THE CHALLENGE

According to UNICEF, over 617 million children and adolescents worldwide are not receiving adequate education. As such, ABF’s projects are primarily focused on education as aligned to the UN 2030 Agenda’s goal #4.7: leveraging music, art and new technologies as a tool for social inclusion and talent development.

By 2021, ABF developed a strong network of donors and partners that have helped develop 35 impactful projects both in Italy and abroad. Numerous projects planned for the year extended the opportunity to spotlight individual initiatives. Nonetheless, the opportunity existed to bring the full story together in a cohesive way.

THE STRATEGY

ABF put into action a fully integrated communications plan that brought together its entire ecosystem to create a 12-month storytelling arc focused on: putting front and center the challenges the world faces in the education space, the work being done to combat this, and to celebrate its 10 years of work.

This fully integrated plan brought together all of ABF’s activities through an umbrella storytelling arc: “10 Years of Empowering People and Communities;” a concept that served as the red thread for communicating the tension, and ABF’s concrete impact and innovative methodologies that place it as one of the leading Italian non-profits on the global stage.

THE EXECUTION

ABF kicked off the year-long celebrations by inaugurating their new global headquarter and vocational center in Florence. This moment set the tone for the campaign and enabled ABF to generate buzz for projects that were communicated by building on each other through focused earned communications efforts: from media relations, to events, through to speaking platforms and digital/influencer activities.

THE OUTCOME

In 2021 ABF reached the world through over 900 pieces of press coverage both in Italy and abroad (100% positive or neutral in tone), including a BBC feature story aired on Christmas 2021, reaching over 70 million households.

ABF also experienced +44% increase in organic social media impressions vs. 2020, thanks not only to engaging content, but also to a strategic global celebrity and influencers program.