Although their penetration has fallen over recent years, magazines continue to be a key medium for beauty brands, which have converted the sample format to publicize their products. The organization Doctors Without Borders is now appropriating these communication codes to raise awareness among consumers and remind them of the importance of having basic health resources in humanitarian emergency situations.
Together with the Mediaplus Berlin agency and its creative division, Mediaplus Creative Collective, it has developed a campaign in Germany that reinterprets a traditional strategy in the perfume category. But instead of offering colony tests, it has delivered samples of disinfectant, an essential product to protect patients and healthcare professionals in crisis contexts.
The action has been developed under the concept “Un parfum sans frontières” (A perfume without borders) and the motto “This aroma knows no borders”, and has been specifically executed in environments where consumers expect to find perfume advertising. In this way, advertisements with samples have been included in mass consumption publications, such as Cosmopolitan either Good Health Magazine.
In addition, as explained by the agency, printed advertisements have been activated with a QR code that directs to the Doctors Without Borders website in publications linked to beauty, fashion and lifestyle, such as FAZ Magazin, Brigitte, Gala, Bunte, Freundin and Emotion. As a complement, postcards with samples have also been distributed through the online perfumery retailer Flaconi and in selected beauty salons. Likewise, efforts have been made to enhance the reach with outdoor advertising executions, whose graphics have been placed in the vicinity of perfume shops such as Douglas, on the Kurfürstendamm, one of the busiest streets in Berlin.
In all of them the message is the same: “This aroma knows no borders. This scent changes everything. It makes some hearts beat faster, it allows others to keep beating. Protect, save lives and bring hope and hope to those who need it.n”, explain the creatives. “Since 1971, Doctors Without Borders has done everything possible to ensure that this aroma reaches all those whose health is in danger. Your donation helps us achieve this”.
The campaign, which started on October 1 and will remain active until the end of the month, seeks to raise funds among German society to carry out the organization’s projects. And, in this sense, it has resorted to a recognizable advertising format, and at the same time unexpected for the content of the message, in order to capture the attention of the audience.
“Nowadays, many people no longer pay attention to NGOs. Therefore, this time we have decided not to speak, but to reach people through another sense: smell.“; explained Nicole Huwendiek, Senior Recruitment Campaigns Advisor at Doctors Without Borders Germany. “Presenting a disinfectant in sample format breaks with the usual and directs attention towards something that truly changes lives: basic medical care”.
In this sense, the action plays with contrast by resorting to an advertising code associated with beauty and luxury to draw attention to an elementary need, that of having health care when it is most needed. “Attention is not achieved through outreach alone; an idea comes to life thanks to the context“; commented Elke Reibetanz, Managing Partner of Mediaplus Berlin. “By reinterpreting a familiar advertising format, we create an unexpected touchpoint that invites people to stop for a moment and makes visible the important work of Doctors Without Borders”.
