Objectives

The Unity Lab was created and led by volunteers of creatives and marketing professionals who were moved to promote peace and raise awareness about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The goal was to reach people beyond social media with a focus on engaging people across multiple platforms, creating calls to action, and making it easy for supporters to follow through – therefore initiating a progression from awareness to action.

The campaign started with a traditional awareness approach and evolved into more vibrant, attention-grabbing visuals as the strategy shifted to increasing engagement and urgency.

Through real-time, impactful media campaigns, we’ve highlighted the effects of war on civilians, especially children, focusing on the emotional, physical, and financial toll of conflict. All campaigns have been volunteer-driven and funded by grassroots donations, making our work a people-powered movement.

We used a combination of high-visibility channels—including billboards, TV commercials, digital trucks, and radio ads—to spread our message during critical cultural moments. Our goal was not only to inform but to move people emotionally and inspire action, giving them tools to get involved.

Websites like Ceasefire for the Kids and Taxpayers for Peace were launched in conjunction with the marketing campaign to provide real-time updates on the crisis, including the names of children who have lost their lives in the war. These platforms give people practical ways to act while keeping them emotionally connected to the real human impact.

Strategy and Execution

Unity Lab’s strategy was rooted in real-time responsiveness and emotional storytelling, designed to resonate with a wide audience by focusing on the human cost of war. Importantly, the campaigns were entirely volunteer-driven and funded through grassroots efforts, making this a community-powered initiative for peace. We needed people's support, time, and talents. We also needed to find and retain funding to achieve any success. We had to get creative with our messaging - at times having to recreate something that had been submitted - and we had to find the right vendors and partners since we were creating a lot of firsts. 

Key aspects of our real-time approach included:

• Holiday Campaign: During the 2023 holiday season, we launched digital truck ads in Washington, D.C., and Southern California. These ads highlighted the contrast between holiday celebrations and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, encouraging people to reflect on the suffering of children.
• New Year’s Day Activation: To start 2024, a skywriting campaign strategically above Universal Studios brought attention to the high death toll of children in Gaza. This campaign sparked significant online and offline conversations, powerfully engaging the public.
• International Women’s Day: On March 8, 2024, we ran a radio ad campaign in Los Angeles focused on the suffering of women and children in prisons. Reaching over 3 million people, the ad aligned with global conversations on women’s rights, generating emotional responses from listeners and raising awareness about Gaza’s crisis through a gender-focused lens.
• Billboards: By finding vendors willing to accept aggressive pro-peace messaging - we created high-profile billboards placed in prominent locations like Times Square and along the 101 freeway near major studios, driving pro-peace messages and a call to action. The Times Square billboard was seen by at least 1 million people per week over four weeks.
• Humanizing the Impact of War: To make the crisis more tangible, we focused on individual stories. A billboard in memory of Hala, a child killed in Gaza, went viral after being shared by Bella Hadid. Similarly, 60,000 mailers were sent to Midwest households in memory of Awni, another child killed in Gaza, encouraging recipients to empathize with the loss and take action through a QR code linking to TaxPayersforPeace.org.
• Relevant and Timely Messaging: We tailored our messaging to different locations. In New York and Hollywood, hard-hitting messages focused on taxpayers, while a softer humanitarian message was used in Maryland. Our polio vaccine billboard was rejected and had to be reworked, going live just a week before vaccines were allowed into Gaza, demonstrating our ability to adapt in real-time to urgent needs. 
• First U.S. TV Commercial for Gaza: We aired the first-ever U.S. TV commercial for Gaza, showing children before and after the war. The commercial, aired on prime-time TV and Hulu, reached millions and highlighted the devastation in Gaza, urging viewers to act for peace.
• Evolving Visual Strategy: As the campaign evolved, we shifted from emotional images of children to bright, neon-themed designs that grabbed public attention in new ways. This flexibility allowed us to maintain engagement as the crisis continued.

Through real-time adaptability and a powerful emotional connection, Unity Lab’s campaigns successfully kept the public engaged, moving them from awareness to action.

Results

Our volunteer-driven, grassroots campaigns made a significant impact both emotionally and through action:

• Across billboards, digital trucks, social media, and ad placements, Unity Lab reached over 500 million impressions. 
• First U.S. Billboard for Palestine: The first ever Billboard for Palestine in the US went live in Times Square and reached millions of people weekly, reinforcing the peace message.
• The billboard in memory of Hala went viral after being shared by Bella Hadid, generating millions of social media impressions.
• Khaled Beydoun also posted pictures of our designs on social media, receiving millions of additional impressions online. 
• Our campaign aired the first-ever Gaza commercial in the US on ABC, CBS, Fox, and Hulu, reaching millions of viewers across the U.S.
• Through grassroots fundraising and sales of apparel designed by local artists, we raised enough to sustain and expand our campaigns, with an average donation of $187—nearly three times the typical nonprofit contribution.
• Our efforts raised $250,000 for UNRWA, providing critical humanitarian aid to Gaza.
• The polio vaccine billboard went live a week before vaccines were allowed into Gaza, showcasing our adaptability to urgent humanitarian needs.
• We partnered with organizations like Al Jazeera, MPAC, Northern and Southern California Shura Councils, and The Giving Games Foundation, amplifying our reach.
• Our campaigns don’t just capture attention briefly—they leave a lasting emotional imprint. We’ve received numerous messages of gratitude, heartbreak, and calls for peace, demonstrating the staying power of our storytelling.

Media