Content & Social
GLOBAL CITIZEN FESTIVAL: MANDELA 100
A global social-impact campaign that turned content, advocacy and entertainment into mass participation, mobilising millions of audience actions before culminating in Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium.
Year :
2018
Industry :
Social Impact & Advocacy
Client :
Global Citizen · MultiChoice
Project Duration :
24 weeks
Problem :
Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 was designed to do more than attract an audience to one of the largest entertainment events staged in South Africa. The campaign used the global attention surrounding Nelson Mandela’s centenary to mobilise people around issues including poverty, health, education, gender equality, nutrition, water and sanitation.
Digital therefore had a fundamentally different role from conventional event marketing. Audiences needed to understand complex social issues, discover meaningful actions they could take and remain motivated to participate over several months, while the promise of a landmark festival featuring some of the world’s biggest artists provided a powerful cultural incentive.
The task was to connect advocacy, content, participation and entertainment, turning attention into measurable action before translating that momentum into a major live and broadcast moment.
Solution :
Digital and social content operated as connective tissue across the campaign, translating its advocacy objectives into accessible, participatory communication while using entertainment and cultural moments to continually expand audience attention.
Content supported the journey from awareness to action, amplifying campaign issues, calls to participate, festival developments, talent announcements and audience milestones while maintaining momentum towards the December event. Social platforms created an immediate environment for participation and conversation, helping audiences understand not only what was happening, but how they could become part of it.
As the festival approached, the content operation increasingly connected the digital campaign to the physical event and global broadcast. On festival day, live performance, advocacy, audience reaction and major commitments became part of one real-time content environment, extending a stadium experience to audiences around the world.
Challenge :
The content operation connected social, digital and broadcast rather than treating them as separate audience experiences. Digital supported the wider campaign journey from advocacy and audience action through talent announcements, festival build-up and live coverage, using social content to maintain momentum and participation around the event.
DLD also produced a dedicated V-Entertainment special around Global Citizen, creating another layer through which audiences could experience the festival. The production incorporated interactive live broadcast elements that connected television coverage with the conversation unfolding across social media.
My role extended across both environments. Alongside managing social media coverage, I worked within the live broadcast operation, including running the on-screen strap and helping feed real-time social conversation and audience interaction into the television experience. This created a direct connection between what audiences were saying online and what viewers were seeing on screen.
The result was an integrated content operation in which social, broadcast and live production actively informed one another, extending the campaign across platforms while keeping audiences connected to the event as it unfolded.
Summary :
Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 brought advocacy, entertainment, social media, live production and global broadcast together around one of the largest cultural events staged in South Africa.
For me, the project also demonstrated the value of working across the boundaries between digital and traditional broadcast. Managing social coverage while contributing directly to DLD’s V-Entertainment special, including its interactive broadcast elements and live on-screen strap, meant operating simultaneously inside the social conversation and the television production carrying that conversation to audiences.
That intersection became one of the defining strengths of the project: digital was not simply promoting or reacting to the broadcast. Audience conversation became part of the broadcast experience itself.
At a campaign level, Global Citizen demonstrated how content can move audiences beyond awareness into participation. At an executional level, it demonstrated how social, television and live production can operate as one connected content system around a major cultural moment.
More Projects
Content & Social
GLOBAL CITIZEN FESTIVAL: MANDELA 100
A global social-impact campaign that turned content, advocacy and entertainment into mass participation, mobilising millions of audience actions before culminating in Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium.
Year :
2018
Industry :
Social Impact & Advocacy
Client :
Global Citizen · MultiChoice
Project Duration :
24 weeks
Problem :
Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 was designed to do more than attract an audience to one of the largest entertainment events staged in South Africa. The campaign used the global attention surrounding Nelson Mandela’s centenary to mobilise people around issues including poverty, health, education, gender equality, nutrition, water and sanitation.
Digital therefore had a fundamentally different role from conventional event marketing. Audiences needed to understand complex social issues, discover meaningful actions they could take and remain motivated to participate over several months, while the promise of a landmark festival featuring some of the world’s biggest artists provided a powerful cultural incentive.
The task was to connect advocacy, content, participation and entertainment, turning attention into measurable action before translating that momentum into a major live and broadcast moment.
Solution :
Digital and social content operated as connective tissue across the campaign, translating its advocacy objectives into accessible, participatory communication while using entertainment and cultural moments to continually expand audience attention.
Content supported the journey from awareness to action, amplifying campaign issues, calls to participate, festival developments, talent announcements and audience milestones while maintaining momentum towards the December event. Social platforms created an immediate environment for participation and conversation, helping audiences understand not only what was happening, but how they could become part of it.
As the festival approached, the content operation increasingly connected the digital campaign to the physical event and global broadcast. On festival day, live performance, advocacy, audience reaction and major commitments became part of one real-time content environment, extending a stadium experience to audiences around the world.
Challenge :
The content operation connected social, digital and broadcast rather than treating them as separate audience experiences. Digital supported the wider campaign journey from advocacy and audience action through talent announcements, festival build-up and live coverage, using social content to maintain momentum and participation around the event.
DLD also produced a dedicated V-Entertainment special around Global Citizen, creating another layer through which audiences could experience the festival. The production incorporated interactive live broadcast elements that connected television coverage with the conversation unfolding across social media.
My role extended across both environments. Alongside managing social media coverage, I worked within the live broadcast operation, including running the on-screen strap and helping feed real-time social conversation and audience interaction into the television experience. This created a direct connection between what audiences were saying online and what viewers were seeing on screen.
The result was an integrated content operation in which social, broadcast and live production actively informed one another, extending the campaign across platforms while keeping audiences connected to the event as it unfolded.
Summary :
Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 brought advocacy, entertainment, social media, live production and global broadcast together around one of the largest cultural events staged in South Africa.
For me, the project also demonstrated the value of working across the boundaries between digital and traditional broadcast. Managing social coverage while contributing directly to DLD’s V-Entertainment special, including its interactive broadcast elements and live on-screen strap, meant operating simultaneously inside the social conversation and the television production carrying that conversation to audiences.
That intersection became one of the defining strengths of the project: digital was not simply promoting or reacting to the broadcast. Audience conversation became part of the broadcast experience itself.
At a campaign level, Global Citizen demonstrated how content can move audiences beyond awareness into participation. At an executional level, it demonstrated how social, television and live production can operate as one connected content system around a major cultural moment.
More Projects
Content & Social
GLOBAL CITIZEN FESTIVAL: MANDELA 100
A global social-impact campaign that turned content, advocacy and entertainment into mass participation, mobilising millions of audience actions before culminating in Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 at Johannesburg’s FNB Stadium.
Year :
2018
Industry :
Social Impact & Advocacy
Client :
Global Citizen · MultiChoice
Project Duration :
24 weeks
Problem :
Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 was designed to do more than attract an audience to one of the largest entertainment events staged in South Africa. The campaign used the global attention surrounding Nelson Mandela’s centenary to mobilise people around issues including poverty, health, education, gender equality, nutrition, water and sanitation.
Digital therefore had a fundamentally different role from conventional event marketing. Audiences needed to understand complex social issues, discover meaningful actions they could take and remain motivated to participate over several months, while the promise of a landmark festival featuring some of the world’s biggest artists provided a powerful cultural incentive.
The task was to connect advocacy, content, participation and entertainment, turning attention into measurable action before translating that momentum into a major live and broadcast moment.
Solution :
Digital and social content operated as connective tissue across the campaign, translating its advocacy objectives into accessible, participatory communication while using entertainment and cultural moments to continually expand audience attention.
Content supported the journey from awareness to action, amplifying campaign issues, calls to participate, festival developments, talent announcements and audience milestones while maintaining momentum towards the December event. Social platforms created an immediate environment for participation and conversation, helping audiences understand not only what was happening, but how they could become part of it.
As the festival approached, the content operation increasingly connected the digital campaign to the physical event and global broadcast. On festival day, live performance, advocacy, audience reaction and major commitments became part of one real-time content environment, extending a stadium experience to audiences around the world.
Challenge :
The content operation connected social, digital and broadcast rather than treating them as separate audience experiences. Digital supported the wider campaign journey from advocacy and audience action through talent announcements, festival build-up and live coverage, using social content to maintain momentum and participation around the event.
DLD also produced a dedicated V-Entertainment special around Global Citizen, creating another layer through which audiences could experience the festival. The production incorporated interactive live broadcast elements that connected television coverage with the conversation unfolding across social media.
My role extended across both environments. Alongside managing social media coverage, I worked within the live broadcast operation, including running the on-screen strap and helping feed real-time social conversation and audience interaction into the television experience. This created a direct connection between what audiences were saying online and what viewers were seeing on screen.
The result was an integrated content operation in which social, broadcast and live production actively informed one another, extending the campaign across platforms while keeping audiences connected to the event as it unfolded.
Summary :
Global Citizen Festival: Mandela 100 brought advocacy, entertainment, social media, live production and global broadcast together around one of the largest cultural events staged in South Africa.
For me, the project also demonstrated the value of working across the boundaries between digital and traditional broadcast. Managing social coverage while contributing directly to DLD’s V-Entertainment special, including its interactive broadcast elements and live on-screen strap, meant operating simultaneously inside the social conversation and the television production carrying that conversation to audiences.
That intersection became one of the defining strengths of the project: digital was not simply promoting or reacting to the broadcast. Audience conversation became part of the broadcast experience itself.
At a campaign level, Global Citizen demonstrated how content can move audiences beyond awareness into participation. At an executional level, it demonstrated how social, television and live production can operate as one connected content system around a major cultural moment.