MAWBIMA-MOSQUITO REPELLANT PAPER

Short List
TitleMAWBIMA-MOSQUITO REPELLANT PAPER
BrandCEYLON NEWSPAPERS
Product / ServiceMAWBIMA
CategoryB04. Consumer Services
EntrantLEO 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

Credits

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 & Strategy

Results and Effectiveness

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.

Creative Execution

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.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

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.