The Miss Venezuela 2015 pageant was not only the most watched live show in Latin America, but also served as a successful and strategic campaign to raise awareness on a very important social cause. The newly launched Cisneros Media campaign #SiTeApurasQueGanas, which is an initiative that addresses the subject of teen pregnancy, was showcased throughout the entire event alongside its spokeswoman Maria Gabriela Isler, Miss Venezuela 2013 and Miss Universe 2014.

The campaign was developed in collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) with the objective of bringing awareness to teen pregnancies, encouraging prevention and gender equality. It also aims at creating awareness about the rights of teenagers to make their own decisions and create a life for themselves based on education, growth and maturity in order for them to accomplish all their goals and dreams.

The reasons we chose to focus on this social problem, both in Venezuela and regionally, were the following:

• Approximately 16 million teenagers, between the ages of 15 and 19, give birth each year, which represents 11% of all newborn babies around the world.
• Nearly 95% of these births come from developing countries.
• Close to 18% of these births from teen mothers occur in Latin American countries.
• In Venezuela, approximately every four minutes a child is born from a teen mother.

We are not alone in our concern for this cause. MTV Latin America is also providing information about sexual health through their initiative #SexTuMismo, which is why we chose to join forces with the production of messages from artists and teens during Semana de las Juventudes in Mexico City last August. These messages are currently being broadcasted on MTV Latin America and Tr3s of Viacom International Media Networks, whose primary audience are Hispanic-American teens.

This year we incorporated an interactive component to our campaign leveraging the impressive reach that the Miss Venezuela pageant has on television as well as social media. This was possible thanks to our partnership with in/PACT, a platform that facilitates the participation of users in cause marketing and corporate donations. The technology and model of interactivity allowed pageant audience members to learn more about four different organizations that work towards the prevention of teen pregnancies – Provive, PLAFAM, Prosalud y Niña Madre – and in turn select which organization they wanted the Cisneros Media donation to go to.  Once again this year the hashtag #MissVenezuela was a world trending topic reaching nearly two billion impressions, which in turn helped us position the #SiTeApurasQueGanas campaign with more than 35 million impressions and 34 thousand votes through the In/Pact platform.

A key component of maximizing the success of these causes has been the strategic alliances and partnerships we have formed along the way. Through this initiative, it brings me great joy to see the fruitful results of partnerships from an array of players, such as the beauty queen committed to human rights; NGOs dedicated to the same cause; the United Nations; an important media company such as Viacom; and an innovative digital platform developed for companies with a social commitment.

It is without a doubt that media, technology and social networks can play a huge role in generating awareness and raising a call to action. Through these partnerships we leave teens with the following message “Think wisely, plan your future… If you hurry, what are you winning?” (“Piénsalo bien, planea tu futuro… Si te apuras, qué ganas?”)