EBM's Schoolgirl Newscasters: girls illiterate three years ago anchor Pakistan's news

Pakistan ranked 145th of 156 on the Global Gender Gap Report, UN Women said 53.6% of women had limited access to education and employment, and a widespread belief held that schooling girls was wasted effort — yet girls' literacy had risen four points to 62.3% in three years. English Biscuit Manufacturers (EBM) wanted to celebrate that progress and persuade more parents to send their daughters to school.

Put two girls who were illiterate three years ago behind the evening news: literacy itself becomes the broadcast that argues for girls' education.

Impact BBDO turned EBM's airtime into a real broadcast. On December 10, 2022, during Human Rights Month, two schoolgirls who could not read three years earlier took over as newscasters on Pakistan's three leading news channels. Wearing their school uniforms, they read the evening news in impeccable Urdu and English and told their own literacy journeys, explaining how educating girls leads to fewer early marriages, better health for women and a higher national GDP.

The special broadcast drew more than 150 million impressions and trended on social media as Pakistanis praised the girls. EBM then introduced a policy of working only with schools that enroll boys and girls equally, an effort it says has lifted girls' enrollment to 57% across more than 160 schools. The work won Pakistan's first-ever Cannes Glass Lion — a Gold on June 23, 2023 — plus a Silver Clio, two silvers and two bronzes at the UK Caples Awards, and Grands Prix at MAD STARS 2023.

Pakistan's education system is marked by deep gender disparity: the Global Gender Gap Report ranked the country 145th of 156, UN Women found 53.6% of women had limited access to education and employment, and only 34.2% of girls make it to high school, largely because a widespread belief holds that education is useless for women. English Biscuit Manufacturers (EBM), a biscuit maker that had been funding girls' schooling, saw a rare piece of good news: literacy among girls had risen four points to 62.3% in three years.

Working with Impact BBDO, EBM turned its media presence into the demonstration. On December 10, 2022, during Human Rights Month, two schoolgirls who were illiterate as little as three years earlier took over as newscasters for the evening on Pakistan's three leading news channels. In school uniforms, they read the news in Urdu and English and told their own literacy journeys, making the case that education for girls means fewer early marriages, better health and a higher national GDP.

The broadcast drew more than 150 million impressions and trended on social media as the country celebrated the girls — an idea that hijacked its own PR medium. EBM then made its school partnerships conditional on equal enrollment of boys and girls, a policy it says has helped lift girls' enrollment to 57% across more than 160 schools, and the campaign became Pakistan's first Cannes Glass Lion winner, taking Gold in June 2023.

Real girls on real prime-time news demonstrated capability where a statistic could only assert it.

Reading the news in Urdu and English showed exactly the skill parents were withholding their daughters from.

Airing during Human Rights Month framed girls' education as a right, not a charity appeal.

The stunt hijacked the news medium itself, so coverage of the campaign was the campaign — more than 150 million impressions without a paid media buy.

When the audience doubts a group can do something, don't argue it — put that group on air doing it: the performance is the proof, and the medium becomes the message.

After the broadcast, EBM adopted a policy of working only with schools that enroll boys and girls equally, which the company says helped push girls' enrollment to 57% across more than 160 schools. The campaign kept collecting recognition through 2023 — Pakistan's first Cannes Glass Lion (Gold, June 23), a Silver Clio, two silvers and two bronzes at the UK Caples Awards, and Grands Prix at MAD STARS 2023 — turning a biscuit maker's education project into a national proof point for girls' schooling.