Phare Ponleu Selpak- Non-Profit / Charity Campaign of the Year

Company: Phare Ponleu Selpak, Battambang, Cambodia
Company Description: Phare Ponleu Selpak was founded by Cambodian refugees to restore their country’s culture and education after its artists and teachers were murdered during the Khmer Rouge genocide. Phare educates more than 800 disadvantaged children annually and trains hundreds more in the arts, lifting whole families out of poverty. It is a key driver of Cambodia's social and cultural development.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Non-Profit / Charity

Nomination Title: Phare Into The Future - a communications campaign to beat COVID, protect Cambodian culture, and set a world record

Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched: 29th January 2021.

Phare Ponleu Selpak was founded by Cambodian refugees to restore the country’s culture and education after the country’s artists and teachers were murdered in the Khmer Rouge genocide. It educates 800+ disadvantaged children and trains hundreds more in the visual, musical and performing arts, lifting families out of poverty and helping keep Cambodia’s culture alive into the 21st century.

Phare had taken innovative steps in the last decade to avoid dependence on handouts by creating a popular animal-free circus tourist attraction which funded its life-saving programmes. Unfortunately, COVID-19 closed performances and crushed tourism, slashing Phare’s income by 60%. Despite sweeping cuts, including voluntary salary reductions, Phare needed new funding.

With no fundraising team or budget, communications was the only route to recovery. In the short term, Phare urgently needed new funds to survive 2020 and 2021, with the likeliest source being overseas donors. In the longer term, given the years it will take for tourism to recover, it needed to grow its profile in Cambodia and increase local appetite for circus entertainment. Finally, it needed to increase its own visibility and build up greater business support in a developing country where corporate arts sponsorship is still nascent.

A virtual fundraising gala was proposed to raise money rapidly, but Phare hadn’t run one before and didn’t have an existing team, wealthy supporter networks, or a fundraising budget. In addition, thousands of NGOs across the world were struggling and fighting forfunds. Something creative and spectacularwould be necessary to grab attention.

The big idea: Phare would set a Guinness World Record for “Longest Circus Show”, with overseas viewers invited to attend via virtual fundraising galas. This would accomplish three goals:

GOAL#1: Provide newsworthiness for a communications campaign to grab international attention and raise $50,000 minimum
GOAL#2: Generate enough media buzz to significantly expand local following and increase future appetite for circus entertainment
GOAL#3 Showcase Phare’s creativity, resilience and impact, winning business support.

A 24-hour show was agreed as being (barely) feasible while also a sufficiently astonishing feat of endurance and artistry to inspire journalists and social media users to share it globally. A proposal was sent to Guinness and approved. For fundraising, the communications team-of-3 then developed two online galas for different timezones, ensuring they were full of compelling virtual content, including videos, prize draws, and interviews with students, founders, celebrities.

The event – named “Phare into the Future” - therefore comprised a physical world record event linked to two virtual galas and also livestreamed within Cambodia. This was unprecedented in innovation and complexity for a local NGO with limited resources, so rigorous planning was essential. The team choreographed a schedule which met Guinness’ stringent criteria of professional performance with no repetitions in front of an audience of 50 (even at 3am!). Necessary COVID-19 precautions added challenges.

If the event was complex, so were the communications, but they were essential.With a promotional budget under $300, clear and robust messaging alongside smart use of free traditional/social media would be make-or-break.

A sophisticated pre, during and post-event media strategy placed dozens of features in print newspapers, online websites and social media groups.

For social media, budget constraints meant no new promos, so an older music video was innovatively adapted with updated graphic-text. This was launched through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and mailing lists,alongside branded, emotionally engaging content about Phare’s history, impact and students. Innovative social media features included Facebook Frames, “how-to-support” infographics, Facebook Events and Instagram/Facebook Live “sneak previews”.

Halfway through the campaign, mobile provider Cellcard were soimpressed they becameEvent Sponsor, bringinginfluencersBunleng and Megamind to generateviral content. An American reality-TV celebrity and a Phare-student-turned-Cirque-du-Soleil-star amplified our reach overseas.

RESULTS:

GOAL#1: INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION.
Dozens of traditional/social media outlets ran stories. Counting Facebook followings alone, our content could be seen by a combined audience of 11,600,000. As a result, 2,000+ supporters from five continents joined the galas, donating $97,000+.

GOAL#2: LOCAL FOLLOWING.
The 24-hour-event was livestreamed on Cellcard's Facebook, generating 438,000 organic views. Including related videos on Phare’s social media, there were 1,527,000 views. Additionally, 4,000+ Cambodian donors contributed $30,000+, creating a fundraising total of $127,000 - more than doublingour target.

GOAL#3: BUSINESS SUPPORT.
Phare successfully set a world record with a 24-hour-10-minute show featuring 90 artists. Blanket media coverage and three subsequent international awards persuaded Cellcard and national bank Acleda to become long-term partners.

The combined successeswillkeep life-saving programmes alive until performances resume.

The attached PDF includes some of our social media content and media coverage from Cambodia and internationally, demonstrating the enormous variety and reach of a campaign with a budget under $300.

The first embedded video shows the promo video innovatively created by welding an older music video with new graphic text.

The second embedded video shows the celebration video created after the event from security camera and Cellcard footage.

The first URL is a full page feature from the Phnom Penh Post, celebrating the event's success in winning three international awards including a Gold and a Silver Stevie from the Asia-Pacific Stevies - the prestige of these won both business and Government support.

The second URL shows What's On Phnom Penh and demonstrates how the Guinness world record attempt generated enormous media interest.

The third URL is from Radio Taiwan International (Mandirin language) and demonstrates the international impact of the communications.

The fourth URL is from Khmer Times and celebrates the success of the partnership with Cellcard in setting the record.

The fifth URL is a full page feature from the Post Khmer and demonstrates that the coverage was in English and Khmer language.

The sixth and final URL is the Phare Ponleu Selpak Facebook page where you can see the evolution of the campaign.