The Ted Talk given by Jose Sokoloff, the internationally awarded and respected advertising creative and peace proponent from Colombia, was an awe inspiring listening experience that illustrated the power of marketing communications done in an effective manner, the power of love with regards to inspiring the unthinkable and most importantly the power of intent that was showcased by Sokoloff and his team to create an impact with the marketing campaign on an emotive level on a social level (Sokoloff).
The war in Colombia is connected on a deep emotional level with Jose Sokoloff, as according to him, he has never seen a single day of peace and with the guerrilla war spanning more than 50 years, he wanted to do something that could make a bit of a difference and thus the campaign of Christmas lights came to the fore.
The art of marketing communication is to share a compelling story with the target audience, using differ communication tools and in this case Sokoloff, utilization of the research factor to understand the guerillas, coming up with the big idea and creating interesting and captivating execution through Christmas Tree decoration that were set up in the jungle with the message that said, ‘If Christmas can come to the jungle, you can come home’ Demobilise.
The most important take away from the campaign is that the communication needs to be a long term process and it was proved by Sokoloff’s team that to be able to impact the demobilisation of the guerrillas, the research work done by the team was impressive, in marketing communication, to be able to understand the target audience is the main thing.
This can be gauged from the one overriding fact that was shared by the interviews done with guerillas, in which they share the fact that, they were as much prisoners of the war as the hostages, and in view of the story shared in which the young couple who fell in love at the camp and were separated, showcased the power of feeling that was the USP of the demobilisation campaign.
The campaign was a raging hit in terms of achieving the objective, as the communication encouraged 331 guerrillas that was about 5% of the guerilla population, to demobilize during the period in which the campaign ran; the most significant aspect of this Cannes Lion winning campaign was that the attention it grabbed helped in generating significant national and international attention on the subject matter (Reynolds).
Most, importantly, the social impact that was generated was the key in creating a thought process in the minds of the guerrillas, since the objective was to make the guerillas feel part of the society and social acceptance was there for guerrillas who wanted to leave. The number of guerrillas who demobilised was at its peak during the festive period of Christmas, most of the guerillas who were hired as youngsters were more inclined towards the campaign on an emotional level, forcing them to think on reconnecting with their respective families.
The talk ended with Sokoloff, discussing the importance of advertising as a tool to create social impact on multiple levels, and interesting revelation from the campaign that to light, was that Christmas celebrations hold special significance, irrespective of caste, creed, and color and the magic of Christmas or any special occasion if present in an interesting manner can be utilized on a social level effectively.
Works Cited
Reynolds, Emily. How Jose Sokoloff demobilised guerrillas with advertising.
Wired 2015. Web 21 April, 2016.
Sokoloff, Jose. How Christmas lights helped guerrillas put down their guns.
Ted Talk 2014. Web 21 April, 2016.
