188, 645 people from 186 countries called The Swedish Number during Ingo’s campaign. It generated 9.324 billion media impressions, including a mention by President Obama and a clip of the Swedish prime minister taking a call.

It would not be a stretch to say that the idea of the Swedish Number is well known throughout the world.

So fellow Swedish agency, Forsman & Bodenfors, has borrowed it for its campaign for UNICEF to raise awareness about (and funds to relieve the victims of) the Syrian crisis. In The Syrian Number, citizens of Sweden are asked to call the country that’s ravaged by war. When they do, a child will answer. But – of course, because the new idea comes from F&B’s creativity – there’s a twist.

The number, +46 85-511-7864, bears Sweden’s country code. When called a voice says, “You will soon be connected to a family in Syria.” After two rings, the call goes to an answering machine. And a child’s voice explains why nobody can get to the phone.

One of the messages is, “Hello—I’m sorry but we won’t be able to answer your call. We are leaving our house because we have to get away from the bad people. It’s scary because I don’t know what will happen. I hope we can go to Canada where we will be safe, but it’s very very far away. Maybe I will see you there.”

“We want to highlight real stories from children in Syria,” noted Marcus Hagglof, copywriter at Forsman & Bodenfors. “The concept of the campaign is based on The Swedish Number, but instead of a random Swede explaining Sweden – you get children’s perspective on the reality of war.”

On March 15 Syria had suffered six years of the violent conflict. Millions of children are affected by the war and the situation is severe, according to UNICEF.

“Syria is probably the most dangerous place on earth to be a child. Every day, children are killed, injured, or scarred for life,” stated Hanaa Singer, UNICEF’s country representative Syria.