Title | KITES OF HOPE |
Brand | ROSHNI HELPLINE |
Product / Service | ROSHNI HELPLINE |
Category | A08. Charities, Public Health & Safety, Public Awareness Messages |
Entrant | Y&R SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE |
Idea Creation | Y&R SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE |
Contributing | SPECTRUM Y&R Karachi, PAKISTAN |
Name | Company | Position |
---|---|---|
Viraj Chouhan | Y&R Singapore | Copywriter |
Mindy Tulsi | Y&R Pte Ltd | Agency Producer |
Bilal Khan | Spectrum Y&R Karachi | Senior Strategic Planner |
Ghazala Ahmed | Spectrum Y&R Karachi | Director Social Marketing |
Niladri Deb | Rediffusion Y&R Kolkata | Art Director |
Mazhar Raza | Spectrum Y&R Karachi | Executive Creative Director |
Khalid Nayeem | Spectrum Y&R Karachi | Group Account Director |
Kamal Jafri | Spectrum Y&R Karachi | HR Manager |
Nida Jafri | Spectrum Y&R Karachi | Digital Media Manager |
thequietlab | thequietlab | Post Production |
Masood Ansari | Spectrum Y&R Karachi | Production Manager |
Saleem Farooq | Spectrum Y&R Karachi | Media Head |
Cynthia Subrata | Y&R Singapore | Junior Art Director |
Varun Sohal | Y&R Singapore | Junior Creative Assistant |
Jessica Chen | Y&R Singapore | Junior Planner |
Adil Abbas | Y&R Singapore | Non-linear Editor |
Daryl Low | Y&R Singapore | Graphic Designer |
Marcus Rebeschini | Y&R Asia | Executive Creative Director |
Hari Ramanathan | Y&R Asia | Chief Strategy Officer |
Alvaro Bruch | Y&R Singapore | Digital Lead |
Joao Leal Pereira | Y&R Singapore | Senior Designer |
Anne Lee | Y&R Singapore | Production Manager |
Komal Bedi Sohal | Y&R Singapore | Chief Creative Officer, Singapore |
Transform a cultural icon of Pakistani childhood – the Kite – into a communication vehicle to reunite missing children with their families. Over 4,000 kites were printed with details of missing children and the Roshni Helpline number. They were distributed on the festival of Basant – a traditional day when kites are flown by young and old to mark the start of spring. The sky was filled with our message which was able to travel with the wind. These unique kites became a coveted item throughout the lower SEC neighbourhood and the city thereby redefining ‘missing children’ posters that are usually ignored.
Our message, along with the details of the missing children, was printed on the traditional shapes of Pakistani kites. Kites have long been a cultural symbol in Pakistan but this was the first time they were being used as a media vehicle to share a message with the public. Each kite was designed using typically Pakistani elements and cost-effective local materials. The kites themselves were constructed with the special paper that is used by local Pakistani kite makers. While most kites in the market contain basic colours and barely any patterns, the designs we created were made to stand out on a day filled with kites at every corner. Over 4000 of these Kites of Hope were printed and flown on the festival of Basant, spreading the message as far as the wind could take it.
Three children – Shahmir, Muzammil and Iftikar – were reunited with their families. Though each kite cost only Rs.50 (US$ 0.50), the media picked up the topic and made it prime-time news. National news channels, radio shows and various press outlets shared the message and called attention to the plight of these families resulting in a combined earned media totalling over 1 million Rupees More importantly, a conversation began in Pakistan to change the laws and legislation to help the process of finding missing children. The issue is being deliberated in the state assembly. The Supreme Court ordered and inquiry committee to be set up. A task force was formed by the Chief Minister of Punjab. The Prime Minister called for intelligence agencies to share information of such cases. Kites of Hope became the first step in bringing attention to a long-ignored problem.
The first day of spring in Pakistan is a traditional day of celebration and one of the key rituals around this festival is kite flying. Every Pakistani associates kites with the Spring Festival called Basant. We used this traditional event and icon of Basant, the kites, to become the fulcrum of the campaign. It was how we built activation into a festival that not only generated interest around the largely ignored topic of missing children, but was instrumental in helping find the first three children.
The strategy was to reinvent missing posters using a cultural icon, so they would never again go ignored. Roshni Helpline is a dedicated NGO working on this issue and wanted to take the lead in changing conventions for better results. The Kite is not merely an element of fun, but holds a deep traditional meaning in Pakistan where they celebrate the bounty of nature at spring and a deeply ingrained memory of childhood. This was the perfect medium for us to remind people of the other children who should have been with their families during this festival. For the launch we selected Mehmoodabad family Park, the most effected area with the highest number of cases of missing children in Karachi. Yet the residents of this ares were mostly unaware of this issue.