The Campaign

Every year, 1.7 million children die before their fifth birthday because of preventable diseases like diarrhoea and pneumonia. That’s one child every twenty seconds. Lifebuoy, Unilever’s health soap, created a global platform, ‘Help a Child Reach 5’ to help end child deaths from preventable diseases through handwashing with soap. Lifebuoy runs the world’s largest hygiene promotion program and is committed to changing the handwashing behaviours of a billion people by 2015. How do we convince people that a simple intervention like handwashing with soap can save lives? We turn influential leaders, policymakers, employees, and consumers into handwashing ambassadors to amplify this lifesaving message. Over the last year, we celebrated the 5th birthday of Global Handwashing Day [GHD], and to make it the largest yet, we drove consumer engagement through local digital and PR activities. We brought the issue to life through our storytelling content including our films Gondappa and Tree of Life and took it to every corner of the world through owned and earned channels. Inside Unilever, we rallied employees to teach kids handwashing habits and make it Unilever’s largest Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) employee engagement programme. Then we made a case for handwashing with soap at the very highest level – the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) – to encourage decision makers to support and roll out handwashing programmes in their country. Our celebrity ambassador, Kajol, India’s distinguished actor, used her passion for our campaign to drive handwashing on the global stage.

The Brief

Audience 1. Influential Leaders 3. Employees 4. Consumers Objectives Use PR and advocacy to: 1. Raise the profile of handwashing with soap as one of the most cost effective interventions to help more children reach five 2. Position Lifebuoy as the brand that helps a child reach 5

Results

Awareness • 376 mil people reached w/ handwashing message • €16 mil PR value • Coverage in world’s most influential websites: Huff Post, Forbes, Mashable • Over 29 mil earned & paid views for 2 films • Combined 80% increase Klout score after release of 2 films • 21,088,442 reach GHD posts Influencers engaged • 600 KOFs participated during GHD • Meetings w/ high profile policy makers at UN General Assembly Employees engaged • 53 countries & 41,204 employees participated during GHD • 7,027 employees volunteered in handwashing programme Business impact • 65% recalled Help a Child Reach 5 as film’s message • 94% of those exposed to campaign showed intent to purchase Lifebuoy • Uplift in perception as brand that cares for well-being of society Behaviour change • During GHD, taught value of handwashing with soap to 2.56 mil school children in 3,018 schools • 26% more children now use soap before meals

Execution

Planning: July – October Implementation: 15th October onwards Advocacy and Global PR: • UNGA event attended by high-level policymakers, influencers and media, leveraging Unilever’s partnership contacts. Led by Unilever CEO, Paul Polman, Jeffrey Sachs and Kajol • The results from the Lifebuoy adopted village, Thesgora, acted as a proof point for internal and external stakeholders and for PR amplification • Global helpdesk function to aid country implementation. Country-level PR: • Global Handwashing Day PR and advocacy toolkits helped Lifebuoy brand teams in 53 countries generate media coverage and communicate to policymakers/key influencers. • 11 villages were adopted to take part in Lifebuoy programmes Digital PR: • 80% of markets promoted the campaign using the Facebook and twitter content strategy, created to raise awareness of handwashing and the Tree of Life video Employee engagement: • Multi-channel internal drive recruited over 41,200 employees and show how teaching handwashing in schools will contribute to Unilever Sustainable Living Plan

The Situation

Children around the world die every day from preventable illnesses. Diarrhoea and pneumonia, the two biggest causes of under-5 deaths account for 26% of these deaths¹. Handwashing with soap is one of the most cost effective way to reduce these diseases and work towards achieving Millennium Development Goal 4 – reducing child mortality. The brand present in more than 50 countries has grown from a €257 million brand to nearly €600 million and at the same time under-5 deaths from diarrhoea have halved. PR needed to provide an understanding of the link between handwashing with soap and reducing child mortality. ¹ Unicef 2013 report

The Strategy

Big Idea: Create a global movement to Help A Child Reach 5 1. Engage policymakers and global media via advocacy: • Global event in New York: high-level UN Panel attended by over 100 key influencers and media to galvanise public/private sector efforts to improve handwashing practices • National Advocacy events with governments and NGOs in 46 countries: Taking the importance of handwashing with soap directly to policymakers on the ground • Use results from Thesgora and partnerships with RSPH and LSHTM to build credibility as handwashing experts 2. Promote handwashing practices amongst consumers via social media and consumer PR campaigns: • Generated media coverage by sparking global debate, producing the Tree of Life film, coordinating stunts (three Guinness World Record attempts), and securing celebrity and government endorsement 3. Internal Unilever communications • Recruit volunteers to teach handwashing in schools and show how this activity helps achieve USLP