In a city of just 80,000 residents, we ignited a social media conversation that generated over 650,000 impressions on Facebook and Twitter alone, and over one million impressions worldwide. We created a global conversation that drowned out the local opposition and reminded a community that whether the books are sold or burned, the result is the same - if the vote failed, their library and its books would be gone forever. Voters flocked to the polls at numbers 342% greater than projected and the library won the election by a landslide. All with a budget of only $3500 (US).

Posing as a clandestine political group, we began by posting signs around Troy 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. 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. We incited reactions by creating viral videos and Book Burning Party items for sale. And we surrounded the people of Troy by adding a book burning location at the library on Foursquare, placing want ads in local papers, renting portable toilets for the event from a local distributor and posting flyers from a teenager offering babysitting for the party. Once we revealed our true intent, we began posting pro-library messages on our Facebook page and offered free Vote Yes signs to Troy residents.

Due to a struggling economy, Troy, Michigan could no longer afford its library, so it scheduled a vote for a 0.7% tax increase. With no organised support for the library, a well-funded anti-tax group had been waging a dominating campaign against it. In order to get enough 'Yes' voters to the polls and save the library, we needed to change the conversation. We had to get voters to stop talking about the tax increase, and start talking about what it would mean to lose their award-winning library. With little money and only 6 weeks until the vote, we couldn’t rely on paid media to break through voter indifference. So we found a way to get voters to do it for us with a social media campaign that created a global conversation around our single idea: a vote to close the library is like a vote to burn books.