Time to #ClearThePitch and make it safe for children

Client: DanChurchAid

Agency: Grey for Good, Grey Group Singapore

Campaign name: #ClearThePitch

Markets: Worldwide

Campaign scope: Video and microsite

Campaign duration: Year-long  

Details:

According to Grey, it is a topic often described as one of the most evil problems affecting millions of civilians in over 60 countries around the world, but takes a mammoth effort to tackle.

To raise awareness and get the conversation going, the team has developed an integrated campaign that builds an emotional link to one of the world’s biggest sports: football.

Football is a universal sport played on streets, fields, playgrounds, parking lots and many more places. But due to remnants of war such as land mines, cluster bombs and unexploded ammunition, in large parts of the world playing football on fields can be extremely dangerous—especially for children.

The #ClearThePitch campaign links the global love for football with the aim of creating greater awareness and support for the essential work of making communities in post-conflict zones safer to live.

Quotes:

Richard MacCormac, DCA head of Mine Action:

"Together with Grey for Good, we look forward to driving an impact on this issue. The goal is not only creating safe ‘football pitches’ for children, but to also provide safe and secure living conditions for families and communities so they can live a ‘normal’ life."

Till Hohmann, executive creative director & vice president (GSK), Grey Group Singapore.

"The theme of football is everything but random. It allows us to reach and involve a huge group of people: not just millions of fans but also the clubs, players, associations and potentially even the sponsors. With a surprising but actually hard-hitting link: for millions of children playing the sport we all love is extremely dangerous. Our hope is to capture the imagination of the world of football to give the topic and our partner DCA both the visibility and the financial support that are so urgently needed."

Campaign Asia-Pacific’s view: According to the campaign’s microsite, last year in more than 60 countries, there were 3,600 recorded casualties of remnants of war such as land mines, cluster bombs and unexploded ammunition. Eighty percent of those killed or maimed were civilians…4-in-10 were children.

That children in so many countries can’t enjoy a simple thing such as a game of football without fear of land mines is certainly a cause worth talking about and getting involved in.

The video, the first in what will be an ongoing campaign for the rest of the year does a great job with highlighting in stark and simple terms, just how overlooked the issue is.

Kudos to Grey for devoting resources to this effort, and we look forward to seeing how the campaign plays out in the months ahead.

Credits:

NGO and brand: DCA Mine Action

Client team: Richard MacCormac, Nikolaj Søndergaard, Christian Sophus Ehlers, Anne Kristine Erhardsen, Camilla Tollstorff Ardilsø, Mulle Juul Korsholm, Anne Mousten, Tobias Juhler Maureschat

Agency: Grey Group Singapore (through Grey for Good)

Agency team: Till Hohmann (ECD), Antonio Bonifacio (CD), Konstantin Popovic (MD), James Dickinson (CW), Luis Fabra (AD), Brendan Cravitz (Sr. EP), Lauren Rilley (Producer), Rasyiqah Rahman (AM), Suresh Ramaswamy (Digital lead), Karishma Menon (Digital), Low Jun Jek (Digital), Huma Qureshi (PR lead), Yanrong Pang (PR).

Film production company: Great Guns
Executive producer: Laura Gregory
Producer: Mathew Alden
Line producer: Ann Suthida Sihasavetra
Director: James Teh
DOP: Sinthop Sophon (Jeab)
Production design: Nattachai Kitjanawanchai (Nut Art)

Music and sound design: Yessian Music, New York
Composer/arranger: Michael Dragovic
Sound designer/mixer: Jeff Dittenber
CCO: Brian Yessian

Song: "You’ll Never Walk Alone” (by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II)

Editing and post-production: Cutters
Production team: Timo Otsuki, Shumpei Negami
Editing and post production team: Ryan McGuire, Ben Conkey, Toshiki Kamei, Dr. Yu, Tomomi Ogawa