Germany - "Open Your Eyes "

2017

1m 53s

Germany

Directed by: Martin Venn, Alexandros Antoniadis

Produced by: Nubornpictures

Situation FGM – Female genital mutilation is still an issue. Every 11 seconds a girl is affected somewhere in the world. Even in developed countries like Germany 50’000 women and girls are affected by this.Brief We were asked to raise awareness for this terrible abuse of human rights. The brief was to create an attention-grabbing campaign to educate the public about this cause and raise money for the fight against FGM.ObjectivesThe objectives were to “open the eyes” of the public to this cruel ritual, make people aware of the problem and to raise money to educate change agents.BudgetThis is a zero budget project. Everyone participated for free to make the campaign happen – the agency, the photographer, the film production, famous supporters and all the guys behind and in front of the cameras.Project scale and volume When we submitted the campaign, it just started with print, posters and in socialCampaign Description:Too many people ignore the fact that FGM is still happening, and that the number of victims in Europe and the US is rising. So we wanted to create a visually strong idea, that asks people to open their eyes to this cause. But most of us are tired of being confronted with shocking pictures, such as suffering children. Not to mention, the affected women don’t want to be portrayed as victims any longer. So we had to find a stronger solution. The idea:We took close-up photos of the squinted eyes of women affected by FGM. By tilting the picture by 90 degrees the squinted eye with intermeshed eyelashes looks like a cut female genital. In this way, the viewer needs to take a second look to realize what they are looking at. The key visual was also used in films and gifs, where the eyes opened after a fewOutcome:Value added to brandInstead of using stereotypical shocking pictures, we found a new creative way to draw attention to this terrible abuse of human rights. The brand benefited from this by getting a large number of new supporters and donators.Value for consumerThe good feeling to be part of a good cause and to warn children of the future of FGM. Reach/cultural impactDue to the stream of refugees to Europe, Germany alone has 50’000 women and girls are threatened, FGM became more and more a real problem in the western world. This is where the campaign begins.SalesToo short to judge.Achievement against briefThe surprising key visual of the tilted Eye impressed people and media in various ways – it went so far that some media didn’t allow to publish the campaign.Other KPIs-Execution:Design elements and their integrationA strong key visual – closed eyes, tilted by 90 degrees – that look like a mutilated vagina. Combined with the message “Open Your Eyes” it powered a strong movement to fight FGM.Design touch pointsThe campaign was published in print, as posters and in social media.Materials, style elements, design choicesThe key visual was present in all chosen design elements – print ads, posters, microsite, Facebook and Instagram posts.Design development and processDuring the design development we realized, that not every eye was suitable to get that striking visual effect. So we had to shoot many affected women to find the perfect range of motives.ScaleA4 and CitylightStrategy:TERRES DES FEMMES is a non-profit women's rights organization.They strive for international networking with other women's rights organizations, support women in consulting and support projects, organizations and initiatives by women for women from abroad. The campaign “Open Your Eyes” clearly strengthens the organization in its fight against FGM, helps threatened women and girls with advice, and shows supporters how to help.The key visual – a closed woman’s eye, tilted by 90 degrees – was created by actual victims as well as the wider online community, who produced and posted their own selfie eye-visuals. Emotional interview videos shared the story of the threatened women.Men and women of all ages, who are willing to donate money and to show support by positing the images.We developed visuals that created awareness through their surprising looks. The two images in one idea, brought the message across in a powerful way.