The encyclopedia · Marketing & Brand · Marketing decision · 2022–2024
EBM replaced Pakistan's news anchors with schoolgirls for one night
EBM put girls who couldn't read three years earlier behind the news desk on Pakistan's top channels; girls' enrollment rose 57% across 160+ schools.
EBM
the move
In Pakistan, cultural and economic pressures lead parents to keep daughters out of school; the Global Gender Gap Report ranked the country 145th of 156, and about 66% of girls never reach high school. Biscuit maker EBM, whose customers are families, wanted to change that.
Instead of a campaign about the value of education, Impact BBDO demonstrated it: for one night, schoolgirls who could not read three years earlier replaced the news anchors on Pakistan's three leading channels, wearing school uniforms and reporting in impeccable Urdu and English.
Seeing girls who had been illiterate read the news to millions made the case more powerfully than any statistic, and the broadcast went viral almost overnight, starting nationwide conversations about girls' education.
why it works
- Live proof outperformed any argument about education's value.
- Prime-time news placed the message in every household at once.
- The girls' uniforms and fluency made the transformation visible.
- The campaign's virality amplified the message far beyond paid media.
what transfers
Show the outcome instead of the argument; letting the affected people perform the change is more persuasive than any appeal to parents.
what came after
The broadcast drew more than 150 million impressions and trended on social media. EBM followed up with a policy of working only with schools that enroll equal numbers of girls and boys, and across 160+ partner schools girls' enrollment rose to 57% of students. The work was shortlisted for the Glass award at Spikes Asia 2024 and won multiple honors at LIA and D&AD.
references
- The fight for equality unites this year's Spikes Asia Glass shortlist
- Schoolgirl Newscasters — LIA 2023 entry
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