Cannes Lions
BANDA AGENCY, Kyiv / UKRAINE / 2023
Overview
Entries
Credits
Background
After the full-scale invasion by Russia the world expected Ukraine to be defeated in three days. Ukraine was standing alone against the aggression of the biggest country in the world.
We needed to encourage countries and governments all over the world to help Ukraine with military and economic assistance. At the same time legal restrictions did not allow such calls to be placed in outdoor advertising.
Idea
It started with an open call where we asked for help by encouraging the world to be “Be Brave Like Ukraine”.
Strategy
Legal restrictions do not allow calls for military or economic aid to other countries to be placed in outdoor advertising. The inspiring call-to-action "Be brave like Ukraine" was clearly perceived by all stakeholders as a call for aid, but it did not violate any legal norms. This allowed the campaign to gain the support of global media networks, businesses and people around the world.
Execution
The largest OOH campaign in the history of Ukraine was made with 0$ budget.
It started with an open call where we asked for help by encouraging the world to be “Be Brave Like Ukraine”.
200 brands changed their names to Bravery and started to place “new logos” on both digital and physical products in retail stores.
People adapted the moto and started to use it on demonstrations and in digital content giving 1 000 000 000 impressions (only campaign hashtags counted)
Global media networks answered the call and donated more than 10 000+ screens. The campaign was running in 140+ cities like New York, London, Toronto, Berlin, Tokyo, Amsterdam, Rome, San Francisco, New Delhi, etc. Resulting in approx 1 000 000 000 impressions.
Outcome
The overall number of impressions combining digital, PR and OOH results is more than 2 000 000 000.
For years Ukraine was perceived in the world as just another ex-Soviet country similar to Russia. During the first weeks of invasion the world was shocked by the bravery of Ukraine’s people to stop tanks without weapons in their hands. That became a reason to believe in the new country image in the world.
This has changed the perception and attitude of the global media toward Ukraine. The narrative "A small country that will be defeated in 3 days" has changed to "Brave Ukrainians can win.
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