HANDS OF HOPE

UNHCR is proud to present the HANDS OF HOPE campaign, the first of its kind in Malaysia - a multi-media awareness campaign on refugees produced through the collaboration with ad agency EURO RSCG Kuala Lumpur. This is a campaign that was produced, and will be launched, in Malaysia, and then will be taken to the international arena through other UNHCR Offices in the region and worldwide.

The HANDS OF HOPE campaign begun, as many great ideas do, with a small group of concerned individuals who volunteered their time and harnessed their creativity to give a voice to the voiceless - the refugees.

The result is an insightful, thought-provoking and highly creative set of media materials (TV ad/Public Service Announcement, print ad, table top ad and poster set) that revolutionises the way we communicate on refugee issues.

Objectives of the campaign:

• Humanise the refugee issues: To strip away any political baggages that tend to be associated with the issue, and present it at a fundamental, humanitarian level.
• Define the refugee: To clear public misconceptions or misunderstandings of who the refugee is.
• Tell the refugee’s story: To encourage understanding of why the refugee was compelled to flee his/her country and the circumstances that forced this to happen, and to create empathy for their plight while living in exile.

“HANDS OF HOPE” PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT

The flagship item produced in this campaign is a 90-second Public Service Announcement for TV in English. It is a brilliantly-produced piece, where the blend of powerful narration and music meet beautifully-rendered graphics to tell a compelling tale.

In the Public Service Announcement, ‘hands’ tell the story of a young refugee girl’s flight of terror from war and separation from her family, only to find greater uncertainty and danger while in exile. Ultimately, the message at the end is one of hope that helping hands can turn tragic stories into happy endings.

‘Hands’ feature strongly in this TV ad to illustrate the power for action, be it for good or evil, for protection or destruction, that lie in the hands of each individual. The power to make the change is in the individual’s hands.

Focus groups (Malaysians and non-Malaysians) when shown the TV ad, have responded positively, and have been impressed both by the relevant content matter and the quality of its production.

This is the first time that a Malaysian-produced TV ad on refugee issues will be used in a worldwide public awareness campaign.

View the TV ad at YouTube or download a copy here.

Table Top Advertisement - The Survival Game

Mimicking the layout of a board game, this table top advertisement allows the viewer to experience the instability and vulnerabilities of a refugee’s life as he/she seeks safety in a country far from his/her own, by following the boxes of events that fringe the board. These boxes contain snippets of the challenges faced by refugees in their day to day lives.

Magazine advertisement - A Refugee’s Flight

This is an interactive advertisement comprising several panels to be placed within the pages of magazines or newspapers. Each panel tells a part of a refugee’s story from the moment his/her life is in danger, till he/she is compelled to flee. It allows the reader to determine the path to take between two options and illustrates how decision made frequently leads to even greater uncertainty.

Money notes

Designed as direct mailers or pamphlets, these “notes” depict fictional currency aimed at encouraging the public to donate to the refugee cause. This advertisement recently picked up three gold medals at the 2008 Golden Award of Montreux International Advertising Festival for their work for UNHCR. The winning work make Euro RSCG the most awarded agency in Asia at Montreux.