Following eight years of deep recession and a crisis of ideals, the Greek society had truly lost its moral and hope for a better future. With a whole generation lost, since more than 500.000 young Greeks left the country, a strong message of positivity was vital.

The United States of America, long time partner and sharer of values (such as democracy, freedom, openness, diversity, hard work, change) with Greece, wanted to play an active role in rebuilding trust and pride amongst Greeks, reminding the world owes them fundamental values.

To achieve this, a 360 campaign would be set in motion to bring back the talent and the pride to the Greek nation. Aiming at large-scale awareness, the campaign took advantage of the Thessaloniki International Fair’s significant international appeal to launch.

Wishing to raise awareness about the potential to succeed in a country that’s hungry to make a come back, we championed 6 real stories of Greeks who worked or studied in the US and that, having returned to their homeland, triumphed in their areas of expertise. The stories highlighted the importance of cooperation between the 2 countries (also in the private sector), while the areas “represented” were the ones that can make a society bloom (Education, Technology, Arts & Culture, Science, Entrepreneurship, Innovation).

At the same time, 7 artists took inspiration from the heroes’ stories and created in real-time, a collaborative art installation representing the US-Greece bond and their common values - thus, literally “turning diplomacy into art”.

Being the source of inspiration for both testimonials and the installation, CHANGE, HARD WORK, FREEDOM, DIVERSITY, OPENNESS and DEMOCRACY were highlighted through the consequent 360 campaign, celebrating those who were #makingithappen.

With Greece’s economy in a transitional phase and a lot of young greek talent having moved abroad, we designed a campaign able to inspire and make a statement of optimism and motivation.

We used the US as a source of mental boost (a place that brings about a profound change of perspective) to shape our message “Building a common future. Together.”

With an above-the-line campaign (consisted of hundreds of materials) and a fully developed website housing the entire initiative, we spread our message through a multi-dimensional media mix (national TV, digital media, radio ads/ references, print/ outdoor advertising, advertorials).

To take the idea from theory to action, we created a 360 campaign that run on national scale between September 7th - October 20th, 2018, and made sure that our campaign message was spread all around the country.

With a 75’’ TVC video as the campaign’s flagship and 6 more 20’’ TVC cuts summing up the essence of our heroes’ stories, we created hundreds of print, digital, radio and outdoor materials (more than 250 in total) that told our story in an effective way.

A multi-dimensional media mix (national TV, digital and social media, radio, print and outdoor advertising, advertorials) along with strategic placement of all campaign materials (Thessaloniki airport, Thessaloniki central bus station, nationwide and local newspapers, Thessaloniki local radio stations, outdoor advertising in buses, bus stops, public buildings of Thessaloniki as well as the TIF exhibition areas) contributed in spreading awareness around the campaign and its messages.

In terms of awareness, the campaign was a huge success, bringing such outstanding results as the following:

More than 6 million people were exposed to our campaign messages at least once

77% saw at least once the campaign TV ad

57% saw at least three times the campaign TV ad

66,8M Total Campaign Impressions

2.6M Total Social Reach

4,8M YouTube video views

38,7M Facebook & Instagram impressions

22M Google Display Network impressions

1,8M reach on OOH ads (Airport, bus stations, buses, city buildings, TIF)

800k total reach on national and local print publications in two weeks and more than 220k listeners at Thessaloniki radio stations

Finally, the collaborative installation was requested by the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art to be exposed as a standalone installation, was another win for the campaign, since it attracted thousands of visitors during the Fair.