Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves: Upgrade to Gas

The Situation

Despite the availability of clean cooking methods in Nigeria, uptake has been slow. Over 93,000 Nigerian women and children die from indoor air pollution caused by biomass cookstoves each year. Uptake of clean cooking solutions has been stifled by individual-level factors, such as negative perceptions and limited knowledge of these cleaner cooking alternatives. Safer fuels are often accessible, available, and even more affordable in many Nigerian states, yet demand for these cleaner alternatives continues to be low.

The Insight

People in Nigeria have a very aspirational nature and are willing to invest in their future. Positioning modern cookstoves as a way to reach the future they aspire to gives this audience a reason to invest in the product.

The Approach

Using inputs from stakeholder engagement and market research, McCann Global Health distilled 1 simple motivational truth that tapped into the hard-working, aspirational nature of the target audience: LPG cookstoves show where you’re going (not where you have been). This truth inspired the development of the “Smarter, Better, Faster” creative concept.

The Outputs

McCann Global Health created a 5-part mini series about clean cooking, featuring Mama Imade, a young, working Nigerian mother whose journey to upgrade herself and her family provides both entertainment and education. On the radio, popular on-air personalities were trained to discuss clean cooking during 15-minute prime-time segments, and short clean-cooking radio ads and jingles were created in 3 different languages. Additionally, social media influencers engaged in conversations about clean cooking among their followers. We launched a microsite for the Upgrade to Gas campaign covering LPG safety and use. Following the first 6 weeks of the campaign launch, the Facebook page had 18,000 fans, generating over 6 million impressions, with 12,000 engagements among the core audience. The web series garnered 250,000 views.