React for Real

While the situation in Afghanistan was unfolding, millions of people were interacting and reacting with the story online. But what NGOs such as the ICRC really needed were actual donations to help the Afghan people. We sought to remind people that real currency goes a lot further than social currency.

The ICRC and Wunderman Thompson Dubai sent a hard-hitting message – if the ICRC had a dollar for every social media like, millions of Afghans could be saved.

The 'React for Real' campaign quantified online reactions of the most popular hashtags and emojis relating to Afghanistan and then used an algorithm and converted them into monetary value, calculating how many real-life needs in Afghanistan these donations could have addressed.

As people interacted with the Afghan crisis online, the optimal channel for the campaign to live was on social media platforms in order to spread the message far and wide.