Objective

This year, the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) celebrated its 100th anniversary - a milestone we take immense pride in. Against the backdrop of ever-evolving challenges – including pandemics, climate change, and food security – the Organisation has never stopped pursuing its mission: creating the conditions for better animal health and welfare worldwide.

This centenary offered a unique opportunity to cherish our legacy, reflect on present challenges and look ahead to the future. Through our flagship video, we chronicle our 100-year journey of excellence and impact, celebrating our history through this visual testament to the enduring commitment to innovation, resilience and community that has defined our work for generations.

This impactful video aims to build awareness and engagement about the future of animal health while showcasing our commitment to driving positive change and making a lasting impact on communities worldwide. Because animal health is our health. It's everyone's health.

Strategy

The goal of the video was to strengthen our advocacy voice for global animal health and welfare by creatively reaching and mobilising audiences and key actors unfamiliar with our Organisation or the animal health sector, while conveying the story of our centenary in a meaningful way. With this in mind, we began to seek out a trustworthy service provider who understood our vision, needs and desire for close collaboration. After careful evaluation, we found Rooftop, an agency based in South Africa, who lent their expertise and experience with multiple aspects of video production, from script development to framing the visual concept. Overall, the project presented unique challenges, including:

• Finding the right representation that could resonate best with our international Member countries;
• Showcasing gender equality in a traditionally male-dominated field;
• Communicating 100 years of history in a 2-minute video while ensuring technical accuracy.

We finally reached the desired effect over the course of 6 months of multiple rewrites and reshoots by:

• Choosing the Africa region since that was the origin of Rinderpest, which in turn was the zoonosis that was the reason for the foundation of the Organisation;
• Deciding on a mother-daughter duo;
• Working with technical experts for scientific correctness.

It was via clear, decisive and coherent cooperation with various parties from technical experts to multimedia professionals were we able to finally achieve our final anniversary flagship video. Through the eyes of a mother explaining current challenges to her daughter, such as pandemics, climate change and food security, we guided the audience through our Organisation's journey in time, from its foundation in 1924 with the aim of sharing expertise on preventing and controlling infectious animal diseases, to its evolution against a backdrop of previous and current global concerns. With the video, we were able to trace WOAH's evolution to its current status as a vital player in addressing animal health and welfare issues on a worldwide stage.

Results

When the video was finally unveiled at the 91st General Session, our Organisation's annual animal health and welfare event in Paris, it was met with tears and congratulations from representatives of the 183 Member countries.

Through a targeted digital strategy, it was shared on our social media platforms, which included X, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram, featured on the Anniversary page of our website and showcased in newsletters. Furthermore, it was also sent out to international media outlets, partners, technical experts and educational authorities. The video was also hosted on YouTube in the Organisation's 3 official languages: English, French and Spanish, reaching over 400 thousand views on the platform alone. Through these outreach efforts, the video reached over 7.6 million people, engaging 55% of them and resulting in thousands of shares, likes and comments from veterinary and scientific communities.

With these results, we felt that we had succeeded in reaching our goal of creating awareness of our Organisation, giving animal welfare professionals a voice on a global stage, and further positioning animal health at the forefront of worldwide issues that affect us all. Because animal health is our health. It's everyone's health.

"Highly commendable efforts by WOAH (formerly OIE) both in animal health and veterinary education. A heart-touching video!"
- Shahan Azeem, DVM, MSc (Hons.), PhD, PG Dip. Vet Ed.

"Félicitation a toute l'équipe de L'OMSA pour ce centième anniversaire, tellement de travail accompli en solidarité avec la communauté vétérinaire mondiale."
- Martine Dubuc, Former Associate Deputy Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Canada

"What a beautiful message. All veterinarians have to be proud to be part of the amazing team."
- Renny Arcia Urbina, poultry health professional

Media