Pilot Campaigns

With the support of the global advertising agency Grey Group, the Breaking the Brand project team has created a pilot campaign targeting the primary users of rhino horn in Viet Nam. The series of 5 adverts has been designed to test the 2 motivations to stop using rhino horn:

1. A perceived negative impact on the health of the user
2. A perceived negative impact on the status of the user (in the eyes of his peers)

And to also test if there is any level of empathy with the animal.

The reason why users should be worried about their health is that more and more rhino horns are being injected with toxins such as organophosphates while on the live animal. If a person ingests this toxin they will become sick with nausea and diarrhoea. These toxins can also have long-term effects on the central nervous system; and on brain development and cognitive function. For more information about how rhino horn is poisoned.


We aim to use locations that the primary user groups frequent – airport lounges, business magazines etc. We need to raise $100K to get the pilot campaign produced and rolled out by Grey Groups’ Hanoi office. You can help us bring these campaigns to the user group by make a donation (see button on the right). 100% of funds donated go to financing the production of the campaign.
We have also created pilot campaigns around the same themes for the secondary user groups, namely affluent mothers, who use rhino horn as a perceived medicine (for treating fever in children). For more information on affluent mothers as users of rhino horn see blog entry.