Gabriela’s first day at school
Plan Belgium
Issue 30 | March 2014
Agency
Plan Belgium
Creative Team
Executive Creative Directors: Geoffrey Hantson, Katrien Bottez Copywriter: Niels Sienaert Art Director: Tim Schoenmaeckers
Production Team
Executive Producer: Frederik Zaman Production Company: TRS Brussels Director: Jan Boon Producer: Thomas Landeloos Editor: Hans Desmet
Other Credits
Account Director: Dimitri Mundorff Account Manager: Jef Leysen Client: Dirk Van Maele, Manuela Varasso
Date
October 2013
Background
Teen pregnancy was not as common a problem in Belgium as in countries like Cambodia or Ecuador, where there was poverty, discrimination and a lack of sex education.
When girls in these places become pregnant, they have to quit school. Without a decent education, their chances of a good job and a promising future are very slim.
Plan Belgium wanted to raise awareness of the problem with a film that was part of the international 'Raise your hand'-campaign.
Idea
Rather than simply explain the problem, the idea was to demonstrate it in a film about Gabriela, a 14-year old girl, who was introduced as a new student to a Belgian school. What was very different about her was that she was pregnant.
The students around her could not believe their eyes as they noticed what an impact pregnancy can have on a young life. Gabriela was the talk of the playground until, after a couple of hours, Plan Belgium's celebrity Ambassadors, Koen Wauters and Marie Gillain, suddenly entered Gabriela's classroom.
They explained to the class that teenage pregnancy was all too common in some countries. And that Plan Belgium's mission was to help every girl enjoy her right to quality education.
Results
The talk value was impressive and the video was quickly picked up by major Belgian and international media. After only 3 weeks the video was mentioned more then 8,000 times in social media and nearly all the buzz generated was positive.
It was viewed nearly 700,000 times on YouTube alone.
Our Thoughts
Here’s a bit of ‘look and learn’ that wasn’t on the Belgium schools’ curriculum and it’s worth watching the campaign film (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIwA81YVCGs) just to see the reactions of some of Gabriela’s fellow students on seeing their new pregnant classmate. It’s all very ‘candid camera’ with a celebrity message reveal, but a clever idea that does two jobs. One, it communicates the issue clearly. Two, it warns of the consequences of teenage pregnancy.
I suspect this was an agency initiative with little or no budget and, if correct, kudos to Duval Guillaume for lending a hand to this ‘Raise a hand’ appeal.