Stay home and call Awel
Child Focus and Awel
Issue 55 | June 2020
Agency
Wunderman Thompson Antwerp
Creative Team
Creative Directors Manuel Ostyn, Pieter Staes Creative team Kate Bellefroid, Jolien Tuyteleers
Production Team
Agency Producer Caroline Van Ranst Motion Design Andreas De Ridder Editing Andreas De Ridder, Karel Van Gucht Sound design Menno Van Riet
Other Credits
Client contact Stephan Smets (Child Focus), Hanne Jacobs (Awel) Account Manager Carole Steger
Date
April 2020
Background
The corona crisis has been particularly hard on socially vulnerable youngsters. Staying at home with the entire family crammed into a small apartment with no garden and no laptop for homework can lead to a greater risk of domestic violence.
Idea
A striking social media campaign was created with the assistance of none other than Maggie De Block, Belgian Minister of Social Affairs.
When she made a speech in parliament on the corona crisis, radio station MNM remixed it and it became an overnight hit as she rapped “Stay home, I’m dead serious.” Child Focus in collaboration with peer- to-peer helpline Arwel got the minister to supply and record some new lyrics specifically for vulnerable kids. “Call Awel, I’m dead serious.” Posted on Instagram and TokTok, young influencers shared the choreography and asked their followers to spread the word. The campaign then moved out into TV and radio with the support of other child-centric NGOs.
Results
An increase in followers of 15.5%.
A whopping 177% increase in pageviews with an increase in engagement on Facebook of 50%. And a huge surge in organic reach, in just one week.
Our Thoughts
How can you get across a serious message to kids without frightening or boring them? Like this. The minister, bless her, is the last person on earth you could imagine rapping and that’s what makes this so funny and watchable. Then let it loose on TikTok and devise a dance routine to go with it and you’ve cracked the problem.