Thursday, July 28, 2011

Show time! Presentations of our Social Campaigns written by Yuan Yuan

June 29 was our last day in Warsaw, and the four international teams did their presentations on social campaigns of the topics they were given to work on. 



The Humanity in Action Poland program is usually divided into the input phase and the output phase. This year, we are experimenting a new way of conducting the output phase. Unlike all of our fellows in the Humanity in Action programs in other European cities who conduct the output phase through writing reports, we do it in the form of coming up with ideas for a social campaign. Throughout the whole output phase, Marek Dorobisz, the Creative Director at Ars Thanea was the social campaign leader.

To read about social campaigns introductory workshop click here


This experiment—the social campaign—is a “first time” experience for all the three groups of people involved in it. For our HIA PL leaders Monika Mazur-Rafał and Magda Szarota, it is their adventure of trying out a new way of asking the fellows to come out with their own human and minority rights project. For us the fellows, it is also our first exposure to social campaign, a tool that will be extremely useful in our future careers—no matter it is in public service sector, business, or other walks of life—because we learn the way to persuade others to “care about” what we care. Surprisingly, it is also a brand new experience for Marek Dorobisz. Although he has been in the advertising business for many years, he has never been working as a mentor guiding people with no knowledge in advertising to work on campaign projects. For many rules and traditions in the business which he used to take for granted, he has to explain them in a simple and direct way to give us an idea what advertising is for and how to go about it.

I still remember that at the beginning of our program back on June 3 when we met Marek Dorobisz for the first time, some of us were a little bit surprised that a person with an advertising background—a business which we usually consider as “money-motivated”—was invited to teach us how to conduct a successful social campaign on human and minority issues—a topic which is regarded as “moral-driven.” However, although while it is true that in the field of human rights, every person, every community, and every nation is worth one-hundred percent attention from the public, there are so many people and things that we need to worry about, to take care of, and to struggle for in each of our single life that only the best-promoted social campaigns will grab our attention and on which we are willing to spend time. Then, the tools in the advertising business are not only applicable to but also necessary for conducting a successful social campaign. Like what Marek Dorobisz always says, “If you can make half percent of the population care, you have already succeeded.”

At the beginning of the output phase, we were divided into four teams based on our expressed interests in human and minority rights. Issues connected with the topics of: anti-rape, anti-sex trafficking, anti-Semitism, and equal payment to women, all in the Polish context. Then, we spent one week working on the “brief,” a piece of paper which includes the core idea of our social campaigns. This is the time during which we gradually narrowed down our topics and our target groups and decided our “main messages”—the beacon light that leads all parts of our campaigns from visual media, slogans, and other paraphernalia related to our campaigns.

After a week’s heated discussion and hard work within the four individual teams, we finally had our briefs done. When we were just about to totally devote ourselves to the topics of our social campaign, our social campaign leader suggested that we switch our topics and work on one of the other topics during the next step—to create posters, TV spots, flyers, and extras such as facebook games and stickers—all of which should only be based on what was written in another team’s brief, especially on the main message.

We had a debate on whether we all felt comfortable leaving our “new-born baby” and breeding another. Certainly, switching topics would pull us out of our comfort zones to some extent as we had to work on topics that we might not be so into. However, Marek Dorobisz persuaded us that the core of advertising was creativity—if we are really talented and imaginative young adults devoted to human rights issues, we should be prepared with the courage to face challenges, in this case, to work on another topic, and with the ability to be creative, turning whatever is given into a campaign that can attract half percent of the population. In the end, we voted and the majority decided to accept his suggestion.

For the next ten days, we worked on our new topics, developing ideas for all different kinds of media to promote our campaigns. We were also required to create a “key visual”—a simple logo that even “grandmas” can draw—which is supposed to be the symbol of our campaigns. The key visual should be present at every single kind of media we use so that no matter where people see the logo, they will be constantly reminded that it is our campaign. It gives the public a sense of consistency and they might want to explore more about it. In addition to the key visual, we were also supposed to come with a “main idea” that would dominate our campaign—of course, the main idea is closely related to the main message.
During the four presentations, each team showed their key visuals, main ideas, and the ways they would promote the campaigns.

1. The first team comprised of Alina Iovcheva, Dagna Lewandowska, Alexandria Margolis, Kristin Meagher, and Michelle Shofet worked on the Anti-Rape campaign.

To read group's report click here




Their target group is sexually active middle class men; their key visual is a contrast between a colorful “Tak” (“yes” in Polish) and a grey “Nie” (“no” in Polish); and their main idea is “Tak to consentual sex and Nie to rape.” The key visual shows that rape is a black-and-white thing. The team developed very interesting ideas of putting stickers of “Tak” and “Nie” in public places such as “Tak” for the green traffic light, “Nie” for the red traffic light and “Tak” for “entry” sign, “Nie” for “exit” sign in metro stations. These small stickers would be prevalent everywhere in Poland, constantly reminding the target group to take a second thought before committing raping. Besides the stickers, the team also produced a 30-second TV spot based on the same idea of the contrast between delightful “Tak” and desolate “Nie.” 

While the main idea is very clear in English, the team experienced problems when translating them into Polish. The language becomes ambiguous in Polish that several meanings are implied in the same English sentence. This kind of situation is not uncommon for NGOs who want to promote their campaigns both in English and in their local language. Sometimes there is simply no equivalent in the other language. Sometimes, a word loses its meaning when it is translated into another language. There is no universal solution to this dilemma. The NGOs who encounter this problem must make a trade-off between doing the social campaign in English or in the other language.

2. The second team comprised of Alec Arellano, Mieszko Hajkowski, Natalia Wrzesień, and Anna Yamchuk focused on the Equal Payment campaign. 

To read group's report click here 


Their target group is employers in small businesses who do not give equal payments to men and women staff who have the same working ability. Their key visual is a water level with the symbols of male and female on either end. Their main idea is “Pay Equal—It Pays Off.” This team presented two very interesting scripts for the TV spots they were going to make. One of the spots was based in kindergarten where the kids were talking about the jobs of their fathers on Father’s Day. Several kids told the female teacher the occupation of their fathers, such as doctors and engineers, and each time, the teacher got bored and frustrated. When the last kid said that “My father pays men and women equal,” the teacher was refreshed and excited. The contrast would arouse the target group’s attention and thus make the point that equal payments pays off.

3. The third team consisting of Roman Gautam, Iwa Kos, Barbara Marlewska, and Olena Sharvan dealt with the Anti-Sex Trafficking campaign.

 To read group's report click here



Their target group is sexually active middle class men between 20 and 50 who use prostitution. While the previous campaigns on sex slavery asked men to stop using prostitution, this team takes a more understanding tone. It does ask men not to use prostitution, but to report and call the hotline when they feel that the prostitutes they buy might be victims of human trafficking. Their key visual is a key which can open the chain around the prostitute’s neck. The main idea is “Enjoy Sex, Report Sex Slavery.” The team was inspired by the flyers with hot girls printed on them distributed at metro stations—flyers that are targeted at the same target group as the third team’s. They make similar flyers with the number of the hotline on them. The team wants to talk to the target group in their language and to be provocative based on understanding.


4. The last team which consisted of Thomas Meyer, Joanna Klimczak, Ann-Kristin Wiethaupt, Halyna Vernyuk, and Yuan Yuan focused on the Anti-Semitism campaign in the context of Euro 2012 which will take place in Poland and Ukraine next year. 

To read group's report click here 


Their target group is zealous football fans who usually use anti-Semitic words during the games. These words deface Poland in front of international audiences. In order to improve Poland’s image during this mega-event, the team develops their campaign with an imaginary fact that Poland actually won Euro 2012—which is almost impossible. Their key visual is a score board saying Poland vs. Anti-Semitism, 1:0. Their main idea is “Poland won, Anti-Semitism Lost.” Based on that, the team came up with a series of fake TV sports news and programs broadcasting the Euro 2012 in which Poland was awarded the championship. They also designed a flag with the Polish national flag on one side and the key visual on the other side to be distributed at the stadium. In addition, they had the idea of creating a Facebook game “Whack-the-Hooligans—Our Way to Championship.” The hooligans would pop up from the holes in the football pitch, saying anti-Semitic words, and the more the player could hit the hooligans, the higher scores they would get.


***

After all the four presentations, we voted for the best social campaign, and if possible, Humanity in Action Poland might implement the project. The Anti-Semitism group was the final winner, but all of us gained a unique experience learning how to conduct a social campaign and working with people from different nations.