WORLD MEDIA AWARDS 2018
Shell Lights The Way With
Top Prize At The 2018
World Media Awards
I
nternational energy company, Shell,
was awarded the top honours at this
year’s World Media Awards (www.
wm-awards.com) for its innovative global
campaign #makethefuture in collaboration
with GravityLight, an off-grid light that
aims to improve the lives of communities
without access to electricity. Kenya, two out of three people have little
or no access to reliable energy sources
and many families in rural, ‘off grid’
communities rely on kerosene for lighting,
which can be both costly and unhealthy.
By working together, Shell and the team
behind GravityLight set out to address
the energy issues faced by Kenyans.
The ‘Shell #makethefuture GravityLight
& Bedtime Stories’ campaign, which
won the World Media Awards Grand
Prix, as well as picking up the award for
the Corporate Influencer category, was
praised by the judges for its “sensitive and
creative approach to repositioning brand
perceptions of Shell as a company with
purpose, creating an impact.” The challenge for Shell in this campaign
was to bring to life the transformative
power of bright energy ideas, as evidenced
by GravityLight, with credibility and
authenticity. Shell sought to encourage
the next generation of opinion leaders,
Energy Engaged Millennials – a time-
poor audience – to spend time with the
Shell brand, and with GravityLight, with
the intention of giving them a genuine
understanding of Shell’s commitment
to bringing more, and cleaner, energy to
communities around the world.
The objective of this #makethefuture
initiative was a call for collaboration to
create smarter solutions that will generate
more and cleaner energy solutions across
the world.
GravityLight, a provider of a source
of clean, durable and affordable light
powered by gravity, identified that in
To demonstrate these ideas in action, Shell
embarked on the 50-day GravityLight
roadshow across Kenya raising awareness
of GravityLight’s benefits with the most
important audience of all: rural, off-grid
The campaign was supported with focused
search activity, to capture deeper interest
sparked by Shell’s content, directing the audi-
ence to a bedtime stories playlist and encour-
aging them to discover the full range of stories.
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communities whose wellbeing could be
improved with cleaner, more reliable,
more affordable light.
The progress of the Shell #makethefuture
GravityLight relay was captured and
promoted across digital and social
channels, where audiences could track the
progress of the roadshow, and watch video
updates of communities experiencing the
benefits of GravityLight first hand. Shell
promoted a kick-off video summarising
the programme, The Shell Gravity Light
‘50 Nights | 50 Classic Stories’, which was
promoted globally.
Shell also retargeted previously engaged
audiences on social platforms with
animated videos of GravityLight ‘bedtime
stories’. These stories were narrated by
high-profile influencers in different
markets, including Yemi Alade (Nigeria),
Luan Santana (Brazil) and Pixie Lott
(UK). Fifty animated videos were
produced, each video telling a different
story, while consistently integrating
GravityLight within the narrative.
The campaign was supported with focused
search activity, to capture deeper interest
sparked by Shell’s content, directing the
audience to a bedtime stories playlist and
encouraging them to discover the full
range of stories.
The results showed that the majority of
Energy Engaged Millennials chose to
spend real quality time with the Shell