Cannes Lions
ROTHCO, Dublin / DAINTREE PAPER / 2015
Awards:
Overview
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Credits
Description
18 months ago, Daintree Paper was forced to close down due to the owner at the time’s anti-gay stance. The business was sold, but the new owners now had a pretty serious image problem. This is how we helped this little paper shop in Ireland restore their reputation and become a global phenomenon – by simply recycling homophobic flyers into confetti to raise money for Marriage Equality.
Daintree believe in making beautiful things out of paper. So when paper was used to print some ugly lies in the run up to Ireland’s Marriage Equality referendum, we saw an opportunity. We created “Shred of Decency” – confetti made from 100% recycled lies.
We collected any negative and dishonest flyers and leaflets and recycled them into beautiful confetti. Then we sold it online and in Daintree’s little shop in Dublin – with all profits going to Support Marriage equality.
The results were completely overwhelming. The campaign generated hundreds and thousands of likes and shares, and millions of social media impressions. It was featured in newspapers, magazines and websites all over the world. Incredibly this was all completely organic – not a single cent was spent on media.
The campaign was also a huge turnaround for the business, with the image of the shop fully restored in the eyes of their customers and the general public. Thousands of euro was raised for Yes Equality, and we’re proud to say we helped take lies and hate out of Ireland’s Marriage Equality debate.
Execution
Daintree believe in making beautiful things from paper. So when paper was used to print ugly lies, we decided to recycle them into something beautiful.
We launched “Shred of Decency” with an online film. This directed people to a purpose built microsite. We had no media budget, so our strategy was to focus on social channels to target key influencers, journalists and Ireland’s LGBT community. We pushed the launch film on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, which in turn would drive people to the website to purchase the confetti.
We didn't have to push very hard. Within 2 days the campaign was featured in media across the globe.
We adapted our plan to focus on keeping the conversation going. We encouraged people to post photos celebrating with their confetti. We also asked them to send us any homophobic tweets using the hashtag #shredthistweet, so we could add them to the confetti.
Outcome
The campaign was an outstanding success for Daintree – with more than 62 million media impressions in earned editorial coverage and over 6 million social media impressions over the course of the campaign. It was featured in publications all over the world – from Buzzfeed, to the Huffington Post, to Mashable and many, many others. Incredibly this was all organic reach – not a single cent was spent on media.
Shred of Decency was also a huge turnaround for Daintree as a business – with a 15% increase in overall sales since the start of the campaign. What’s more, the image of the shop was fully restored in the eyes of the public.
Unsurprisingly, we sold out of confetti. Thousands of euro was raised for Yes Equality, and we’re proud to say we helped take lies and hate out of the Marriage Equality debate.
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