Case Study: My Friend Sok

MY FRIEND SOK is a short film animated by Cornel Hillmann, on the subject of inclusion in Cambodia. With over 7 million views, it is currently the most successful animation campaign of its kind.

The video for the NGO Humanity & Inclusion (formerly called Handicap International) was intended to educate Cambodian school kids on the subject of inclusion. Disabled children, often marginalized to the fringes of society, can empower their lives through inclusive education programs, as in this case through the story of a boy with bad eye-sight on his first day in school

YouTube engagement

The characters and storytelling resonated with the intended audience and resulted in positive engagement. With currently over 7 million views by the targeted audience, the campaign is a tremendous success.

Numbers:
Meta-House YouTube channel (link): 7,010,104 views
CCOSC YouTube channel (link): 482,381 views.
Total YouTube engagement as of February-28, 2023: 7,492,485 views

Step One: Research

The success of the YouTube engagement is the result of a carefully researched and planned campaign, including qualitative research on location, stakeholder interviews and employing those insights into the script and media strategy of the project.

Research by observations in a field study at a local school outside of Phnom Penh, with user interviews to uncover the motivation and needs, helped to validate the project’s concepts.

Step Two: Animation

The animation was done in the so-called cut-out animation style. This technique made it possible to make changes in production without having to redo everything. For example: Based on research, some characters were originally barefooted, which had to be changed at the sponsors’ request. All voices were previously recorded in a studio in Phnom Penh and then lip-synched with the cartoon characters. Backgrounds and settings were designed based on location references.

Step Three: Post-Production

After the video-editing process, final touches with music and sound effects were added by the sound designer Jan Müller, to give the production an uplifting punch and more emotional depth. Three versions were played out: one with English subtitles, another  with picture-in-picture sign language, and the third is a plain version in Khmer only.

Step Four: Media Outreach 

Once the production is done and delivered, the outreach begins. Most of the time, a video does not become viral overnight, but instead is the result of a consistent outreach strategy. Typically, this involves mailings, listings and associate networks. When the discoverability of the work is optimized, social sharing takes over, if the campaign is successful.