| Title | COVER RACISM |
| Brand | CEYLON NEWSPAPERS |
| Product / Service | NEWSPAPER |
| Category | A04. Use of Print |
| Entrant | TBWA\SRI LANKA Colombo, SRI LANKA |
| Entrant Company | TBWA\SRI LANKA Colombo, SRI LANKA |
| Advertising Agency | TBWA\SRI LANKA Colombo, SRI LANKA |
| Media Agency | OMD Colombo 6, SRI LANKA |
| Name | Company | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Subhash Pinnapola | TBWA\Sri Lanka | Chief Creative Officer |
| Dilan Hearth | TBWA\Sri Lanka | Creative Writer |
| Thilaka Nanayakkara | TBWA\Sri Lanka | Graphic Designer |
| Bananjaya Basnayake | TBWA\Sri Lanka | Illustrator |
| Sandaru Maharamba | TBWA\Sri Lanka | Illustrator |
| Buddhika Rodrigo | TBWA\Sri Lanka | Illustrator |
30 years of war has left a multi-racial society in Sri Lanka emotionally scarred. So, to mark the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, Mawbima’s objective was to create a piece that would epitomize the values of harmony synonymous with the festival. So, we transformed a part of our own paper to a unique double-sided center-spread in the shape of a plate-covering with instructions, asking Sinhala and Tamil citizens to offer a plate of their own unique sweets covered with the ad to each other, as sweets was the one common element in their respective cultural celebrations.
On April 13th, the last publishing date before Avurudu on the 14th and 15th when every newspaper reduced their print run by 30-40 % due to low demand; we increased ours by 20%! Thus, 140,000 copies printed on that day SOLD OUT with ZERO RETURNS. Moreover, the Sri Lankan population came forward in appreciating Mawbima for setting off a nationwide movement of social change and behavior that unified both ethnic groups through the simple act of sharing sweets. Significant PR was also generated on the day via Morning TV Shows and online with shares and posts on social media.
The media team informed the public of our unique double-sided center-spread plate cover 4 days before the Sinhala and Tamil New Year (13th of April), via a teaser campaign that spanned across TV, press and online mediums depicting uniquely Sinhala and Tamil sweets, suggestive of their similarity. These channels worked best in getting the word out about our ad to all parts of the country as the above mentioned mediums are the most popular methods of communication in Sri Lanka.
Mawbima’s target audience consists of the majority Sinhalese population who respect the paper for practicing a courageous brand of journalism and not sensationalizing acts of racism as opposed to other newspapers in the country. Accordingly, we informed the public of our center-spread plate covering 4 days earlier, via a teaser campaign that covered TV, Press and Online mediums – mediums most known and commonly used by Sri Lankans.