12 Corporate Vision / Global Excellence Awards 2017 , Most Outstanding Innovative Short Film Producer ChocolateMooseMedia (CMM), led by renowned Social Innovator, Director and Humanitari- an Firdaus Kharas, produces animation, documentaries, videos and television series designed to educate, entertain, and change societal and individual behavior. We invited him to share the secrets behind the firm’s success. Established in 1995, CMM’s work has been credited with “shifting global attitudes and saving millions of lives in the process”. The company’s animated series and documentaries have helped stop the spread of diseases like Ebola, HIV/AIDS, Polio and Malaria and impacted traditionally hard-to-reach audiences in the Middle East, Africa, Asia and beyond with innovative communications that dispels myths, tackles taboo topics, and changes attitudes on issues like gender equality, racism and child labor. A global success, CMM’s work has been adapted into 170 language versions and viewed in over 150 countries. The firm’s Vimeo channel contains 3,500 animated shorts available to anyone to view, download and use, free of charge. It is the world’s largest collection of animated media on social issues and disease prevention, and over 5 billion people can view some material on the channel in their own language. Firdaus outlines how this unique firm works to offer material that challenges perceptions. “Here at CMM, we deal with some of the world’s most pressing issues, everything from the rights of children with Type 1 diabetes to easing tensions amongst teenagers from different ethnic groups to preventing health problems like HIV/AIDS, malaria, polio and obesity. We have worked with companies on issues like the rights of children with Type 1 diabetes to promoting solar energy to those without electricity. “What sets us apart is that we are the only company in the world mixing animation and humor to confront deadly diseases and social issues. Over the years CMM has become a leading expert in creating media that overcomes the many barriers that separate human brings, such as languages, geographies, cultures, ethnicities and religions. Our media productions combine humour and animation that both entertains and changes the behaviour of audiences. The greatest challenge we face is to cross the many barriers that separate human beings, such as culture, religion and language, to create effective media that changes people’s behaviors.” To ensure that this ground breaking material reaches as vast an audience as possible, CMM takes advantage of what it sees as the new era of instant, interactive, two-way, global communications. Virtually everyone on the planet can now be reached through technology. For example, all the media work is available in a format for mobile phones. As a a social enterprise, designed to use media to better the human condition CMM works to ensure that it reaches as many people as possible through these various mediums, and stays focused on saving or improving as many lives as possible throughout the world. Looking ahead, Firdaus is keen for CMM to remain at the forefront of disease prevention and social issues with relevant information to promote behaviour changes. In his concluding comments, he outlines how the firm’s materials are increasingly important in today’s media landscape. “Pessimism and cynicism are easy to find in today’s world. However, my perspective, having worked on so many vexing issues for many years, is that we are in many areas starting to see the concrete positive results of our efforts. Most of what we do here at CMM focuses on health and human rights. In campaign after campaign we have created hundreds of shorts in a gaggle of languages designed to stop diseases, propagate human rights and spread universal values. It is all in animation and it all uses one simple premise: approach complex issues with simple, easy-to-digest messages and get them to the people who most need them. “It can be as easy as showing how mosquito nets can help stop the spread of Zika or how children with Diabetes have the same rights as anyone else. Our global campaigns have targeted issues that affect hundreds of millions of people. There has been progress on each and every one, and we are honoured to have played a small part and will continue to do so over the months and years to come.” 1704CV71 Contact: Firdaus Kharas Contact Email:
[email protected] Addresses: 12 Fechy-Dessus, Fechy, 1173 Switzerland Phone: 41 78 7496120 15 Mohawk Cres, Ottawa, K2H 7G7, Canada Phone: +1.613.820.6121 Twitter: @culture_shift Website: www.chocmoose.com/