#SayHi Campaign - EBU Kids International Friendship Initiative

You can now watch the video clip of the international version of the song here. 

Background

Every year, NRK Super and children in Norway stand together with one clear message for a whole week: ‘Say hi, be a friend to someone!’. They produce creative content and experiences that promote one full themed week, featuring a common song and choreography for all children in Norway to join the campaign. Meanwhile, every year VRT’s Ketnet appoints two celebrities as the main ambassadors of the campaign called Move Against Bullying. They sing a newly written theme song which has its own music video and an easy-to-follow dance routine. VRT also produces accompanying content items and experiences through which children can join in the campaign.

The question is now, could we combine our efforts to make this experience happen on a European level, to promote friendship and kindness in schools and to stand up against bullying?

#SayHi Campaign - EBU Kids International Friendship Initiative

With the #SayHi Campaign - EBU Kids International Friendship Initiative, our aim is for as many children as possible in Europe to simultaneously take part in a dance symbolizing inclusion and friendship, facilitated by their respective public broadcasters.

Creative content and shared experiences for this special dance and the underlying messages will supplement the campaign:

• In the weeks before the simultaneous dance: various content items and experiments concerning the themes and messages behind the campaign
• During the simultaneous dance: potential live broadcasts or off-line events
• After the simultaneous dance: measuring the impact of the campaign

We would like this to be a high-impact, visible campaign that every single child knows about in the countries and regions covered by participating Members – and even beyond. We therefore want to give broad media coverage to this dance by creating an entire week dedicated to activities promoting the message as well as by plugging celebrities and sending ambassadors to various talk shows or radio stations, or having them feature in print magazines – at both local and European level.

How

The participating broadcasters agree to coordinate a series of elements (a common week and date, a common song and choreography, a shared visual icon, coordination with local partners within the timeline agreed to make the project happen). Each broadcaster will still be able to freely decide how to cover the campaign and what content to produce before, during and after the simultaneous event.

Only EBU Members (public broadcasters) may participate in this campaign.

What participating broadcasters will receive

• NRK has produced a theme song (clear of rights for the EBU participating broadcasters), a choreography and a video that will help the children learn the dance moves.
• VRT has produced the logo and visual icon proposal for the campaign.
• A steering group of EBU Members is helping to define the common slogan, narrative and content strategy for the project in the coming weeks.
• The legal framework, distribution channels and general running of the pan-European project are facilitated by the EBU. Rules were made available to Members in May 2020.
• The ideas from and materials produced by each of the participating broadcasters for their national campaigns shall be shared with the other participating broadcasters so that they can be reused or serve as inspiration.

Participating broadcasters shall commit to

• Translating the song and video materials into their corresponding languages.
• Respecting the branding guidelines of the project (e.g. each broadcaster is to use their own logo and branding elements but mention the European collaboration, common hashtag and related visual icons on their website and in their promotional clips).
• Sharing their content and media plans concerning the project with the EBU, for transparency purposes and to get the best out of the campaign. The EBU will then share these plans with all other participating broadcasters for their use – upon agreement by the producers – or for inspiration, as well as for coordination purposes.
• Cross-promotion, insofar as the marketing and communication plans of each broadcaster are to be shared with the other participating broadcasters. Whenever possible, there will be cross-promotion and coordination among communications teams to heighten the impact of our message and demonstrate consistency and coherence in the European narrative.
• Making the dance with children happen on the same day and at the same time agreed for all countries (12 November, 12am CET), using the common (translated) song and choreography provided by NRK.
• Disseminating the song, choreography, date and time of the campaign, slogan and visual icons to enable and encourage children to participate in whatever forms they consider appropriate.
• Filming at least one group of children taking part in the dance on the day agreed for the campaign (the number of children, stage, background and production elements are for each broadcaster to decide).

For more information please click here

Partners