Client: Unicef

Unicef: More Than a Blanket

For Unicef's 2017 winter campaign, we came up with a simple construct that resonates with everybody: the comfort of a blanket. We produced a TV-commercial to raise as much donations as possible for an extra fragile group of refugees: Syrian children who were facing a harsh winter in very poor conditions.

To us, a blanket that offers comfort and warmth is a given. For many refugee children it is a matter of life and death. By visualising this contrast we hope to activate people to donate’ – Rico de Lange, Creative Director at Boomerang.

Helping Unicef help refugee children

The briefing from our client Unicef was quite clear: help us come up with a construct that will help our target audience realise the horrible living conditions of Syrian refugee children. And more important: get people to donate.

We came up with the idea of comparing ‘what a blanket means’ to different children around the world. For Western children who live in safe conditions, a blanket is something that makes them feel at home or something to play with. For Syrian refugee children living in tents in the middle of extremely unforgiving winter conditions, a blanket is a life saver. So the blanket turned into the hero of this video and with the help of rapper and Unicef ambassador Akwasi as a voice-over, we created a moving and emotional video.

Results

This campaign was rolled out on television, radio and social media, all directed towards a donation funnel including a ‘blanket counter’ on the website. The campaign proved to be a huge succes: Unicef raised over 1.5 million euro, money that helped provide tens of thousands of refugees children with blankets, clothes and medication.