A lost cause: What makes a social awareness campaign truly successful in today’s age?

How can a brand raise awareness about cancer? While recent examples would go to show it can be done by creating fake scenarios like the controversial Poonam Pandey cervical cancer gimmick, there are several cancer awareness campaigns that have garnered eyeballs for the right reasons. 

The estimated number of breast cancer cases in India during 2012 was 1,45,000 cases with an age-standardized incidence rate of 25.8 per 100,000 women. The estimated number of deaths in India in that year was 70,000. Philips India with Ogilvy & Mather India launched the ‘Husbands Initiated Movement (HIM)’ to raise awareness about breast cancer. 

Targeted towards married couples, the campaign urged husbands to take up one household chore and give wives 10 minutes to practise self-examination. It was facilitated through www.himiniative.com, a website where husbands could select one chore and send the breast self-examination kit to their wives through a personalised e-mailer. 

A film titled “The Silent Couple” was released, narrating the story of a deaf and mute couple, emphasising that action is more important than words. Social media engagement on Twitter and Facebook, along with print and outdoor advertising with FAQ activities helmed by oncologists and celebrities on NDTV drove traffic to the website. 

The result? The website received 1,51,896 visitors as husbands emailed 20,250 self-examination tests through the website, 2,200 of them downloaded the self-examination test while 800 of them shared selfies of doing household chores to encourage wives to spend time in self-examination. The campaign organically reached 9.3 million through social media, gaining 670,000 views on YouTube and 168 million impressions. 

The Ministry of Health solicited the brand to extend the campaign to rural areas and to states where breast cancer mortality rates are higher. 

While this was a CSR campaign, it aimed to drive change through action, just like a government-driven campaign. Take the Polio Eradication campaign. India began administering the polio vaccines in 1978; however, it took India decades to be successfully declared polio-free in 2014. A major reason behind this is a highly revered social campaign. 

In 2002, UNICEF approached the Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan to be the ambassador for the polio vaccination program in India. Since then, the celebrity has been the face of the polio program. 

Over the years, the branding for the awareness program changed as per the needs. The tagline, ‘Do boond zindagi ki’ advocated the importance of the two drops of polio to the community and was followed by ‘Har bachcha har bar’ and ‘Aapka bachcha har bar’. Posters and banners with the message “jahan bhi jao, jahan bhi raho, polio ki khurak zaroor pilao” aimed at reaching out to the most vulnerable migrant and mobile populations. 

Since there was reluctance in rural mothers to walk up to the vaccination camps set up by the government, Bachchan was suggested by adman Piyush Pandey to speak sternly, according to a report. Soon after the ‘Do boond zindagi ki’ advertisement was aired, mothers started showing up at Pulse Polio camps in all of rural India. When they were asked what made them come to the camps, most of them said that they thought Amitabh ji had become angry, and they didn't want to anger him further.

Following the consistent effort, in January 2011, the last case of polio was reported in West Bengal. Three years after the report, India was declared to be polio-free by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on March 27, 2014.

Why do brands launch social campaigns? 

Government-driven awareness campaigns have the onus of making sure the community is acting upon the message delivered. For brands, it is most likely a bid to work on their CSR initiatives to build on their reputation. 

Sai Ganesh, Brand Consultant mentions that an advertising agency partaking in such campaigns does it for two reasons. 

“These campaigns serve two purposes - to allow creative teams to showcase their work and to gain recognition in advertising awards. The work for non-profit organisations like hospitals, old age homes, etc, is a typical playbook for ad agencies to get recognised. However, I've noticed a decline in this type of advertising. While it interests those in the advertising and marketing fields, it may not have as much impact on consumers unless it's exceptionally creative or relevant from a marketing perspective.”

It’s important to note that consumers expect brands to be genuine and authentic in social support; they do not feel brands should tailor their social engagement to their consumers’ beliefs but rather support causes and issues that align with the brand’s mission and values, according to data from Mintel Reports US.

One such campaign is the Red Ramp Project that built a ramp for physically challenged individuals. “It garnered a lot of recognition and was particularly impactful because it addressed the needs of people who couldn't necessarily visit the beach. I think the relatability factor needs to be high for it to work. It has to be relevant in the current context,” says Ganesh.

Less than 5% of India is disabled-friendly in terms of access to basic infrastructure. Residential buildings, offices, shopping malls, multiplexes and public spaces are mostly inaccessible for the 10 million or so physically challenged people. H&R Johnson, along with Soho Square, aimed to show that adding basic access to public space can make a world of difference if you are differently-abled, be it beaches, temples, stations, airports, coffee shops or cinema halls.

They created the Geotagging feature in India and harnessed the analytics of Google Mapping we are getting people across India to tag places they feel ought to be more accessible to all. Going beyond the petition, they struck conversations, using the hashtag Red Ramp Project, and getting people to share their stories. While the video got two million views, a Member of Parliament as well as the Gujarat government carried out an identical activity on a local beach in Chennai and Gujarat respectively. India’s Prime Minister launched the “Accessible India” initiative and the government reached out seeking partnership for the cause.

As governments focus on raising awareness and brands partner with advertising agencies to drive their CSR initiatives, ultimately both bodies are reaching out to the community. But why is the end goal so different? Why not work on cause advertising campaigns that genuinely work towards driving change? 

What makes a social awareness campaign strong?

Anusheela Saha, NCD, FCB India notes, “Bring behavioural change and inspire action – that’s what social awareness campaigns are made for.”

She shares the example of Ariel’s ‘Share the Load’ campaign. When it all began, two out of every three women felt there was inequality between men and women in the home. At the same time, 76% of men believed that laundry is a woman’s job. The brand with its very first #ShareTheLoad ad not only raised the important question - Is laundry only a woman’s job, but also managed to create a huge impact. 

Before Ariel began this journey, in 2014, 79% Indian men thought household chores are a woman’s/daughter’s job and that ‘outdoors’ work is a man’s/son’s job. In 2016, this number dropped to 63% men and by 2018, this had further dropped to 52%. The advertisement led to over 1.5 million Indian men pledging to Share The Load, paving the way for many millions more toward a world where laundry duty isn’t dependent on your gender.

“Emotions are a powerful driver of consumer behaviour. Ads with an emotional appeal perform twice as well as those with a rational appeal in terms of both short-term and long-term effectiveness. Emotional ads create a deeper, more meaningful connection between the brand and the viewer, which can lead to greater loyalty and advocacy,” mentions Saha. 

More and more consumers are expecting brands to be advocates of change. A report by Kantar found that 54% of consumers now expect brands to take an active role in social conversations.

For example, STIR India with FCB Group India joined hands for the campaign ‘Untangling the Politics of Hair’. Aimed at shedding light on the Mahsa Amini protests in Iran, it highlighted the age-old patriarchy observed in various cultures across the globe regarding a women’s hair and captured attention not only within India but also across international borders. 

The initiative executed by Rohit Chawla and Swati Bhattacharya garnered recognition and support, including the endorsement of Shombi Sharp, the UN Resident Coordinator in India. 

Generating buzz or driving action

When it comes to the metrics of deciding what makes a successful social cause campaign, Saha comments, “Share of voice is one of the best ways to judge the success of a social awareness campaign. Mentions over time, sentiments, and content resonance – are some of the other things to consider as well.”

Sarvesh Raikar, Regional Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas - Mumbai states that earlier social marketing was almost always a film. However, he mentions that times have changed. 

“There is a tremendous change in the way social cause marketing is getting approached today. It's no longer about just putting a spotlight on the cause but about driving policy change, changing attitudes, and generating as much talkability.”

Today, he says it's a filter, a change in the alphabet and tech innovation. Raikar shares examples of campaigns like Unfiltered History Tour, H for Handwashing and Punishing Signal. 

However, Raikar states, “The yardstick to measure every campaign can’t be the same.” 

While fighting the Covid-19 global pandemic, Unilever’s Lifebuoy wanted to make sure handwashing gets the attention it deserves. While children have been learning the letters of the alphabet through simple connections with everyday things, the letter H has always stood for common objects like ‘Hat’. 

The campaign changed this from ‘H for Hat’, to ‘H for Handwashing’. To teach the importance of handwashing not just for children, but for all in life, including teachers, parents, mentors, caregivers, siblings, and grandparents.

Raikar shares, “H for Handwashing was a campaign that was started by the brand Lifebuoy but went on to become the hygiene campaign for over 60 of the world's biggest NGOs, Governments of 7 countries actually initiated policy change. Over 35 countries participated, and millions of children and school children were impacted.”

While this was a brand-led campaign, Lifebuoy brought about behavioural change and impacted multiple groups of consumers.

A lost cause? 

In today’s digital age where social media plays a pivotal role in shaping a consumers’ beliefs, Brand Consultant Sai Ganesh states that brands need to be genuine in their communication. 

“If their efforts are seen as inauthentic or merely a way to promote their sales message, they risk being called out, especially by younger audiences. Brands that genuinely stand for social causes tend to attract younger audiences and differentiate themselves from competitors.”

Social awareness campaigns require strong ethical commitments to support causes genuinely. Simply promoting issues without meaningful action no longer resonates with audiences.

Additionally, audiences today are more polarized, with every point of view having a counterpoint. Ganesh reveals that social media amplifies outrage, leading people to call out mistakes quickly. Therefore, social media campaigns must be carefully crafted to avoid missteps and resonate authentically with audiences.

Sarvesh Raikar of Lowe Lintas - Mumbai states, “Evoking emotion is very important, but it is not always necessary to turn a serious cause into a sob story. When it’s disguised as content it often works much more for today's generation.”

Small number, big impact

Former Chairman & Chief Creative Officer, 82.5 Communications, Ogilvy Group’s Sumanto Chattopadhyay shares that budgets play an important role in reaching out to the audience through social awareness campaigns. 

“A lot of times social awareness campaigns are not backed by a big media budget and therefore do not have a mass impact. However, such a campaign may be so thought-provoking, that it can inspire change or action in the limited number of people who are exposed to it. And that too is success of a kind.”

 During Covid lockdowns, domestic violence spiked all over the world and in India too, wherein victims were unfortunately ‘locked down’ with the perpetrators, exacerbating the problem. 

Chattopadhyay created a social media campaign at 82.5 Communications for the NGO Aangan Trust to raise awareness and to publicise helplines where victims could call for help. 

“While this campaign had a limited scope, the number of calls to the helpline numbers did rise significantly during the campaign period,” Chattopadhyay comments.

Care for cause or awards?

While social cause and awareness campaigns often lead agencies and brands to win awards, this agenda sometimes leads to work that is done merely for eyeballs. Does this approach diminish their overall impact on the intended audience?

Sai Ganesh believes it won’t impact the brand value, highlighting that today's advertising landscape demands creativity that breaks through the clutter. However, he mentions that consumers today are more intelligent and demanding and they appreciate messages and actions that are genuine and meaningful. 

“Creative teams must raise the bar, as the level of creativity expected today is much higher than in the past. Audiences are selective about the campaigns they engage with and share, preferring those that are truly innovative and groundbreaking.”

Sumanto Chattopadhyay believes if a campaign is only seen by award juries then people are right to think of it as a scam. 

“However, if an organisation approaches an agency with a brief for an important social cause but don’t have a budget—then I think it’s alright for the agency to work on it ‘for glory’ as long as they are making a positive contribution to the cause in some way.”

He shares an example of the “Cleft to Smile” campaign that his team created for Operation Smile. Chattopadhyay says that the organisation had no marketing budget but wanted to raise awareness about the important work they were doing, providing free surgeries to children born with cleft, surgeries that turned clefts into smiles. 

With an aim to raise funds, Chattopadhyay and his team at Ogilvy used regular keyboard characters to create a typable and hence tweetable logo “:{to:)” to represent #clefttosmile. 

The initiative was supported by Rajasthan Royals and with their help this logo was tweeted thousands of times. With the help of celebrities including movie stars tweeting the logo, they were able to spread the message to millions of people around the world. 

With this, the organisation and agency effectively harnessed social media buzz to bring about meaningful change.

While this campaign won a Cannes Lion, Chattopadhyay shares that it also made an impact for the cause.

Whether social cause campaigns are made to get eyeballs or win a shiny trophy, as long as the brand’s heart is in the right place and the campaign drives change for the affected groups, it can be considered successful.