TITLE: WHITE CANE DAY

TitleTITLE: WHITE CANE DAY
BrandTHE SRI LANKA EYE DONATION SOCIETY
Product / ServiceTHE SRI LANKA EYE DONATION SOCIETY
CategoryA01. Creative Effectiveness
EntrantLEO BURNETT Colombo, SRI LANKA
Idea Creation LEO BURNETT Colombo, SRI LANKA
Media Placement LEO BURNETT Colombo, SRI LANKA
Production LEO BURNETT Colombo, SRI LANKA

Credits

Name Company Position
Athula Kathriarachchi Leo Burnett Sri Lanka Senior Creative Director
Trevor Kennedy Leo Burnett Sri Lanka Chief Creative Officer
Prasad Chaturanga Leo Burnett Sri Lanka Junior Art Director
Chandani Abeyratne Leo Burnett Sri Lanka Senior Media Manager

Brief Explanation

The Brief: Sri Lanka has 200,000 legally blind people and over 400,000 visually impaired persons, out of a 21 million population. In many cases blindness can be cured if a healthy pair of eyes is available. But at any given time eye depositories have less than half the required amount. Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society, the main organization involved in devising strategy and programmes for the country’s blind problem, wanted to use White Cane Day to leave a lasting message with people about the importance of eye donations. The Strategy: Sri Lanka is predominantly a staunch Buddhist country. Lord Buddha constantly advocated the act of giving, even one’s own self. Yet without a national donor registry, organ donation is usually a forgotten practice. Therefore, we needed a disruption that could jolt the sighted Sri Lankan public in to understanding that their privilege of sight could be shared with another. The fanaticism for Tele-dramas in Sri Lanka is a cult equivalent, but widespread. So in it we found our medium for disruption. The Execution: We negotiated with the Media to hijack the most watched Teledrama in the country –‘Mey Adarayai’- with a viewership of over 80% of the total TV audience. We then picked the most intense 30 seconds in the actual Tele-drama and removed the visual component leaving just the audio. As we took away the sight from the audience, and as they became irritated by the visual impairment, the TV screen read ‘if 30 seconds of blindness is unbearable to you, imagine those who have to live with it everyday. Please give them sight, when you don’t need it anymore’. The Result: The day after the activation, the organization marked the highest number of calls and pledges they have received in a single day. Since then, the number of call-ins and walk-ins at Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society has doubled, on average.