The Campaign

Thirty years of war came to an end but little did anyone realize the country had another battle on its hands. The war had a direct impact on over 80,000 children. Many were orphaned and amputees. Organizations and individuals were rallying around providing food, clothing and medicine but there was no focus on providing a sustainable future to help them back on their feet to live in dignity. With this in mind Rotary International Launched “Light to Life” to ensure a future for youth in war affected areas empowering them with employable skills that will also help rebuild their communities

Success of the Campaign

With the global recession at its peak, the challenge was to offer access to people to donate even as little as rupees 50 via sms. The Rs 6,000,000 bears testimony to the number of hearts the campaign touched. Within 25 days the campaign saw hundreds of free spots across media, organizations volunteered resources for office drives to collect contributions, schools organised car washes and the sale of T Shirts and a host of activities to generate funds. The power of the campaign was such that it mobilized the fortunate to assist the less fortunate - children affected by war.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

The campaign launched with the website www.lighttolife.lk as the primary method of fund collection. Local and international media picked up the story and helped drive rapid awareness and contribution. A music video produced and sung by local stars was scheduled free of charge on TV channels and radio. It was offered as a download Via Sri Lanka’s largest mobile operator. Talk shows, radio spots and celebrity interviews and over 50 free insertions in newspapers added momentum to the campaign. LTL also used SMS broadcast, social marketing sites such as youtube, facebook and twitter to viral the cause and drive donations.