The Brief

Each year, more than 2 million children don’t live to see their 5th birthday because of diarrhea and pneumonia. Many of these deaths can be prevented through the simple habit of regular handwashing with soap. Unilever brand Lifebuoy soap is committed to promoting this lifesaving habit through its pioneering work in 40+ countries as the world’s #1 selling germ protection soap bringing health and hygiene to millions. In 2008, Lifebuoy co-founded Global Handwashing Day (GHD) on October 15th to drive awareness of this life-saving habit and encourage people around the world to spread the word.

Creative Execution

At the heart of the campaign was a pledge mechanic which for every pledge, Lifebuoy and its partners teach a child hygiene education, helping to stop the spread of preventable illnesses and help more children in the developing world reach the age of 5. Facebook was at the heart of the campaign, based on the insight that a Facebook fan can be a fundraiser and agent for change. Lifebuoy empowered mothers everywhere to save lives through healthy habits.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

Campaign Objectives 1. Raise awareness worldwide of the importance of hand washing with soap on GHD in order to promote hand washing habits 2. Generate 1 million pledges to hand wash before eating in order to encourage hygiene practices across the developing world. 3. Every touchpoint on Facebook was social - pledges would be captured on the facebook application

Results

1.3 million pledges were captured on Facebook by Lifebuoy over the course of the month; a third of the 3.3 pledges captured overall. Lifebuoy gained 560,000 new Facebook fans – up to 1.6million. On the India page, the fan base grew from 5,000 to 650,000 (124x growth). Twenty-two Lifebuoy markets participated in Lifebuoy’s campaign on Facebook. There were 1910 blog posts about Lifebuoy and 2,480 for Unilever with tweets mentioning Unilever or Lifebuoy reaching 2.7 million people. Almost 1 million visits to Lifebuoy’s GHD Yahoo! partnership page and the Lifebuoy pledge was reported on by newspapers such as The Guardian.