International: Salvation Army campaign wins Webby Award
18 May 2016
Johannesburg-based advertising agency Ireland/Davenport, which worked with The Salvation Army’s Southern Africa Territory on a domestic violence awareness campaign, has been honoured with a Webby People’s Voice Award for the initiative. The award – one of the web’s most prestigious accolades – was the result of a vote by two million members of the public.
The campaign drew on worldwide interest in an ambiguously-hued gown which had been posted on the social media platform Tumblr, with its Scottish originator asking her friends: ‘Is this dress white and gold, or blue and black?’ The optical illusion spread across the Internet to a massive global audience, due in part to its catchy hashtag #TheDress.
Launched on 6 March 2015, within 24 hours the campaign had been seen by 30.6 million Twitter users and additional media coverage achieved a reach of 640 million people. Data suggests that the total potential audience was 5.3 billion people in 179 countries, making #TheDress the most successful and most-shared public service campaign in South African history.
Major Carin Holmes, Public Relations Secretary for the Southern Africa Territory, explains: ‘By focusing the social media conversation at exactly the right time, Ireland/Davenport managed to create a viral sensation – asking the important question as to why the world was so interested in the colour of a dress rather than the experience of the woman wearing it.’
Ireland/Davenport Account Director David Sutherland adds: ‘We are an agency about people first and foremost. Whether this
The Webby Awards – often referred to as the ‘Oscars of the Internet’ – received 13,000 entries from agencies in 65 countries in 2016. A full list of nominees and winners is available at webbyawards.com/winners/2016/.