Leo Burnett Sri Lanka (LBSL), the local office of the global advertising network Leo Burnett Worldwide, was the only agency from Sri Lanka to earn an accolade at Spikes Asia 2016. The agency secured two short lists and was honoured to be the recipient of a Bronze Spike in the most challenging film category. These successes and the accolades secured by Burnett offices within the region enabled the Leo Burnett Worldwide network to secure the 3rd place in the network rankings.
The Bronze Spikes winning idea, the ‘White Cane Day’ campaign was conceptualised in partnership with the Sri Lanka Eye Donation Society to encourage empathy for individuals suffering from visual impairments. At present there are 200,000 blind individuals and 400,000 visually impaired persons living in Sri Lanka out of a population of 21 million. In many of these cases their blindness could be cured if a healthy pair of eyes was available, but at any given time the eye depositories have less than half the required amount.
With the ‘White Cane Day’, media innovation the agency wanted to leave a lasting message with members of the public who have sight to encourage viewers to pledge to donate their eyes. This campaign idea vividly demonstrated the darkness experienced by the blind.