Save the Children, an international NGO, today launched the “It’s Not the Same For Them” campaign to remind people of the harsh realities that confront Syrian children. The campaign will run throughout Ramadan, across the Middle East and North Africa. It will also target the Arab diaspora around the world. 

Save the Children’s campaign is the result of Facebook’s Hack for Good. Facebook created the Hack for Good to celebrate the talent of young Arab creatives and direct it towards a major social issue in the region. The Hack for Good competition took place during Dubai Lynx festival where UAE based students from around the region were invited in March 2017 to develop a Ramadan themed campaign that fits Save the Children’s advertising needs. The goal was to create an initiative that would gain rapid traction across the region and galvanize support. 

A panel of leading ad agency executives and creatives selected 16 finalists from a group of 100 participating students. The judging panel included representatives from OMD, Cheil, Ogilvy Qatar, Leo Burnett, FP7 and JWT. 

Students were divided into four teams comprising of four members each, and they were also assigned a creative mentor from one of the partner advertising agencies. Each mentor worked closely with the teams to come up with an idea for the campaign. To bring the idea to life, Tall+Short, a boutique design house, led the production and the execution of the campaign. 

“These young creatives displayed tremendous passion towards the project. At Creative Shop, we developed Hack for Good to build community, and connect people, which is part of Facebook's overall mission. We brought together advertising industry partners, an NGO, Facebook teams and students to collaborate and create this campaign. Our hope is that the “It's not the same this year” campaign will remind our communities about the difficult circumstances Syrian children face ,” said Sameh George, Head of Facebook’s MENA Creative Shop.

“As we all gear up to celebrate the month with family and friends, we wanted to bring the reality of celebrating Ramadan for a Syrian child closer to our hearts. Collaboration builds creativity and I'm grateful to Facebook for bringing all these experts and dedicated individuals to help engage communities in our mission to protect children.” Soha Ellaithy, Senior Director, Gulf Area Office, Save The Children.