Today, Ukraine is getting a tremendous amount of help from the world. But this campaign is from a different time. The idea, which appeared on the 4th day of the invasion in less than 3 months, went from an initiative of creatives to the official communication of the country during the most difficult period of the war, receiving more than 2 billion impressions worldwide. The campaign is an example of the most advanced and at the same time the most challenging type of communication – real-time communication that relies on the news and social media agenda.

After the full-scale invasion by Russia the world expected Ukraine to be defeated in three days. 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.

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.

It started with an open call where we asked for help by encouraging the world to be “Be Brave Like Ukraine”.

Direct appeals for help, such as "Save Ukraine", "NATO, close the sky", "Stop the war", would only strengthen our position as a weak and helpless victim whose days are numbered.

We were looking for an image of a country that you would want to root for, like your favourite team, and that you would want to join, not just feel sorry for. An inspiring image, like a small brave David fighting a giant evil Goliath.

Even the best idea is meaningless if people won't see it. At that moment, a lot of communication about Ukraine was coming out, but for most of it, it was difficult to get over ten thousand likes and a couple of million reach. You need billions of impressions to fight Russian propaganda. And we didn't have a media budget.

So we focused on campaign elements that helped us increase organic reach:

1. Coordinated the topic and messaging with the government for a synchronised launch.

2. Engaged Ukrainian brands with strong owned media in joint communications to quickly reach all Ukrainians and engage them in the movement.

3. Engaged people to spread the message on social media and at rallies.

The largest OOH campaign in the history of Ukraine was made with 0$ budget.

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)

200 brands changed their names to Bravery and started to place “new logos” on both digital and physical products in retail stores.

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.

The overall number of impressions combining digital, PR and OOH results is more than 2 000 000 000.