THE MOST POWERFUL ARM EVER INVENTED

Silver Spike

Case Film

Presentation Board

TitleTHE MOST POWERFUL ARM EVER INVENTED
BrandSAVE OUR SONS & DUCHENNE FOUNDATION
Product / ServiceDUCHENNE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY CHARITY
CategoryA09. Best Use of Social Media Marketing
EntrantHAVAS WORLDWIDE AUSTRALIA Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Entrant Company HAVAS WORLDWIDE AUSTRALIA Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Advertising Agency HAVAS WORLDWIDE AUSTRALIA Sydney, AUSTRALIA
Advertising Agency 2 FINCH Sydney, AUSTRALIA

Credits

Name Company Position
Jennifer Mcdermott Red Agency Account Manager
Rachel White Red Agency Associate Director
Red Agency Pr Agency
Ophenia Liang (Reseo) Reactive Search Account Director
Luke Andersen Reactive Front End Developer
Sudeep Shakya Reactive Senior Developer
Gabriel Tamborini Reactive Art Director
Hiedi Clague Reactive Senior Project Manager
Tim Buesing Reactive Creative Director
Reactive Digital Agency
Alyssa Mcclelland Finch Director
Rob Galluzzo Finch Executive Producer
Sophie Thiellon Finch Producer
Emad Tahtouh Finch Director Of Applied Technology And Innovation
Finch Production Company
Marissa Davies Havas Worldwide Australia Account Director
Simon Fowler Havas Worldwide Australia Copywriter
Nicole Hetherington Havas Worldwide Australia Art Director
Steve Coll Havas Worldwide Australia Executive Creative Director

Results and Effectiveness

With no media budget, The Most Powerful Arm turned an unknown charity into national news. Our mix of earned media, viral, in-programme placement and ambient achieved coverage in 300 technology/creative blogs, 5 prime-time national television shows, and every national newspaper – an astonishing $7.9m of earned media. Our viral campaign generated 6.5 million Facebook impressions and 32,000 signatures, becoming the most successful Australian health-related petition ever. It’s the first Facebook petition to be tabled by the Senate. And most amazingly of all, a pharmaceutical company who saw the campaign actually offered to fund the trials themselves.

Creative Execution

We planned to use the platforms of Social Media, PR, in-programme placement, and ambient to spread our message to thousands of people. We calculated the newsworthiness of our petition-signing robot arm would gain significant earned media coverage. And, by asking people to login via Facebook to sign our online petition, we were able to automatically share a photo of the robot signing their name to their facebook wall, creating a massive viral effect. As our story gained traction, we approached the producers of hit TV show ‘The Apprentice’ and organised for one of the contestants to donate their prize cheque to our cause within the show. We also reached thousands of passers-by with a live ambient installation of the Powerful Arm in The Customs House, one of Sydney’s highest foot traffic areas.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is a rare, and fatal condition that deteriorates the muscles in thousands of Australian children, mostly boys. Save Our Sons desperately need $1.75m to fund life-saving clinical trials. But DMD is a rare disease, and as a result the charity had absolutely no public profile in Australia. With no budget for media whatsoever, we had to use a clever mix of viral and earned media to raise awareness. Our idea was to create a world-first technology - a robot arm that would sign people’s name to a Facebook petition asking the government to support our cause. As sufferers of DMD lose the ability to write in the early stages of the disease, we invited people to use the arm to sign on behalf of those who couldn’t. We called it The Most Powerful Arm Ever Invented.