00:00 I work for the One Campaign.
00:01 Um,
00:02 again,
00:02 a part of,
00:03 I've been a part of DM for,
00:05 for quite some time since 2012.
00:07 And,
00:08 um,
00:08 leading,
00:08 leading the work at the One Campaign in Africa,
00:11 uh,
00:12 we've done several things that that goes from entertainment to,
00:16 um,
00:17 entertainment to,
00:18 to development
00:19 and basically looking at the,
00:21 the way we can draw,
00:22 uh,
00:23 the power of celebrity in mobilizing people to take action.
00:27 Particularly on the African continent,
00:28 a,
00:28 a,
00:29 a great deal of mobilization
00:30 is required.
00:31 I,
00:32 I will be sharing my screen,
00:33 uh,
00:33 just now,
00:34 just to share
00:35 one example of,
00:36 um,
00:38 that work that we've done.
00:39 And,
00:39 and the reason why this is particularly important is cause it's the most
00:42 late,
00:43 it's the latest of all of the things that we've done around COVID in,
00:45 in response to COVID.
00:47 So,
00:47 this was the kind of headlines we're seeing initially,
00:49 um,
00:51 Um,
00:52 just when COVID started.
00:53 The question was,
00:54 there was a lot of
00:56 pushback,
00:56 especially when celebrities got
00:58 into the business of COVID because nobody understood it.
01:00 It was,
01:01 there was a lot of,
01:02 uh,
01:03 apprehension about
01:04 what is this?
01:05 And when,
01:05 when people put their voices into this,
01:07 it kind of looked like,
01:09 shut up.
01:09 You don't know what you're saying.
01:11 Those,
01:11 those kind of,
01:11 and there's a lot of division in terms of understanding of what COVID was about.
01:15 A lot of disinformation.
01:16 And that was the background,
01:18 but we knew that
01:19 the people that are following our celebrities,
01:21 you know,
01:22 if they have the right information,
01:24 that's a theory of change.
01:25 If they got the right
01:26 content,
01:27 the right information about COVID,
01:29 the right understanding,
01:30 the right
01:30 um
01:32 um ideas about how this is morphing into
01:35 uh and impacting people's lives,
01:36 that could change the narrative,
01:38 especially in the face of,
01:40 uh,
01:40 the vaccines when they were developing.
01:42 So this is what we launched the Pass the mic,
01:43 uh,
01:44 Past the mic,
01:44 particularly,
01:45 um.
01:46 In partnership with the
01:47 creative agency Hive,
01:49 uh,
01:49 we,
01:49 the idea here was to leverage public awareness
01:52 and engagement,
01:53 to basically prod political action.
01:55 And because then,
01:56 the biggest,
01:57 uh,
01:58 response to COVID
01:59 was very nationalistic,
02:00 very,
02:01 um,
02:02 uh,
02:02 populist.
02:03 Country,
02:04 it was difficult to get the whole world to act together because we thought
02:09 it was a global pandemic,
02:10 the action should be global,
02:11 it should be coordinated.
02:12 So we have the WHO doing its bit,
02:14 but different countries were basically
02:16 trying to focus on their own people.
02:18 But what we,
02:19 what we were saying then that
02:21 The,
02:21 the vaccines,
02:22 or rather the,
02:22 the virus does not respect boundaries.
02:24 So if it still exists anywhere in the world,
02:27 it will get to every part of the world.
02:29 So they,
02:29 it was important to talk about the vaccines
02:32 as a globe,
02:33 but we were not getting that.
02:34 So the idea here was,
02:35 how do we get people to press the political class to
02:38 take the action that they need to take to act collectively.
02:41 And this is where we launched the Past the Mike uh campaign in May 2020.
02:45 And so what did we get?
02:46 We got about 42 pairs of talent and
02:49 And um profess sorry,
02:51 and experts,
02:52 talents and experts,
02:54 about 42 there.
02:55 In,
02:55 in,
02:55 in,
02:56 in,
02:56 in,
02:56 in this image that you're seeing here,
02:58 it's just a rough sketch of the different types of talents
03:01 and the different experts that we paired together across the world in,
03:04 in the US
03:05 and when we,
03:06 when we kind of
03:08 paired them,
03:09 it was not to get the talents to talk about COVID.
03:12 It was to get the talents to hand their,
03:15 hand over their own social media accounts.
03:18 To these experts to speak
03:20 and dish out the right,
03:22 the facts about,
03:23 about COVID,
03:24 about the pandemic,
03:25 and about what needs to happen
03:27 to get us to the end or to get us out of the pandemic.
03:30 That's what we,
03:30 that's what we did.
03:31 And then,
03:32 uh,
03:32 particularly,
03:33 we also went ahead.
03:35 After the global campaign and the global launch,
03:37 we went ahead on the African continent,
03:38 particularly.
03:39 We,
03:40 we targeted experts
03:42 and talents based on the continent,
03:44 targeted to the African people
03:45 because of the huge disinformation
03:48 that was really,
03:49 really across the continent.
03:50 So even when the vaccines were available,
03:52 there was a lot of reluctance,
03:53 a lot of um
03:55 Hesitancy,
03:56 all kinds of information was going on around what,
03:59 you know,
04:00 what the vaccines will do and all of that.
04:01 So what we did here also was to get
04:03 local talents within the African continent
04:06 and experts that are also trusted by Africans to talk about the vaccines and
04:11 talk about the whole pandemic and what needs to happen.
04:14 We also created what we call the myth of vax.
04:17 The Mix of Vax campaign was another um social media campaign on TikTok.
04:21 That basically targeted this information.
04:23 So we,
04:24 it was either we're trying to show people to,
04:26 to identify whether this is a myth
04:28 and or this is a fact.
04:30 So we call it a myth or wax campaign.
04:32 And this,
04:33 the,
04:33 the myth of vax reached about 104 million people by,
04:36 by,
04:36 by the analysis we did the last time
04:38 and with over 10,000 organic videos that were uploaded by individuals organically
04:44 in response to the challenge,
04:45 to the myth of vax challenge that we created,
04:47 and that itself,
04:48 you know,
04:49 um,
04:49 was,
04:49 was,
04:50 was quite engaging.
04:51 So what did we do?
04:52 Basically,
04:52 it was
04:53 to reach and drive engagement and,
04:55 and get supporters signups.
04:57 And what we did basically was to get these conversations going on
05:00 and,
05:01 and,
05:01 and on the social media accounts of
05:03 these celebrities across the world using graphics videos and,
05:06 and,
05:06 you know,
05:06 well-curated copy uh uh uh edits.
05:09 And then we brought,
05:10 brought all of that into a hub page,
05:12 did a lot of advertising,
05:14 put it on different accounts,
05:15 and this is the impression we got.
05:16 The numbers were staggering
05:18 at the end of this.
05:18 Um,
05:19 it was Amazing.
05:20 I,
05:20 I just don't wanna go
05:21 through all the numbers just there for you to see.
05:23 It was really amazing in terms of the reach,
05:25 in terms of the following,
05:27 in terms of the
05:28 impact,
05:28 in terms of,
05:29 because it was for engagement.
05:30 We really got the engagement.
05:32 And of course,
05:32 Past the Mike got uh one of,
05:34 one of the awards
05:35 uh by this media agency just after that.
05:38 And,
05:38 and beyond that,
05:40 again,
05:40 uh,
05:41 the Past the Mic as a brand has not just,
05:43 did not just launch,
05:43 it has also wrecked,
05:45 it led to other kinds of brands that have come like Share the Mic now.
05:49 And it has become a part of our tool that we use constantly,
05:52 especially when the issues are,
05:54 are,
05:54 are being,
05:54 uh,
05:55 you know,
05:55 the issues are becoming,
05:56 um,
05:57 Uh,
05:58 subject to disinformation.
06:00 When,
06:00 when,
06:01 when,
06:01 when it's a lot of,
06:02 because of social media and the access of social media,
06:04 one information that may not be correct,
06:07 that could really cause social divi division,
06:10 you know,
06:11 launched in the US today,
06:12 it's in the least in the most remote village in Nigeria tomorrow.
06:15 And for that,
06:16 we have it as a tool
06:17 to really get talent and experts to bring out the right.
06:21 Information and we're trying to make this
06:22 also something that the government utilizes,
06:24 uh,
06:25 uh,
06:25 uh,
06:25 uh,
06:26 you know,
06:26 for their work.
06:27 Uh,
06:27 the,
06:28 the last bit I wanna talk about is that we,
06:29 we,
06:31 beyond the past the Mike and the myth of vac,
06:34 we also mobilize talents,
06:35 musicians,
06:36 uh,
06:36 podcasts.
06:37 I,
06:37 I hear you seriously.
06:38 Um,
06:39 we got,
06:40 uh,
06:41 different artists,
06:41 about 10 different African artists together
06:44 and they
06:44 heat of the pandemic when there was so much despair,
06:47 we did a song called Stand Together,
06:48 which became the song,
06:50 the,
06:50 the theme song by the Africa CDC,
06:52 you know,
06:53 in basically pushing,
06:54 uh,
06:55 uh,
06:55 the right information,
06:56 not just information,
06:56 but to build solidarity on the continent
06:58 and get people to come out of that state of despair
07:01 that we can get out of this pandemic.
07:03 That's how we did that.
07:04 And I just wanted to share this
07:05 example with you on the power of entertainment.
07:08 And the power of catalyzing celebrity power to,
07:11 to really mobilize
07:12 uh people to take action.
07:14 Thank you very much.
07:16 Edwin,
07:16 this is so exciting.
07:18 Congratulations,
07:19 really,
07:19 this is pretty,
07:20 pretty amazing.
07:22 We loved it.
07:23 Um,
07:24 you also answered one of my questions in how
07:26 to make effective use of talent and personalities.
07:30 How do we actually,
07:32 uh,
07:33 channel their energy and talent into the direction of informing and educating,
07:38 uh,
07:38 the world.
07:39 So thank you so much for that.
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