Turning the table on Mike Lo Nam

Mike Lo Nam, Creative Director at Citizen Relations and 2024 Applied Arts Student Awards juror, shares with us the insight behind Reclaimyourname.dic a 2023 Applied Arts Advertising Awards multiple-award-winning campaign for Elimin8Hate.

About the Campaign:

Adopting an anglicized name is a common practice for Asian Canadians. But instead of making things easier for them, emotional well-being suffers, often accompanied by a loss of identity. Seeing a red underline marking your name as a typo is just one example of the software we use saying: If you’re Asian, you don’t belong. It was Elimin8Hate’s time—an organization on a mission to combat anti-Asian hate—to step in and show action and support for Asian Canadians by normalizing their names.

We created a first-of-its kind campaign to combat name discrimination and empower Asian Canadians to reclaim their non-Anglicized names. 

To start, we developed the world’s first custom dictionary of Asian names—ReclaimYourName.dic—in Microsoft Word containing more than 8,000 unique monikers from over a dozen countries. Asian Canadians were then encouraged to visit the campaign website to download and install the dictionary in just a few clicks.

To better understand the emotional impact this issue was having on real members of the Asian-Canadian community, we interviewed several Asian Canadians who personally experienced name discrimination. We then turned their real-time reactions to seeing the red underline disappear from their name into a powerful testimonial video. The campaign was further amplified through a mix of paid and earned tactics.

What were the success stats or indicators?

Microsoft heard us and has now adopted our ReclaimYourName dictionary. It's currently being implemented in its next global software update impacting billions of users worldwide. That said, ReclaimYourName was always meant to be a living dictionary, so while it set out to reclaim Asian identity, it is now open to all non-English names. Our campaign was also featured in Fast Company’s 2023 list of World Changing Ideas.

Why is this particular project a fave?

It’s using the power of creativity to do good and creating conversations that count. Being able to normalize Asian names, not just nationally but globally is what makes this project so meaningful.

Can you give us your opinion on what you think made this project a success?

We had a very clear objective from the outset: to get on Microsoft’s radar. Having that clarity informed our decisions throughout the process and kept the entire team focused on delivering it.

Agency: Citizen Relations | w. citizenrelations.com | F. @citizenrelations | IG. @citizenrelations.canada | X. @citizencanada

Creative Directors: Mike Lo Nam, Abeer Verma

Fantastic example of Advertising turning the spotlight on much needed causes. Congratulations on this powerful campaign!