World Refugee Day
Global, multi-platform campaign
Produced a Webby Award-winning global campaign for World Refugee Day that celebrated refugees’ contributions to society and drove record-breaking visibility and engagement results for the IRC.
Challenge and Objectives:
With the number of refugees continuing to rise, and with more countries closing borders and refusing to provide refuge, World Refugee Day (June 20) is a critical moment to support the 70.8 million displaced people around the world. In 2019, I led a break-through global campaign on this day for the International Rescue Committee.
Business goals for the project included raising brand awareness with mass market audiences as well as corporates and policy-makers; generating engagement among existing supporters; and attracting new ones for future fundraising appeals and advocacy around refugees and resettlement issues.
Campaign Concept:
The campaign turned an old stereotype that portrays refugees as powerless victims on its head. Our world would be a far different place if refugees like physicist Albert Einstein; musicians Freddie Mercury and M.I.A.;and artist Marc Chagall were never embraced and offered a safe home. From art and science, to film and business, to communities across the globe, when refugees are welcome, their contributions shape our world for the better.
So we asked: Imagine what would we lose if refugees lose our support?
“Power of Welcome” campaign overview.
Use storytelling to humanize and build empathy
A series digital films, each a love letter to a single refugee, served as the narrative core. We enlisted people from all walks of life to read each letter, including celebrity advocates Lena Headey, Mandy Patinkin, and Keegan-Michael Key, and cut those voices together to create a powerful tribute for all refugees — a global call for welcome
Create an unmissable statement
As part of the experience, we partnered with The Metropolitan Museum of Art on a weeklong exhibition that highlighted works of art created by refugees. The centerpiece of the experience was a painting by Marc Chagall, shrouded from view to show what’s lost when refugees lose our support. It was the first time in the museum’s nearly 200-year history for such a stunt.
In the UK, similar activations in the V&A and across the Tate’s four galleries spotlighted works by artists who fled conflict or persecution.
Make a faraway issue feel close to home
A one-day billboard in Times Square, along with subway OOH placements, brought our message to the world in a way that couldn’t be missed on World Refugee Day, and drove passersby to take action by pledging support on our website. (below left)
Full-page ads in The New York Times and the UK’s Guardian newspaper also drove readers to the letter, and to commit to supporting future action. (below center)
To inspire action, we created an “open letter” on our global websites that invited individuals to sign, and join us in standing for a world that always welcomes and supports the rights of refugees. (below right)
Results
The campaign was by far the most successful in IRC history. It was promoted by Queen to their 43M fans, shared by celebrities including Madeleine Albright, Rashida Jones, Richard Branson, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Sting, and supported by 59 IRC partners, including TripAdvisor, the MacArthur Foundation, Ben and Jerry’s, D.C. Comics, and more.
Video series received 9 million views.
59 corporate and luminary partners participated.
Engaged 2 million existing IRC supporters; attracted 15K prospects in one week, and +20K new social fans.