Background

PKBI or Indonesia's Planned Parenthood is a non-profit organisation that dedicates itself to empower women and helping them have better reproductive health through guidance, consultation, and other related programs. One of PKBI's main concern is child marriage. In 2019, Indonesia ranked second in ASEAN for the highest number of child marriage with 45,1 million victims. 3,6 millions of them were under 15 years old when they were forced into marriage. Yet, people never take action and think of it as a normal situation. PKBI wanted to change this status quo and make people realise that child marriage should be stopped, with the objective of raising awareness about this issue and increasing participation in their programs.

Describe the cultural / social / political climate in your region and the significance of your campaign within this context

Indonesian culture tends to support early marriage, believing that it is better for parents of their children leave the house as early as possible and that marriage is better than for the children to engage in sinful acts. That's why, despite the increase in minimum marriage age, child marriage cases number showed no decline. Parents just asked for a dispensation and earn it easily, giving them the freedom to force their children into child marriage.

Describe the creative idea

An audio-visual experience that tells a different story when you watch it with eyes closed. This film will opens the audience's eyes and makes them see the truth. Because if they keep their eyes closed, child marriage will keep on happening around us.

Describe the strategy

The menace of child marriage is prevalent in Indonesia for centuries, and continues to the present day. When the society sees child marriage as normal, how do we get them to see it differently? Our single minded objective was to create strong public opinion against child marriage, enough for the Government of Indonesia to take action to ban the practice. Tackling a social issue needs awareness across target segments. When we close our eyes to the obvious, we are overlooking the problem. Hence, getting people to literally “Open their eyes” to the menace of Child Marriage. Our creative strategy was to create a sensorial experience, using sound and visuals, to make a lasting impact on our audience. We made the first film that is to be watched with your eyes closed. And the sounds in the film force your brain to react in a way that drives the message home.

Describe the execution

This was a public awareness campaign through PKBI (Perkumpulan Keluarga Berencana Indonesia). Being an NGO, they practically had zero budgets to spend on media. Hence, a power piece of content that had the power to spread organically. So with zero spends, we achieved our objective of getting the government to ban child marriage. The film was created in both vertical and horizontal formats, to suit omni-screen experiences in mobile and desktop. The simplistic nature of the campaign, supported by supers, and a unique audio-visual experience, made the mobile viewing experience an endearing one. On PKBI's facebook and instagram pages, stories increased the reach of the campaign. Since Indonesia has high internet and smartphone penetration, consumption of digital video content is high. The idea of making an immersive film was in sync with the audience's preferred media habits.

Describe the results / impact

The video reached over 100 thousand people on YouTube and social media. Sparking more than 3,000 organic conversations, 45 media coverage from national and international media, and 3 million earned media impression. It inspired 4,269 new volunteers to join the cause and even gained global support from UNFPA. Prompting action from the government who pledge to take concrete actions to further stop child marriage in Indonesia.