Leo Burnett opens millions of eyes to blindness

Sri Lanka has a population of 20 million. Of these, around200,000 people are believed to beblind and over 400,000 are havinglow vision. In many cases the low vision canbecuredwith a replacement and the availability of ahealthy pair of eyes.The Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society wanted to use the White Cane Day to encouragedonors and enlist more. Leo Burnett, Sri Lanka wasentrustedwith the reposnsibilityto come up with a strategytoachievethis objective.

Sri Lanka, predominantly a Buddhist country whereDåna or giving, compasionisheavilyencouraged. Yetwithoutstrongpromptingorgan donation isusually a forgotten practice. Inorderto find a medium of disruption, Leo Burnett, Sri Lankalooked at the viewershipsfor teledramas in Sri Lanka.Afterwards the agencypartneredwithSirasa TV to use the mostwatchedteledrama in the country, ‘MeyAdarayai’as a plafrom to implement the strategy. With a viewership of over 80% of the local  population , they picked up the most intense or the mostlooked out 30 seconds of the tele-drama. The visual component wasdisableduring the selected duration leaving the viewerjustwith the auido. A messag eemphasing the importance of donating and sharing sightfollowedthissuddendistruption on the mostwatched TV program. 

The distruptioncampaignwasverywellrecieved and the resultswere visible from the nextdayonwards as the organizationreceived the highestnumber of eyedonorpledgesreceivedwithin a day. Eversincethen the number of call-ins and the walk-ins at the Sri Lanka eyedonation society has doubled.  

The media innovation, now has been recognised around the world for its effectiveness and stands as a testament to the power of meaningful communication and the impact it has on positive change.