For World Press Freedom Day, we convinced the world’s most prominent news organizations to rise above the fiercely competitive nature of journalism and come together to tell their audiences to read, listen to and watch their rival publications—all in support of quality journalism.

In a seismic move, news outlets used their own media space to promote other publications, even competitors. Full page were published in their own newspapers and magazines and space on their homepages was given away. Across the country, publications offered up their outdoor placements, posted from their social channels and even, gave air time on their own broadcast stations.

In a world first, diverse voices became one voice, reminding everyone to seek out all sides of a story to gain a clearer picture of what’s happening in the world.

In order to earn the largest share of conversation possible, we consolidated activity into one day using a two-pronged communications approach.

First, in the absence of a paid media budget, we coordinated full-page print messages within a range of local, national and international print publications to intercept readers within their existing echo chambers. To reinforce the message, we implemented high-impact banners on publishers’ online properties and video units on owned social channels. We also gained significant scale by utilizing broadcast partners to air :30 promotional spots ahead of popular national news programs.

Next, we captured the attention of the prospective audience outside of their echo chambers by leveraging prominent, donated digital OOH spaces in top DMAs heroing relatable local publications. In addition to this contextual relevance, we used donated highway OOH inventory to scale the campaign and feature a wide range of often-unexpected publications to explore.

Across print, digital, OOH, and social, the campaign drove a combined 724M of Total Impressions in a single day, all without paid support.

+ Print placements in partner publications drove 7.9M impressions, while digital banner placements on publication websites generated an additional 25.3M+ impressions.

+ Static and digital OOH generated 6M+ impressions.

+ Broadcast partners secured an additional 34.8M impressions.

+ Partners leveraged their social channels to post about the campaign, totaling 299M+ impressions.

+ In terms of PR, the campaign generated an estimated 290.1M+ earned media impressions, and an advertising value equivalent of $2.7M.

+ The campaign also generated organic conversation across social and online, driving over 31K mentions across 87 countries. On social media specifically, campaign mentions reported an 81% positive sentiment.

+ The campaign also contributed to a +361% YoY increase in World Press Freedom Day conversation.

At a time when people are retreating to echo chambers that confirm their biases and reinforce preconceived notions, how do you convince everyone of the importance of diversity in the voices they’re listening to?

By having these vastly different media voices to unify for the first time to encourage their audiences to read, listen to and watch all news platforms—even their fiercest competitors’.

In a historic move, news organizations around the world cast aside long-standing competitive and political differences to come together for a groundbreaking initiative that didn’t just support journalism but worked to protect its vital role in society.

We decided that there was no better day to launch our initiative than World Press Freedom Day, an annual day lead by UNESCO in which nations, media organizations and individuals come together to celebrate the fundamental principles of freedom of the press. Our goal was to commemorate the day by banding together with major news outlets from all over the world to rise above the competitive nature of journalism in support of a common cause: a free and independent press.

While typically audiences would be defined as a specified group of people receptive to particular brand/product messaging, this campaign is intended for anyone and everyone who reads, watches or listens to news and understands that a free press is critical for healthy, functioning societies in which a variety of voices, subjects and points of view can and should be heard.

With politicians, organizations and governments seeking to manipulate the news for their own agenda, the media landscape has never been more fragmented. This has lead to an ever intensifying polarization in the U.S. and abroad. What we need now, more than ever, is empathy for those with whom we might disagree.

In that spirit, we wanted to do something to encourage people to step out of their bubbles, to rise above partisanship and push themselves to try to understand the people and points-of-view that they otherwise wouldn’t expose themselves to. Because a variety of voices, subjects and perspectives is a necessary part of a healthy, functioning society and the only way to ensure a clearer picture of what is going on in the world.