F&B Create 'The Syrian Number' for UNICEF Sweden

Forsman & Bodenfors (F&B) encourage Swedes to call The Syrian Number and encounter someone living in the wartorn country.

The experiential campaign, created for UNICEF Sweden, plays off of The Swedish Number, which we previously featured on shots. Created by INGO for the Swedish Tourist Association, it was a number which people from other countries could ring a given number and be put through to a random Swede.

For The Syrian Number, F&B turn the focus of this earlier campaign outward. Now, Swedes themselves can ring +46 85 511 7864, and be put through to a Syrian child, with the delightful conversations about Meatballs and ABBA being replaced with the tragic tales of those trying to live their lives amidst the terror of a wartorn country.

This scheme was introduced in a video by the agency, which parodies the earlier Swedish Number ad. In that, the ringing phone was answered by a parade of diverse Swedes. In the Syrian version, the phone rings for a while as we see ruins of a city, before a presumably scared little boy answers 'hello'.

With the war in Syria reaching its sixth year this week, UNICEF are hoping to bring more attention to the horrors within the country, with the charity's Syria representative Hanaa Singer noting that Syria is probably the most dangerous place on earth to be a child. Every day, children are killed, injured, or scarred for life.