2023
DMA – Health and Wellness: Bonze
DMA – Brand Experience: Gold
2024
Campaign Purpose – Best Health Cause Campaign
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 myth-busting 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.