Submitted by OgilvyAgency IPI Score 95/100

Mother Blanket

PR & Communications

Ogilvy Colombia wove the WHO healthy growth chart into a traditional Andean baby carrier so isolated Ecuadorian mothers could monitor infant nutrition at home, work the agency reports won a Cannes Lions Gold.

Case in 60 seconds

Over 300,000 children in isolated Ecuadorian Andean communities suffer chronic undernourishment, and with almost no regular medical visits their mothers had no practical way to track growth at home.

Mothers already carried their babies every day in a traditional Andean blanket, the Sikinchi, a trusted object present in daily life.

Weave the WHO Healthy Growth chart into that blanket and print it in local dialects, turning an everyday carrier into a home growth-monitoring tool.

Ogilvy Colombia's Bogota office produced the Mother Blanket, a redesigned Sikinchi carrying the OMS Healthy Growth chart in local dialects, under its PR and Influence capability.

The agency reports the work earned a Cannes Lions Gold but publishes no reach or health outcome figures. Detail is self-reported and not independently verified here.

Strategy Breakdown

The primary strategy-learning section — interpretation, not a press-release summary.

Mothers in remote Andean communities of Ecuador who cannot easily reach clinics and read primarily in local dialects.
Standard health communication assumes access to clinics and to text these mothers cannot easily use, leaving isolated families without a way to monitor undernourishment.
The solution had to function with no medical infrastructure and be immediately usable by mothers in their own language.
Fundación Vivir and the CCPDA used a culturally rooted product to put a recognised medical growth standard into mothers' hands.
Embedding a medical tool inside an object mothers already use and trust removes the barriers of access and literacy that usually block health guidance.

Creative & Execution System

Assets & channels

  • The Mother Blanket, a redesigned Sikinchi textile
  • WHO Healthy Growth chart woven into the design
  • Printing localised into regional dialects

Partners

  • Ogilvy (Ogilvy Colombia, Bogota)

Participation mechanic

  • Mothers use the blanket to carry their babies and read the woven growth chart to monitor healthy development at home

Creator role

  • Not disclosed

Why Ogilvy's strategy worked

  1. 1

    Embedding a medical growth chart inside a trusted everyday object let a health tool reach families with no clinic access.

  2. 2

    Printing in local dialects removed the language and literacy barrier that usually limits health communication.

  3. 3

    Building on the existing Sikinchi practice meant no new behaviour or infrastructure was required of mothers.

  4. 4

    A culturally rooted design turned a functional public-health need into a recognisable, award-winning idea.

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