Title | MAWBIMA-MOSQUITO REPELLANT PAPER |
Brand | CEYLON NEWSPAPERS |
Product / Service | MAWBIMA |
Category | A02. Use of Magazines/Newspapers |
Entrant | LEO BURNETT SOLUTIONS Colombo, SRI LANKA |
Entrant Company | LEO BURNETT SOLUTIONS Colombo, SRI LANKA |
Advertising Agency | LEO BURNETT SOLUTIONS Colombo, SRI LANKA |
Media Agency | STARCOM WORLDWIDE Colombo, SRI LANKA |
Production Company | X TEN STUDIO Colombo, SRI LANKA |
Production Company 2 | INFINITY PICTURES Kohuwela, SRI LANKA |
Name | Company | Position |
---|---|---|
Trevor Kennedy | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Chief Creative Officer |
Sithum Walter | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Creative Group Head |
Shayani Obeyesekera | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Senior Art Director |
Eraj Wirasinha | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Creative Director |
Michael Holsinger | Starcom Worldwide Sri Lanka | Chief Executive Officer |
Athula Kathriarachchi | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Creative Director |
Malaka Samith | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Copy Writer |
Shivanthi Jayasinghe | Arc Worldwide Sri Lanka | Director |
Tasneem Siddiqqe | Arc Worldwide Sri Lanka | Public Relations Executive |
Sean Pompeus | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Senior Brand Manager |
Nilusha Wanasinghe | Starcom Worldwide Sri Lanka | Senior Media Manager |
Chandani Abeyrathne | Starcom Worldwide Sri Lanka | Media Manager |
Jayantha Liyanage | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Digitial Artist |
Mehnaz Ilhamdeen | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Director Operations |
Dennis Mather | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Senior Executive Digital Art Production |
Prasad Chaturanga | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Illustrator |
Nadeera Warawita | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Visualiser |
Hassan Samdin | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Visualiser |
Dileep Kulathunga | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Associate Creative Director |
Farzad Mohideen | Leo Burnett Solutions Inc | Creative Group Head |
Caryll Van Dort | Arc Worldwide Sri Lanka | Director Public Relations |
Roshenka Jayamaha | Arc Worldwide Sri Lanka | Group Head PR -Content & Strate |
Despite a bigger print run, the paper sold out by 10am, increasing sales by 30% and protecting an additional 300,000 people – more than Mawbima ever expected. Mawbima’s influence also went beyond Sri Lanka with over 90 international media outlets featuring the paper, including the BBC, the Wall Street Journal and the Huffington Post. On social media, it earned thousands of likes, shares and 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.
Our campaign for the world’s first mosquito-repellant newspaper began with striking print ads during National Dengue Week. Letters in Sinhala, Sri Lanka’s native language were created in the style of the Mawbima's masthead. Each of these characters stopped a dengue mosquito from passing through. This was a very powerful depiction of how every letter of every word would stop dengue. The paper also ran articles educating people on Dengue and how they could protect themselves from it. Then, on World Health Day, Mawbima published the world’s first mosquito-repellant newspaper – a newspaper where all the letters of all the words helped Sri Lankans stop dengue.
In 2013, Dengue, the deadly mosquito-borne fever reached epidemic proportions in Sri Lanka. Infecting over 30,000 people, the disease had taken many lives, including those of young children. ‘Mawbima,’ a mass-market newspaper, wanted to do more than just educate their readers. It wanted to make a difference. Newspapers are read in the morning and evening – the very time the Dengue mosquito strikes. This gave us an idea: by mixing citronella essence, a natural repellent, with ink, we could educate and protect Mawbima’s readers with the world’s first mosquito repellant newspaper.