#UNSELFIE
Disaster relief
Issue 30 | March 2014
Agency
BBDO Guerrero
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer David Guerrero Executive Creative Director Cristina Tin Sanchez Creative Directors Asterio Gutierrez Corey Cruz Copywriters Asterio Gutierrez Cristina Tin Sanchez David Guerrero Art Directors Corey Cruz Isai Martinez Jo Aguilar Val Villaflor Eboy Fernandez IO Regalado Account Directors Roshan Nandwani Karen Go Ethel Dino-Datario Angel Uy
Date
November 2013
Background
When Typhoon Haiyan struck the Philippines, the damage was devastating. The Visayas region was reduced to an expanse of mud, rubble and death. Millions of people wanted to help, but they didn't know how.
The agency wanted to spread the word in a way that was pervasive, cheap and, more importantly, fast.
Idea
People were asked to post a picture of themselves as they would in a selfie but with their face covered by a paper showing a donation URL.
Within days of its launch, #unselfie became an online phenomenon, influencing leaders such as US State Secretary John Kerry. Thousands of people all over the world began to participate, spreading the call for help to the rest of the globe. It was the birth of a new social, charitable mechanism that proved dramatically effective, as people posted how #unselfie had encouraged them to make donations to help.
Results
14,000+ unselfies were uploaded, with 43,000 tweets leading to 131 million impressions.
Magazines like Cosmopolitan and FHM took part and Preview Magazine got the Philippines' most famous actress, Anne Curtis, to do an #unselfie for its cover. There was unsolicited support from global personalities including Senator John Kerry, Mia Farrow, Ambassador Phil Goldberg, Jake Tapper, and Bill Weir.
The story was covered by 100+ global and local news outlets including CNN, the BBC, NPR, Huffington Post, PBS, Radio Te´le´vision Suisse, ANC and Mashable.
Our Thoughts
Unselfish selfies, now there was an idea waiting to be put to good use and this campaign certainly did it when the Philippines was struck by the mother of all typhoons in 2013. ‘Selfie’ was The Oxford Dictionary’s ‘word or the year’ in 2013; maybe ‘unselfie’ will now get in as a new charitable donation mechanism? This was a quick and clever response that exploited how social media works immediately after the disaster and required nothing more than getting the idea out and sitting back and let the world share. Sharing is one thing but I truly hope #unselfie led to a tsunami of donations.