Costa Rica managed to place itself in the spot light international by obtaining first place in the Warc global ranking thanks to the campaign “El Corte del Silencio”, A proposal for the “INLesco” Sign Language Academy thanks to the fact that it was the most awarded media campaign in the world during 2022. The objective of the campaign was to raise awareness about the challenges facing the deaf community in Costa Rica. For this, the PHD Costa Rica team created the first commercial break in the world without audio and interpreted 100% in LESCO.
“We are extremely honored by this historic achievement, placing Costa Rica and Latin America for the first time at #1 in the global ranking of Warc campaigns. This case is an example of how collaboration between brands, media and agencies can achieve great things and make a difference in the world. At PHD we are proud to have a great team that takes the leap and achieves excellence in everything it does”, said Alan Vainrub CEO PHD Central America.
The Silent Cut was carried out within the framework of the National Day of Persons with Disabilities and Costa Rican viewers were able to feel for three minutes the exclusion that people with hearing disabilities have experienced for years in the country; raising awareness about the reality and communication challenges they face on a daily basis.
“This campaign reminds us that the best ideas can be generated through simplicity, listening and social integration. But for that we need to be open to exposing ourselves to other realities, question ourselves and take action. In the end, ironically, listening is the most valuable tool we have as communicators”, said Mónica Blanco, director of Planning and Project Manager of the project.
Warc Media Index 2023 consolidates the awards won by the different advertising campaigns in the world in the previous year, adding the points of each award in order to create a ranking of the most awarded campaigns. This year, in addition to having the most awarded campaign globally for El Corte del Silencio, PHD Costa Rica positioned itself as the third agency with the most points worldwide.
This classification adds the points obtained in the most important festivals in the industry such as: Cannes Lions, Festival of Media Global and Latam, Effies Global, Latam and Locales, M&M Awards, WARC Media Awards, Adweek Media Plan of the Year, Internationalist Awards, The eye
of Latin America, among others.
“This validates our responsibility that as advertisers we must assume: align media and brands in projects with social intention and inclusion, in this case of a part of the population that has been invisible for years in advertising campaigns. It is important to continue contributing to make injustices visible and put everything within our reach and beyond to try to minimize them”, concluded Miguel Pava, General Manager PHD Costa Rica.
About the campaign
“Silent Court” was a project carried out by PHD and the OMNICOM media agency (which in Costa Rica is represented by Grupo Garnier), to develop on national television a batch of commercials without audio, 100% interpreted in LESCO which were broadcast by National Television, to that every citizen who saw it could put themselves in the shoes of a deaf person.
Among the brands involved, Coca Cola, Pastas Roma, Claro, Universidad San Marcos and Family Guard de SCJ stood out, which also allocated a part of the investment to scholarships at INLesco, to facilitate the communication process of deaf people and their families.
About PHD
PHD is a media agency belonging to OMNICOM Group (In Costa Rica it is represented by Grupo Garnier), obsessed with growing her clients’ businesses, and driven by innovation and creativity.
Always looking to leapfrog the industry, ensuring that its capabilities and approach evolve in relation to changes in media, data, technology, commerce, society and law. It has more than 100 offices in 74 countries, creating valuable campaigns that lead to a notable and important growth of its client’s business variables, taking advantage of the data and technology expansion scenario without losing focus on creativity.