The Campaign

Branded entertainment in Sri Lanka is still in its infancy. On print, work such as branded articles and sections, is becoming more common but tend to be stand-alone pieces that re produced by the advertisers themselves. They are rarely integrated into a publication’s own content as editors generally want to have a clear distinction between what is paid for and what isn’t. This presented a unique opportunity for our client.

Results

Dengue, the deadly mosquito-borne fever had reached epidemic proportions in Sri Lanka. With over 30,000 people infected in 2013, the disease had claimed too many lives, including the lives of young children. ‘Mawbima,’ a mass market nationwide newspaper, wanted to do its part in the fight against Dengue. But how could it truly make a difference? People read the newspaper in the early morning and evening: the very time the Dengue mosquito strikes. This gave us an idea: if we mixed citronella essence, a highly effective natural repellent, with ink, we could turn Mawbima into a newspaper where every letter of every word stopped mosquitos from biting. We started the campaign by creating letters in Sinhala, the country’s native language, in the style of the Mawbima masthead. Each character stopped a dengue mosquito from passing through. These letters then ran as ads during National Dengue Week and were also used as posters at bus stops. The posters were printed with our innovative mosquito-repellent ink to stop people getting bitten. The paper also ran articles on preventing Dengue and gave school kids mosquito-prevention patches featuring the letters we created. Finally, on the last day of Naitonal Dengue Week, which was also World Health Day, Mawbima published the world’s first mosquito-repellent newspaper; a newspaper where all the letters of all the words helped Sri Lankans stop Dengue

To promote a newspaper where every letter of every word stopped mosquitos, we first created characters in Sinhala, the country’s native language, in the style of the Mawbima masthead. These were used in press ads and on posters at bus shelters. The posters were printed with our unique mosquito-repellent ink so people wouldn’t get bitten. Mosquito patches for school kids also featuring the characters were given out and informative articles on Dengue ran in the paper. All this was done during National Dengue Week, with Mawbima’s mosquito-repellent newspaper being published on the final day of the week.

Despite a bigger print run, the paper sold out by 10am and increased sales by 30%, educating and protecting an additional 300,000 people – more than Mawbima ever expected. But its influence didn’t stop there. Mawbima’s innovative paper was commended by over 90 international media outlets, including the BBC, the Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post. On social media, it earned thousands of likes and shares as well as high profile comments, including one from Bill Gates. The paper was even cited as an example of how the print industry could revive itself and publications around the world have shown a massive interest in copying the idea.