Ogilvy SL’s Second Life Notebooks campaign records historic award run

Sugath Wasantha de Silva

Lalith Sumanasiri

Nadeera Warawita

The Second Life Notebooks campaign by Ogilvy’s Geometry Global Sri Lanka for ProMate (PrintXcel) has become the most internationally awarded single campaign in Sri Lanka’s advertising history. 

Its latest recognition comes from the coveted Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity held in France, where it earned four shortlist nods.

The campaign, in total, has garnered 17 awards and shortlist honours at some of the world’s most respected creative and advertising festivals between 2024 and 2025, including Dragons of Asia, EPICA, Spikes Asia, AdFest, Clio Awards, D&AD and Cannes Lions.

The need for the campaign arose from a sudden 300 percent surge in paper prices, a consequence of Sri Lanka’s recent economic crisis. This sharp increase made Braille writing books unaffordable for many families and schools.

Ogilvy’s Geometry Global team conceptualised a simple yet powerful idea: to give used notebooks in Sri Lanka a second life and in doing so, offer visually impaired students a fairer chance at education. The campaign invited the public to donate gently used notebooks, which were repurposed into Braille writing books. Second Life Notebooks was a deeply human creative campaign, and it resonated with the Sri Lankan public, garnering unprecedented community support and donations. 

As a result, it was able to provide Braille notebooks to visually impaired students in every government school across the country.

Sri Lanka’s first visually impaired Member of Parliament Sugath Wasantha de Silva said, “This initiative is truly a social service, a programme launched from a deep understanding of social responsibility. In a time of severe paper shortage and an unprecedented crisis, recognising this need and intervening to provide a solution, that is the essence of humanity. 

As a social activist and a visually impaired person who intimately understands the struggle of not being able to get an education without paper, I can say this is an outstanding endeavour. The fact that the value of this initiative has been recognised beyond our shores and gained international appreciation fills me with immense pride and happiness as a Sri Lankan and a member of the beneficiary community.” 

Nadeera Warawita, Creative Group Head at Geometry Global Sri Lanka and ideator of the campaign, said, “The recognition the campaign has received is humbling but the true reward, as a creative, was seeing children use these books and being given the opportunity to continue their learning.”

Ogilvy Digital, Ogilvy Media & Geometry Global Managing Director Lalith Sumanasiri noted, “With Second Life Notebooks, we identified a critical need in society and connected it to what our client could uniquely offer. This campaign demonstrates how creativity, when grounded in purpose and strategy, can deliver not just awards but real, measurable impact.” 

PrintXcel Group of Companies Group Chief Executive Officer P. Kudabalage commented, “This campaign has been deeply meaningful for us because it reflects the kind of brand we aspire to be: one that stands for purpose, innovation and community. It helped us connect with people in a way that goes far beyond product and that connection is invaluable for the brand in the long term. The international recognition the campaign has received for its impact is a reminder of what’s possible when brands use creativity as a force for good.”