As Vietnam entered “middle income” global status, UNICEF Vietnam became ineligible for much external funding. UNICEF asked us to collaborate on an effort to inspire and engage local Vietnamese donors. Rice sought to develop a strategic platform from which significant funds could be solicited from to support UNICEF Vietnam locally.

Building upon UNICEF's global platform "Believe in ZERO" (with an aim to bring the number of preventable child deaths to zero) Rice created and branded a new property called the UNICEF ZEROawards. Celebrating humanitarian acts by Vietnamese individuals, trophies would be awarded at a prestigious and much publicised ceremony. The communication for this event, centered around a simple logo mark, which visually explains the cause with a call to action. A zero numeral is built from hundreds of plus marks—with each plus representing the power of individual donations to make ZERO become a reality.

At the first annual ZEROawards, UNICEF raised US$440,000 in one night. 176% HIGHER than their quarter of a million dollar goal and nearly 4 times higher than leading fundraising events prior. A minimum of 50,000 children would be treated in a province suffering from the highest rates of child malnutrition. The buzz generated around the star-studded event, as well as the didactic campaign surrounding it, spread the nation over via Television, print, outdoor and online media, greatly raising the awareness of UNICEF and their achievements in Vietnam. UNICEF plans to continue the ceremony and empower more and more local humanitarians of all walks of life.