TBWA RAAD

Client: MTV Lebanon
Product: #WeAreUnbreakable
Title: #WeAreUnbreakable
Media: Integrated Campaign
Country: Lebanon
Date Of Campaign: August 2021

Background: Beirut’s port was hit by of the one of the largest non-nuclear explosions in history, resulting in over 200deaths, 700 injuries, and the displacement of thousands of families. An unimaginably cataclysmictragedy, even with the countless revolutions and wars the country has seen.A year after the explosion, the resilient people of the country, who have witnessed more traumaticevents than the average person, were still desperately waiting for answers on who was responsible.MTV Lebanon, a leading news, and television channel had also been trying to shed light on theunknown and question the authorities.The people were promised answers five days after the explosion. One year later, with no answersfrom the government, the Lebanese people were losing hope and going into a state of learnedhelplessness.With a resilient yet hopeless people, MTV Lebanon wanted to remind them that they still deservedanswers and justice.

Idea: As a country that has seen the worst time and time again, Lebanese people are known to be highlyresilient. Many different campaigns were created to clean up and restore their city from rubble andshattered glass; it had become another case of the famous local expression “May it be remembered,.("????? ??? ?????") “repeated not butHowever, the government has been putting many efforts to evade an investigation. The investigatingjudge was deposed from his position. The prevailing sentiment was that people will gradually rebuildtheir lives and forget.People’s resilience was taken as their weakness. This is what became our inflection point.We decided to showcase their unwavering spirit as a shield of strength that shouts out loudly thatthey’ve had enough.If over 7,000 tons of glass were shattered and the government was still silent, then we decided tobreak the silence by breaking even more glass.

Results: Breaking glass proved to be immensely successful; the campaign and the portraits had a significantimpact on the Lebanese people.The broadcast became the highest-rated episode of “Sar Al Wa’et”, yielding 30.64% of TV share, thehighest in the entire summer period. The show also had over 2,250 mentions after the launch of thecampaign (Source: Brandwatch)The campaign made its mark on social media. One tweet showing the parents of Alexandra Najjar, theexplosion’s youngest victim, viewing her portrait went viral, garnering over 500 retweets and 2,000likes.The campaign was also successful in re-igniting people’s need for accountability: protestors filled thestreets demanding answers and seeking justice.Surprisingly, accountability for corrupt actions was being taken, a first in Lebanese history. Arrestwarrants were issued by a judge for high-ranking officials, including a prime minister, two ministers,the port’s GM, and high-ranking militaries.Justice, at last.