Back in March our head office in Portland started working on a pro bono project at the request of Nike. For months it was simply called "that refugee thing," and largely flew under the radar. It started to take shape about 6 weeks ago when we finally landed on a name: ninemillion.org.

Teams went to Azerbaijan, Thailand and Uganda to interview, photograph and videotape real refugee children. We entered into global partnerships to make the campaign come to life. They made a print ad. They made a TV spot. They made some short films. And they built a web site to help tell a story from the eyes of the nine million refugee children around the world, ultimately to generate donations to the United Nations world refugee fund.

The campaign launched yesterday around the world. Our Nike clients are in Washington D.C. for the kickoff, and we’ve just heard that it was very well received from heads of state, celebrities and politicians in attendance.

Today is the beginning of a 12 month fundraising drive, and the end of a crazy couple of months of very hard work and dedication from an amazing team of people.

If you have a moment, check out the web site at:

http://www.ninemillion.org

As if the furore surrounding our Nike ad featuring Wayne Rooney wasn’t enough for one day, we also have a special version of our Impossible Dream Honda ad airing tonight in England’s all-important final group match against Sweden.

Media agency Starcom has managed to secure the last possible break before kick-off (19:50).  The match kicks off at 20:00 so we are estimating an audience of around 21 million to be witnessing the Impossible Dream spot.  Based on qualifying matches and the great weather we have been experiencing we can also expect a further 6 million viewers to be watching in pubs.

England hasn’t beaten Sweden since 1968, so the pressure is on.  As Garrison Keillor says at the end of the revised ad – ‘Come on England, let’s keep the dream alive.’ Look out for the England flags.