Using something people know from their everyday life as an innovative buzz generating tool, the BVG not only gave Berliners world’s first fully edible public transport ticket to forget about their Christmas stress. They gave their customers a unique collectable item that immediately sparked conversation all around the globe.

In a bustling city like Berlin the run-up to Christmas has always been a nerve-wrecking experience. We the BVG, Berlin’s public transport company, wanted to reduce stress and make driving home for Christmas relaxing again.

But how to achieve this in a time everyone is fu***d up about everything?

With the calming effect of cannabis. And the world’s first ticket that lets you simply swallow your anger.

The hemp ticket – a daily ticket made of edible paper, drizzled with hemp oil, extracted from the seeds of the cannabis plant. The special thing about it: you could eat it completely after the last ride of a stressful day and forget about all your Christmas stress.

In a time when everyone was pissed about everything, the BVG wanted to give all Berliners something to forget about all their stress from the Pre-Christmas rush. Therefore, they used the highly debated topic of the upcoming cannabis legalization and were among the first brands that tackled this subject humorously. The additional aim was to make people leave their private cars behind and use public transport instead. So that driving home for Christmas could finally become relaxing again.

In an ironic viral explaining the promotion, we showed how a bus driver is getting the plants from a local farmer and handing them over to BVG’s very own cannabis lab, which produces the tickets for stressed out Christmas shoppers. The tickets then hit the streets of Berlin and were sold in the most stressful days before Christmas – in BVG’s customer centers all over Berlin.

Within hours it was metaphorically and literally on everyone's lips. Social media went crazy and around the globe people reported about the "Cannabis Ticket". With a reach of over 860 million contacts and an advertising equivalent of 13.7 million euros, we were the talk of the town around the globe. News from all continents reported about the hemp ticket and in Berlin a real hype developed around the tickets. Social media went crazy and even already invalid tickets were sold for more than five times their original price after the promotion.

Additionally, passenger numbers increased and people left their private cars at home. Tackling the highly debated topic of the upcoming cannabis legalization humorously, Berlin’s public transport company once again proved their image as a love brand. Not only in Berlin and Germany, but all around the globe.

In the end we not only gave Berlin a ticket to forget its stress but also the whole world something to talk about during the Christmas holidays.