DDB SA wins votes for Kid's Nobel Prize
"It's one of the greatest awards an ad agency can win for a pro-bona account", said Gail Johnson in a tribute to DDB South Africa's radio and print campaign which secured hundreds of thousands of votes for Nkosi Johnson who posthumously won both the Global Friends Award and the World Children's Prize in Oslo recently. All media space used during this campaign was negotiated for free.
The campaign's simple, yet poignant message - "Usually you vote for someone who you believe can change the world. Now vote for someone who already has." - highlighted the young activist's bravery and commitment to Aids awareness.
Both awards, better known as the "children's Nobel Prize", were established in 1999 to recognise the outstanding contribution of minors in the fight for children's rights.
Three candidates and organisations from around the world were shortlisted and each had to garner votes from school-going children in their native country. Nkosi Johnson, who not only secured the rights of all children, regardless of their HIV-status, to an education, was also the inspiration behind Nkosi¹s Haven - a care centre for HIV-positive mothers and their children.
