UNMAS (United Nations Mine Action Service) and Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark unite to raise awareness of landmines with World’s First Game of Minesweeper on Instagram

Every year, landmines kill thousands of people and severely maim countless more. Millions of mines are scattered around scores of countries. At least 10 people a day are killed by landmines, 40% of these casualties are children. With ongoing conflicts and humanitarian crises in Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, the role of UNMAS is more vital than ever, as people inhabit war zones where even dolls and children’s toys can be booby trapped with explosive devices, and for displaced peoples the possibility of returning to their homes when cities have been liberated is reduced by the plethhora of explosive hazards remaining, which include unexploded ordnance, cluster submunitions and improvised explosive devices.

In 2014 there were some 3,650 casualties from mines, victim activated improvised explosive device, cluster munition remnants, and other explosive hazards according to the Landmine Monitor 2015 Report that came out 1 December 2015: http://www.the-monitor.org/en-gb/our-research/landmine-monitor.aspx

To coincide with the United Nations International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action on 4 April, Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark have created a cutting edge Instagram-based game of Minesweeper, designed to raise awareness of land mines and bring attention and support to the worldwide mine action work of the United Nations. Players take part by tapping on an interactive board to look under each tile, and try to avoid unearthing a landmine.

Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark and UNMAS are bringing back one of the most popular games in the world on Instagram in order to increase awareness around the global problem of landmines in conflict zones, and at the same time encourage people to donate to UNMAS. Since its debut in 1990, Minesweeper has been dubbed the “Most Successful Game Ever” in the history of gaming. Literally billions of people have played it across all four corners of the world.

The #minesweeper game Saatchi & Saatchi have created for the UNMAS campaign can be played by following @minesweepergame on Instagram. Users will be invited to play a game of Minesweeper made up of more than 100 profiles and 1700 picture uploads. Each of them have been manually uploaded and specifically linked to each other, in order to create a playable game of Minesweeper on Instagram. Upon completion of the game, images are revealed that will sensitise users to the victims of these dreadful weapons, followed by a call to action will give people the opportunity to donate to UNMAS.

The International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action (4 April) in 2016 is dedicated to the theme "Mine Action is Humanitarian Action" which describes how mine action saves lives, enables refugees and internally displaced persons to return home and ensures safe access for other humanitarian workers. Mine Action is Humanitarian Action #MAHA.

“This is an amazing outreach and fundraising tool. It is a unique mixture of the old with the new, taking a popular game from the dawn of the digital age and building a new version on what is today one the fastest growing social media sites in the world. We are very grateful to Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark for their time, innovation and commitment to the vision of the United Nations of making a world free from the threat of landmines and explosive hazards,” stated the Director of UNMAS, Ms. Agnès Marcaillou.

Regner Lotz, Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark, commented: “We had an open brief and zero budget so instead of doing something traditional that would cost a fortune in media we decided to do something digitally social to get the message out there. In short this is an idea that taps effortlessly into both the format of Instagram and the nostalgia of Mine Sweeper. And it does all of this for a good cause.”

Jason Mendes, Executive Creative Director, Saatchi & Saatchi Nordic, commented: “Most of the children that are killed or maimed are innocently playing outdoors, enjoying themselves and then in a millisecond, BOOM! That’s the emotional shift we wanted to try and replicate as much as possible through this campaign. Playing and enjoying yourself and then BOOM, it’s not a game anymore. It’s a very serious unexpected message. Yes, you’re expecting a bomb at some point, but not to be confronted by a picture of a kid with a limb missing. I think that makes a connection that’s powerful.”

René Schultz & Casper Christensen, Saatchi & Saatchi Denmark Creatives, added: “The gameplay matches the user experience perfectly on Instagram. However, although the gameplay is super straight forward, to actually implement it on Instagram wasn’t so straightforward. The fact is, it requires days and days of working out and up to 75,000 different permutations, through pictures and profiles, from start to finish … making it probably the most immersive game ever on Instagram, as far as we are aware.”