Problem:

Every year, dangerous illegal fireworks cause more and more damage, injuries and even fatalities in the Netherlands. As a result of the emergence of webshops operating out of Eastern Europe, ordering illegal fireworks has never been easier. Customs and the police don't do anything about this problem, and so buyers have come to think they have nothing to fear.

Idea:

We wanted to create the perception that everyone who orders illegal fireworks will get caught by the “Taskforce Investigation Firework Bombmakers”. To achieve this, we created fake webshops purporting to sell illegal fireworks. We then infiltrated the target audience using a number of YouTube accounts promoting our webshops with fake unboxing videos. People who ordered via our webshops gave us their name, address and e-mail address. We used this information to send them personalized warnings stating their package had been intercepted by the Taskforce Investigation Firework Bomb-Makers. Three PR moments that made the national news caused the brouhaha to become even greater.

By making smart use of social media and imitating the modus operandi of real webshops, we managed to mislead our target audience. Using the data acquired, we were then able to give the target audience a very personal warning (by e-mail/post). This personal approach went on to cause such a stir that many people no longer dared to order fireworks online.

During the period of the campaign, we succeeded in unmasking more than 500 potential buyers – but the spin-off was much bigger than that. As a result of the extensive media coverage at the beginning of the campaign, about how the police had been able to get hold of buyers' details, many people no longer dared make orders. The commotion led a number of real Eastern European fireworks webshops to cease delivering to the Netherlands. The campaign also put this problem squarely onto the political agenda, as a result of which real action is finally being taken.