In the context of an episode that shocked the country, the largest e-commerce platform in Latin America exercised its leadership position to be the only brand with the courage to take a stand about such a complex situation. In an increasingly divided and polarized country, the brand used a simple communication strategy, based on simple social/print ads and mainly a strong PR strategy, to make its position clear, decisive and powerful, as it was necessary.

On the morning of January 8, 2023, Brazil watched in shock as scenes on TV showed a group of far-right protesters, dissatisfied with the election results, invading the National Congress, vandalizing public property, and threatening a military coup. The images went viral. In the most famous of them, a hooded man raised the original Brazilian Federal Constitution as a trophy, stolen from the presidential office. The most important document of the nation, responsible for safeguarding its freedom and democracy.

Mercado Livre is the country's largest e-commerce company, with progress and freedom as its core values. It decided to make its position clear, even when all other brands preferred to remain silent.

A few hours after the episode that shocked the country, Mercado Livre decided to take a bombastic stand: it launched a flash promotion that gave 99% off on all existing editions of the federal constitution available in its inventory. And so, by making the book that anti-democratic acts attempted to destroy more accessible, no Brazilian would ever forget the value of democracy again.

The strategy of control tone and narrative through PR focused on 3 main objectives:

1) emphasize positioning in defense of democracy and against violence;

2) Diminish risk of partisan association;

3) Eliminate perception of opportunistic premise.

The campaign had only 1 post on social media & 1 newspaper ad. It fastly became the subject of critical media outlets representing both reach and editorial relevance in Brazil.

Soon after the initial post, 39 articles on news portals and magazines reverberated and supported the idea of the importance of democracy shown on the post, increasing even more the capillarity and the impact of the content through the Brazilian territory.

It generated USD 5.5M of earned media and 98% of positive comments in PR.

With just 1 social media post and 1 print ad, we sold out the entire stock of the company's books in just 4 hours.

There were over 15k scans of the QR code in the print ad in one day and over 110k total visits to the ad on the platform.

The campaign resulted in the largest book sale in Mercado Livre's 25-year history, making the Constitution the best-selling book in the country that week.

It was also the biggest peak of sales for federal constitutions in the history of the country, in a short period of time.

The post became the most commented post in the brand's history.

The idea became news, reaching headlines around the world.

- $5.5 MM EARNED MEDIA

- 1.5 BILLION IMPRESSIONS

Brazil is one of the largest democracies in the world but is currently experiencing its most politically polarized moment. The country recently lived through the terror of a military dictatorship for 21 years, having more than 400 people disappeared. And never since its redemocratization has Brazil come so close to a new military coup as on January 8th. Throughout the day, the country was stunned by the scenes on TV. Despite traditionally not liking to get involved in complicated political issues, this episode reached all Brazilians, making history in the country.

The invasion of Congress was a result of a growing political polarization that had been dividing the country for years. The current president defeated the extreme-right candidate (Jair Bolsonaro) by only 1% of valid votes. And because the country is so divided, most brands are afraid to take sides, even when one of them violates democratic principles.