2023 Gold Brand Experience

Agency: RAPP

Client: mothers2mothers

Entry Title: The Don't Buy It Stall

Executive Summary

In sub-Saharan Africa, misinformation about sexual health is rife. Young girls are told many myths: if they shower after sex they can’t catch HIV being just one.

Strategy

Community is powerful in sub-Saharan Africa, people coming together to share stories and look out for one and another. So, when an older boy or government figure publicly announces that a shower after sex can stop you getting HIV, young girls are likely to believe it, even if it doesn’t feel right.

Girls have become trapped in a sexist, ageist, racist culture of manipulation, where a new sexually transmitted infection occurs every two minutes and one in five adolescent girls become pregnant.

mothers2mothers provides one-to-one advice through community-based ‘Mentor Mothers’ and needed to challenge the myths head-on.

RAPP and partners ran workshops and consultation sessions to identify myths, and the most appropriate location to bust them: the busiest marketplace in Ghana, Makola in Accra.

Creativity

The team set up a stall that sold nothing but the truth.

The Don’t Buy It stall was stocked with dozens of items branded #DONTBUYIT, each with a mythbusting product description, including shower gel that dispelled the myth about showering after sex as a way to prevent HIV infection.

The stall was run by experienced Mentor Mothers who passed on their wisdom to young girls who visited. The space also offered a separate and private area to discuss sexual health and get an HIV test.

The hashtag amplified activity in social channels to a wider, international audience. A dedicated website provided next steps for worried girls and prompts for businesses to get involved with sponsorship.

Results

With 5% of the Ghanaian population attending the market over the seven days, the campaign reached millions, sparking curiosity and getting people talking in a space that naturally connects people across generations and genders, making the message hard to ignore.

With community outreach, and TV and radio partnerships, it also reached 70% of the population nationwide, helping those who weren’t at the market to separate myths from facts.

The work inspired more than 4,500 people to connect with mothers2mothers: a 155% uplift in brand engagement in just seven days.

#DONTBUYIT has revolutionised the way mothers2mothers operates and how it connects with adolescent girls. The campaign has built living, breathing assets that can be scaled and flexed depending on location.

The Team

RAPP - Paul McCarroll, Creative - Ant McGinty, Creative - Lily Tidy, Planning Director - Afua Basoah, Head of Healthcare Strategy - Stephanie Bryan-Kinns, Senior Designer - Marietta Theodorakopoulou, Project Manager - Al Mackie, Chief Creative Officer - Jason Cascarina, Deputy Executive Creative Director - Gabrielle Ludzker, CEO - Caroline Parkes, Chief Strategy Officer - Claire Perkins, Client Services - Jay Green, Junior Planner - Joe Mills, Client services - Josie Franco, Account Manager - Steph Hottlet, Head of Production - Hiten Bhatt, Head of Design - Oz Osborne, Head of Motion - Abhi Kamalanathan, Motion

Timothy Doh Films - Timothy Edzeani, Doh Producer/Director - Gideon Dela, Anku Jnr Camera Operator -Kirrick Nartey, Additional Camera - Emmanuel Tetteh Narh, Sound Recordist - Vincent Abayateye, DIT/Video Editor - William Kobla Mensah, Location Coordinator - Andrew Dzifa Kofi Gawuga, Driver

OMD - Jerfeerson Sowah, Coordinator - Abigaile Kesse, PR lead

mothers2mothers - Yvonne Ferguson Lead

Contributors

Timothy Doh Films