When girls are educated, they lift themselves and everyone around them out of poverty. But 62 million girls around the world are denied an education.

Plan Canada needed to raise awareness of this issue. But in a cluttered market where so many incredible local charities who have much bigger media budget than Plan International, the team needed to convey the importance of educating girls globally and inspire Canadians to donate to this cause to build a better world for everyone.

To demonstrate the impact an education can have on girls, DentsuBos created custom No. 2 pencils, and packaged them in custom made boxes. When you remove the pencils from the box, you remove the barriers imprisoning her mind, revealing her full potential. And when you sharpen the pencils, you remove the negative impacts that plague uneducated girls.

Launched on October 11 to coincide with International Day of The Girl, the boxes were distributed to potential donors and the media. They were also distributed during Michelle Obama’s visit to Toronto when she spoke about the importance of educating girls.

The initiative was supported by TV, online videos, social, digital display, transit posters and outdoor billboards that ran throughout November. The pencils were so successful that supply almost immediately exceeded demand. All verticals across the organization wanted pencils to distribute to their potential donors, and a re-print was ordered to keep up with the ask. At award submission, no final donation tallies were received, but all signs point to this being the organization’s most successful fall donation push to date.