An innovative earned PR campaign hijacked a real estate site, sparking conversations on social and traditional media.

With a media budget of only €1000, this campaign serves as a brilliant showcase of PR creativity. Not only was the campaign able to create visibility, it was able to deliver the right message, at the right time.

Overall, the PR initiative gathered so much attention that the real estate site crashed, generating 3.5 million social media impressions and reaching over 27 million people, which is almost five times the population of Finland.

Situation: Peace mediation is needed more than ever, but donations have not increased. CMI could not answer all the mediation requests it received.

At the same time war entered Ukraine and touched the Finns deeply. However, the massive media coverage with cold statistics felt overwhelming and distant.

It’s the opposite that motivates us to take action: the relatable humane aspects.

Brief: How to grab the attention of people who distance themselves from the war and news coverage?

Objectives: To secure funding for future peace talks, CMI needed to raise awareness among key target groups and increase the amount of donations.

Nordic countries have enjoyed a long period of peace. This has made it our default setting to feel that realities of war always affect “the other people”.

We needed an idea that connects our peaceful everyday lives with those fleeing from war.

These two realities are most dramatically opposite in our relationship with our homes. For Finns, they are self-evident part of our lives. But for those fleeing from war, home keys are the first thing to become useless.

We set abandoned homes up for sale on Finland’s largest real estate listing site. Priced at 28 million euros – the cost of a mere minute of war.

But the website hid a devastating truth. Once users clicked to learn more about the properties, the images showcased the reality of these abandoned homes and the stories behind the people who left them. Visitors could then make a donation with just one click.

The campaign was promoted in the Nordic Business Forum, hijacking a LIVE conference and catching the attention of 7000 business leaders and investors.

The conference also launched an art exhibition with homeless keys that were collected directly from refugees in Ukraine, Mali, Bosnia, Burundi, Afghanistan, Finland, Libya and Palestine. After, the art exhibition toured the biggest cities across the country.

Strategic idea: Transform a real estate site into a media space to reach people when they are buying a new home. Most popular apartment listings are seen by more people than average news stories.

Insight: Impactful time to learn about the human cost of war is while planning one’s own future.

Key messages: 1. No one can afford the human cost of war (awareness). 2. Keys for peace are in our hands: donate for CMI (activation)

Target audiences: 1. General public: Awareness is vital when CMI is looking for new commercial partners. 2. Political and financial decision makers who are key deciders of CMI funding.

Creation and distribution

Two abandoned apartment profiles for Oikotie.fi

Press releases (Finnish, English)

Campaign website for donations

Art exhibition tour, largest cities in Finland

Launch activation in Nordic Business Forum event

Local press releases

Implementation had three phases:

1) Setting up abandoned apartments on Finland's largest estate site which was supported by press releases and the campaign website. The launch gathered so much attention that the real estate site crashed, igniting social and traditional media conversation.

2) Hijacking a LIVE conference, Nordic Business Forum, and catching the attention of business leaders and investors. Limited number of keys were hidden underneath the chairs of visitors to represent the few lucky refugees that actually make it back home.

3) An exhibition was launched in the Nordic Business Forum and toured the biggest cities across the country. Supported by local press releases in each city.

Timeline: Campaign was launched on the International day of Peace 2022 (21.9.) and was so popular that the exhibition toured until December breaking all expectations.

Scale: Small budget of less than 20 000 € with a media budget of 1000 €.

Media outputs

Real estate site was turned into a media space and over 170 000+ people saw the posts about abandoned apartments, eventually crashing the website.

This went viral in the Finnish X (former Twitter) with a flood of posts sharing the message and praising the campaign. Overall, the campaign created 3,5 million social media impressions. Even the famously critical Finnish journalist Tuomas Enbuske with 277 000 followers called it “an excellent campaign”.

The story was covered by all major news media in Finland and also by several global media outlets. The leading news media in Finland, Helsingin Sanomat, called the campaign “stopping”.

The conversation in social and traditional media stirred interest toward the art exhibition that toured around Finland. Launched by hijacking the Nordic Business event, the exhibition was eventually visited by 500 000+ people making it one of the most popular exhibitions in Finland during 2022.

Campaign increased donations to CMI by 37 % which is a massive increase in the yearly donations. Originally CMI expected the yearly donation to decrease because of the economic downturn.

Target audience outcomes

Campaign reach: 27 million

500,000+ people visited the exhibition

170,000+ apartment listing views on Oikotie.fi

3.5 million social media impressions