2012 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

3 weeks after the Tunisian Revolution, hope had given way to doubt. The entire country went on strike and economic activity was left to a standstill. We needed to find a way to encourage the people to get back to work and start rebuilding the country we had all fought for. So we decided to show everyone how bright our future could be if we all started building it now. We convinced 6 brands and 5 major Tunisian media to participate in the June 16th 2014 campaign. During a whole day, the 5 media acted as if it were June 16th 2014 and presented Tunisia as a prosperous, modern and democratic country. The media content spread to social media via 16juin2014.com and people began to imagine wonderful futures. Calls for action were gradually spreading and, at 6pm, the debate was everywhere (TV, radios, social media, blogs…) Getting back to work had become an act of resistance. The operation was covered by every Tunisian media and several international networks. The campaign found a large echo amongst Tunisians and allowed them to look ahead and recover hope.

The Brief

Research: Tunisia's post-revolutionary context needed political answers explaining the path to democracy and showing a clear roadmap towards free elections. But public authorities were unable to provide such guidelines and kept warning the population on the many risks threatening the country, especially its economy. Therefore, not only couldn't they offer a projection of their political future to the people, but at the contrary the key messages that were sent to the public were all negative ones. The outcome was that people couldn't project themselves anymore and future had become uncertain.

Results

The content spread to social media. People began to create content, imagining the future and calling everyone for action. Within only one day: #16juin2014 hashtag was n°1 top trend topic on French Twitter. Videos of NessmaTV and MosaiqueFM received over 150.000 hits. 750.000 newspapers were sold out before noon. WMC made its third best visits result ever. TV, newspapers, radios, blogs, the operation was covered by every Tunisian media. TV and radios broadcast special shows and debates around the event (171mn for 3 Tunisian TV channels only, almost 5h on radios), and 36mn international coverage, including very popular Al Jazeera who opened their evening news with a 4mn report. The next weekend, protests were even organised: getting back to work had become an act of resistance. To kick start the economy, the 6 participating brands resumed to traditional marketing. They would soon be followed by others. +166% media spent.

Execution

During a whole day, the 5 media acted as if it were June 16th 2014, approximately 3 years after first scheduled free elections. They presented Tunisia as a prosperous, modern and democratic country. NessmaTV aired their usual shows but as if it were June 16th 2014. News, bulletins, reports, culture... Talkshows were also made with famous Tunisians pretending to be in 2014. MosaiqueFM radio broadcast 2014 programs, news reports, humorists making fun of future government, chronicles about democracy 3 years anniversary, press reviews... The 2 leading daily leading newspapers made a 8 pages special edition with 2014 news. And WMC the leading economic information website posted over 15 articles from politics to economy. To further engage people, we launched a hashtag on Twitter and 16juin2014.com, a website with some of the content developped by the media and where people could share their own vision of the future.

The Situation

January 14th, 2011. Tunisia went through an historical Revolution that put an end to 23 years of brutal dictatorship. After weeks of struggle, Tunisia had finally recovered its freedom and dignity. It was a moment of intense hope and national pride. But we were all too soon brought back to reality. The entire country went on strike, with people requiring immediate satisfaction. Economic activity was soon left to a standstill. 3 weeks later, hope had given way to doubt. We needed to encourage the people to get back to work and start rebuilding the country we had all fought for.

The Strategy

To encourage the people to get back to work and start rebuilding the country, we needed to restore hope. And to do so, we strongly believed that we all had to focus on what we want for Tunisia rather than look back nor complain about the present. So we decided to show everyone how bright our future could be if we all started building it now. We convinced 6 major consumer brands and 5 major Tunisian media of which 1 radio, 1TV, 2 newspapers and 1 online magazine to participate in the June 16th 2014 campaign.