Why is this work relevant for PR?

Most of the available PR channels in Vietnam require huge investments and are flooded with branded content every day. As a result, NGOs like WildAid Vietnam and Change Vietnam do not usually have a large budget for paid media to really make an impact. That's why we opted for an innovative use of a free "channel" that hasn't ever been touched before, yet reaching 85% of 95.5 millions of Vietnam population: Buddhism and pagodas. Most importantly, this work was launched during the national Lunar New Year, when everyone was most likely to pay attention to news and PR coverages.

Background

Situation: Unfounded rumors and misguided beliefs, including medical treatments and superstitions, have driven elephants, rhinos and pangolins to the brink of extinction, especially in Vietnam. While wildlife preservation is not a new topic, demands for wildlife products such as horns, ivories and scales have never been higher. Still, this on-going urgent problem was not receiving enough attention whether it is media coverage or just personal awareness. Brief: With the on-going mission of protecting these iconic wildlife animals, WildAid and Change Vietnam wanted to urge Vietnamese people to stop buying wildlife products coming from rhinos, elephants and pangolins. Objectives: To trigger a mass conversation across Vietnam about the plights of elephants, rhinos and pangolins due to illegal trade and poaching and urge them to take actions against this matter.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

During Lunar New Year, when many Vietnamese people were visiting pagodas to pray in front of Buddha gods for a peaceful and healthy year ahead, we gave these suffering animals a chance to do the same. In the pose of kneeling, we created statues of these heavily wounded animals and let them pray among pagoda visitors across the country during the Lunar New Year. The installation immediately shocked the entire nation into a mass conversation that urged everyone to answer these animals’ prayers, by rethinking all the unfounded rumors that have been endangering them.

Describe the strategy (30% of vote)

1. Insight: some misguided beliefs of using wildlife products: - Superstition – Medicinal belief (based on rumors/ experience/ tradition): Ex: Rhino horn to treat cancer, libido… pangolin scales to treat lactation, ivory to scare ghosts away… - They help show power and wealth, to impress others. Ex: Business/ government people give away rhino horn/ elephant tusks as gifts, they eat pangolin cause it’s wild & rare animal (expensive) during their business meals - Some think these wildlife products are legal to use and they do not harm the environment. 2. Key message: "Be Their Bodhisattva" to save rhinos, elephants and pangolins, by simply stopping buying wildlife products. 3. Target Audience: Superstitious people who believe that wildlife products being miracle cures This target segment also believes in karma and of course god Buddha. And general public.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Implementation: The animal statues were hand crafted by the renowned artist Phan Vu Linh to highlight the sufferings of these animals down to every detail, from the gore of each wound to the pains in their eyes. All were expressed faithfully. While the pagodas and statues themselves targeted the audience directly and engaged them in conversation. The timing and the location was designed in such a way that we made sure the campaign was exposed to social media and media outlets within a few hours of initial launch. Timeline: While the main focus was Lunar new year period, the campaign continued to make impact for over the next 45 days. Scale: Nationwide

List the results (30% of vote) – must include at least two of the following tiers:

• Tier 1: Media coverage: - Quantity: 5+ TV reports, 105+ articles, news reports - Quality: Got coverage from all most prestigious media outlets in Vietnam (VTV, HTV, Tuoi Tre, Thanh Nien, VNExpress, ANTV, Zing,...) - Tone & message: Thought-provoking and touching through striking visuals. • Tier 2: - From a topic that was disconnected to the majority of Vietnamese people, it went viral with a total reach of 30 million, brought over 2.5 million engagements across Facebook within 24 hours after the launch. - According to a survey conducted by WildAid, the price of rhino horn has fallen from $65,000 per kilo to around $22,000 per kilo, rhino horn sales have been banned, and more people are aware of the false claims about rhino horn’s medical efficacy. (Source: BuzzMetrics, SimilarWeb, Change Vietnam)