Nearly three million people in France cannot read or write with sufficient ease to manage daily life. The Agence Nationale de Lutte Contre l’Illettrisme, with a coalition of associations, sought to obtain the label “Grande Cause Nationale 2013” from the French government – a designation that would amplify national attention and resources.
We built a press and outdoor campaign that worked by infiltration rather than declaration. The executions borrowed the codes of everyday consumer advertising – promotional offers, product headlines, category conventions -and placed within them the reality of illiteracy. The juxtaposition was disorienting and immediately legible.
In March 2013, the Grande Cause Nationale label was granted. The campaign was awarded the Prix Stratégies de la Publicité 2013 for best public interest campaign. Two months later, it won a Gold Lion at Cannes.
