Due to a struggling economy, Troy, Michigan couldn’t afford to sustain its library, so it scheduled a vote for a small tax increase. With no organised support for the library, a well-funded anti-tax group waged a dominating campaign against it. So we created a political action group of our own, and - using reverse psychology - posted signs around town that said, "Vote to close Troy library Aug 2, Book Burning Party Aug 5.” Our signs invited a shocked and infuriated public to our Facebook page, and we added Twitter, Foursquare, flyers and more to help drive engagement. As the conversation spread from newspaper to TV and across the blogosphere, the campaign became an international media incident as outcry over the idea of burning the library’s books drowned out the opposition and galvanized support for the library - which won the election by a landslide.

With a budget of only $3,500 (US), we couldn’t rely on paid media to break through voter indifference. We had to get voters to do it for us. With social media at the core, we ignited a conversation generating over 650,000 impressions on Facebook and Twitter, and an estimated 1m impressions overall. Our story spread from newspapers to TV and across the blogosphere, becoming national and international news in just 2 weeks. We managed to create a global conversation, drowning out the opposition and garnering support for the library. We helped a community realise that whether the books are sold or burned, the result is the same: If the vote failed, their award-winning library and its books would be gone forever. In the end, voters flocked to the polls at numbers 342% greater than projected. The library won the election by a landslide.

We began by planting Book Burning Party signs around Troy, directing people to our Facebook page. Opponents hated the idea, and destroyed them. In the dark of night, we put up more. Our cloak and dagger approach fuelled the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. People demanded to know who we were, and what gave us the right to burn the library’s books. We incited reactions by creating viral videos and book bags for sale. We posted flyers in coffee shops from a teenager offering babysitting for the party. We created a check-in on Foursquare, placed a wanted ad in the local paper recruiting clowns for the party and placed our signs for sale on eBay. We rented portable toilets for the event and recruited bands. Once we revealed our true intent, we began posting pro-library links and messages on our Facebook page and offered free 'Vote Yes' signs to voters.