The global pandemic saw schoolchildren across the world having to adjust to online learning, with many lacking access to the necessary technology needed to be able to continue to learn at home.
The campaign took over OOH advertising space and social media to shed light on what it feels like to be illiterate. This was done by creating a series of images featuring only ‘gibberish’ in the form of a mixture of random letters appearing to make up a sentence.
Over Easter, digital screens in Finland’s largest cities featured the campaign and TBWA\Helsinki had reported that some readers suspected the ads to be faulty, sparking discussion and speculation in the local news.
Over 700 million people in Western countries can’t read
According to the advertising company, there was even speculation on social media that the advertising spaces and influencer social media channels had been hijacked.
Whilst many of us will take the ability to read for granted, 770 million people in Western countries lack this basic skill. The ongoing pandemic has amplified this crisis as it left millions of young people without access to adequate education for an entire year.
Concerns have now been raised that the biggest effect of this will be felt post-pandemic with many children not making it back into education at all.
Clear Channel donated its OOH spaces for the campaign
Paula Sonne, head of communications and partner at TBWA\Helsinki comments: “This campaign was a good example on how the best campaigns often break the rules and the barriers between different aspects of marketing.
“By combining elements from advertising, influencer marketing and communications we were able to create a phenomena around the topic that deserves to be heard.”
The campaign ran for four days across Easter in 21 cities and Clear Channel donated some of its OOH advertising space for the campaign.
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