The Malaria Must Die campaign began earlier this year where it was championed by David Beckham, launching the world’s first voice petition to end malaria. In a short film, Beckham appears to speak nine languages using emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) video synthesis technology.
People around the world were invited to speak up by visiting malariamustdie.com and recording the message ‘Malaria Must Die’. The campaign was launched last week in South Africa by Primedia Outdoor using digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) advertising activations to inspire people to join the world’s first voice petition to end malaria.
The DOOH campaign will now reach Europe, Africa and the Middle-East. All of the messages collected via the voice petition will be presented to top decision makers and world leaders at the Global Fund’s Sixth Replenishment Conference in Lyon (France) in a powerful short film. The Global Fund is dedicated to ending the world’s three biggest preventable killer diseases: AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and is seeking to raise at least US $14 billion for the next three years from donor governments, implementing countries and the private sector, to help save 16 million lives.
The Global Fund is dedicated to ending the world’s three biggest preventable killer diseases – AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and is seeking to raise at least US$14 billion for the next three years from donor governments, implementing countries and the private sector, to help save 16 million lives.
Last month, the campaign activated online and DOOH displays across New York City during the annual United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) meeting held from 23-27 September, calling on more supporters to add their voice to the petition via the world’s first malaria Augmented Reality (AR) filter.
Developed pro-bono by Facebook and Powster (an award-winning interactive and production company), the filter is available on Facebook and Instagram. The filter simulates a swarm of deadly mosquitoes around the user’s head which only dissipate when ‘Malaria Must Die’ is spoken, reinforcing the message that malaria declines with increased action but can return with a vengeance when the fight is deprioritised.
Quividi, the world-leading audience and campaign intelligence platform for digital Out-of-Home, has rallied a coalition of preeminent OOH publishers and media owners – Domminaction, Grandi Stazioni Retail, Imediacenter, Pikasso and Primedia Outdoor – to provide pro-bono digital Out-of-Home advertising space, in a selection of strategic locations including malls, train stations and city centres across South Africa, Algeria, France, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jordan and Lebanon.
Primedia Outdoor is engaging mall shoppers with a Quividi-powered life-size DOOH version of the malaria AR filter, that can be experienced in Fourways Mall, Johannesburg. At the same time, Primedia Outdoor’s roadside LED network will display an advert of Beckham surrounded by thousands of mosquitoes, inviting the audience to join the voice petition and help end Malaria.
Abi Smith, Creative Director at Powster said, ‘We’re extremely proud to have the opportunity to support such an important campaign. Working with Spark AR and Quividi provides a fantastic platform for us to innovate and share the message to ‘Speak Up’ with audiences on and offline in a way that is both playful and meaningful. It’s exciting to employ our technical expertise to create a really cutting-edge experience that will capture attention and help amplify the Malaria Must Die message around the world.’
Ke-Quang Nguyen-Phuc, CEO at Quividi said, ‘We feel privileged to use our digital Out-of-Home audience intelligence platform for such a great cause. Leveraging Powster’s striking face responsive experience, our technology can add its voice to this powerful collective to end malaria. We are also grateful to all our OOH and technology partners that provided pro-bono Digital Out-of-Home advertising space and an interactive digital screen for this fantastic initiative.’
Jorja Wilkins, Marketing and Marketing Services Executive of Primedia Outdoor said, ‘It is a great privilege to have been selected as the media partner for the ‘Malaria Must Die’ campaign in South Africa, and to be part of such a meaningful global initiative. Our mall and roadside digital platforms offer key podiums for this important cause in reaching mass audiences and ensures awareness and engagement for the campaign.’
James Whiting, CEO of Malaria No More UK said, ‘It’s important to find new ways to amplify the voices of those affected by malaria and give everyone the opportunity to speak out and call for more action to end this preventable disease. Malaria is the world’s oldest and deadliest disease and is still claiming the life of a child every two minutes. We want to grab the attention of world leaders and to demonstrate that people around the world have demanded an end to malaria in their generation.’
