Public Relations Assignment

 About the campaign: ‘If London were Syria’

campaign was launched by United Kingdom based
organization namely ‘Save The Children’ which
aims at providing under privileged children with
better healthcare facilities, education and protection
especially in war-torn regions or areas affected by
natural disasters. This campaign was launched on
5th March 2014 coinciding with the anniversary of
Syrian Crisis with the objective of raising funds
and donations to provide urgent relief to Syrian
children and increasing global awareness for all the
children who were still affected by the war and had
to live as refugees away from their families and
homes. They did so through posting a heart
wrenching video of a British girl experiencing a
life like that of Syria. It was titled ‘Most Shocking
Second a Day Video’ on YouTube with a tag line
“Just because it isn’t happening here doesn’t mean
it isn’t happening.” Another objective was to instil
a feeling of empathy instead of apathy for Syrian
kids in the hearts of people living outside of that
country so that they contribute more into the cause.
 Target Audience: The campaign was based on
people in Britain who were not aware of the
situation in Syria. They targeted families especially
parents with children so that they empathize with
Syrian kids and make donations. However, their
target audience was also extended beyond Britain
to other countries with families from privileged
background in order to raise awareness and
contribution.
 What Channels of Communications were used
to run the campaign? Tools and Techniques
used:
The organization mainly used digital channels such
as their own website, video sharing websites such
as YouTube and social media channels like
Facebook and Twitter through photo campaigning
and using hashtags like #FaceofSyria and
#savechildrefugees. This campaign also makes use
of earned media as it was covered by websites like
Metro, Fast Company, abcNews, The Independent,
The Times, etc. It was also shared by multiple
celebrities like Ashton Kutcher and promoted by
broadcast and social media such as The Viral
Factory and commentators like Fairsay and The
drums. External media included video releases and
featured articles.
 Result of the campaign: There was a 25%
increment in the donations within the first week of
video release. The video garnered the attention of
people across the globe attaining over sixty million
views. It was shared over one million times and
was featured on Reddit. This also lead to 93%
increment in total donations and around 1000%
increase in channel subscriptions with over 150
media coverage.
 Critical Analysis: The online campaign claimed as
one of the most successful charity film makes a
spectacular use of second-a-day video format. They
tried to attain their objective by striking an
emotional chord with its viewers and utilising
theory of social identity where the viewer places
itself in the place of source invoking strong
emotions of generosity and sympathy as they relate
to the narrative. Through its powerful storytelling it
was able to connect the viewers of different
countries to that of Syria overcoming the barriers
of politics and geography.

 References:
https://www.dontpaniclondon.com/project/most-shocking-second-a-day/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_London_Were_Syria
http://persuasion-and-influence.blogspot.com/2018/03/if-london-were-syria.html?m=1
https://www.thedrum.com/news/2014/03/05/save-children-launch-hard-hitting-if-london-
was-syria-campaign
https://www.marketingweek.com/save-the-children-commits-to-more-global-marketing-
following-success-of-if-london-were-syria-campaign/

Name-Mahi Raja
Roll no-2258