The Empty Chairs showed that creative strategy can be a powerful tool used to promote complicated societal issues, spark cultural conversations and bring about change.

The campaign proved that a strong message executed in a dramatic, emotional way can generate massive media attention, get onto the political podium and into the speeches of the most important political day of the year – all with 0 media budget.

Further, the campaign provided a framework to Børns Vilkår enabling them to develop more creative and effective ideas and help bring forward a better future for kids of all ages.

Børns Vilkår is a Danish NGO with the mission that no child in Denmark should be neglected. In 2019, the organisation released the “School’s Empty Chair” report, showing that 75.000 children in Denmark miss school because of mental health issues. In a country of less than six million, that is one in six children.

The problem: The report itself wasn’t getting enough attention. That is why we were tasked with creating a campaign that would turbo-change the issue, make news headlines and get politicians to act and create change.

The following objectives were set:

• Reach 33% of all adults in Denmark.

• Become the most talked about news of the day.

• Hijack the conversation at the opening of the Danish parliament.

• Get the issue on the political agenda.

• Most importantly: Get politicians to take action to reduce neglected children.

Do it all with zero media budget.

In Denmark – voted one of the happiest countries again and again – one in six children are so unhappy they don’t come to school. Many of these children are absent for long periods, leading to difficulties in their learning. This issue didn’t fit the narrative of the happiest country and thus didn’t get the attention it needed. We set out to change that.

Wanting to create awareness and change with a limited budget, we faced with three challenges:

1) Reach a diverse audience: Politicians, Parents and Professionals.

2) Communicate a complex story in a simple, highly shareable way.

3) Create as much noise to own the news circle for a day, making it impossible for central stakeholders to ignore the problem.

To solve this, we needed one big, bold idea, that would speak to all audiences at once while provoking a public discourse and giving news outlets great imagery.

Our creative strategy was designed around four key principles:

1) Focus all efforts on one singular event.

2) Leverage a relevant contextual setting.

3) Make sure the idea is “made for media”.

4) Make it big through PR and social amplification.

To succeed with this ambitious goal, we had to create a conversation that would start at the front steps of the parliament and continue onto the political podium. The solution: Highjack an existing event that media and politicians were already interested in, so we could borrow form the existing cultural capital. We found the perfect day: The opening of Danish Parliament.

The activation was designed in a way that would make “The Empty Chairs” nearly impossible to ignore for both politicians and journalists. Addressing a serious topic, we further needed to land a tonality that was creating awareness without being loud or tacky.

The idea: A silent demonstration using 500 empty chairs set up outside the Danish parliament on its opening day – each chair a symbol for a child staying away from school.

To emphasize our point, each chair had a handwritten statement for why children were staying home from school. Bullying, violence, abuse, or suicidal thoughts were just some of the reasons that made people feel the problem in an emotional way and gave voice to a large group of kids that had been largely forgotten.

The campaign was set up overnight in front of the Danish parliament on the opening day. Doing so, we created a one-of-a-kind backdrop for one of the most news-worthy days of the year. Media and politicians simply couldn’t ignore the message as they passed by, gave interviews in from of the chair or even read out some of the quotes.

While set up as a one-day activation, The Empty Chairs significantly outperformed all objectives and became Børns Vilkår’s most successful campaign:

• Reached over 65% of Danish population and generated an estimated earned media value of DKK +2.000.000 in the first 24h with 0 media budget.

• Become the most talked about news of the day. The campaign was featured on all major Danish news outlets, made the evening news at the two biggest Danish broadcasters (DR & TV2) and the front page at the two most prestigious newspapers (Politiken & Berlingske).

• Became the main subject at the opening of Danish parliament and party chairmen Pia Olsen Dyhr rewrote her speech and spent more than half of her speaking time to address the topic.

• Additional 400M DKK funds delegated to public schools and neglect of children

• 10% fewer school absence in the year after the campaign

Total: €25.350

• Pre production: 8.800€

• Production: 9.700€

• Post production: 6850€

• PR budget: 0€

• Mediabudget: 0€