAMPAIGN

Working from this big campaign idea, Unicef & Open developed engagement and digital fundraising creative during a week-long virtual sprint. Digital and OOH brand creative were developed by Impero (below).

AWARD NOMINATIONS

‘Design for Good’ Category, The Drum Design Awards 2021