2015 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Corruption in Lebanon is everywhere. It lives in an economy of its own feeding on everything; and as a result, the fight against it seems hopeless. But the truth is, corruption acts exactly like a private business: The more you buy from it, the more it grows. And so we wanted corruption to go Bankrupt. Through guerilla marketing, a PR stunt, outdoors, an online movie we brought to life the Country’s Corner Shop called “Lebanon4sale” and invited people to close it down by reporting corruption. All this ecosystem was created to lead people to a reporting website that was fully designed to overcome attitudinal barriers and allow people to engage with the case. At the end, the ease, safety and engagement of the reporting mechanism allowed our client to gather data and quantify incidents involving corrupt practices in Lebanon.

Success of the Campaign

To date, reports on line amount to 3.4 billion liras. In a country of 4 million, the campaign got 51 Million impressions & $2.6 Million of earned media. It was featured in 12 regional and international TVs, 14 magazines, 9 NPs, 5 blogs, and over 30 websites. 487 volunteers recruited in 3 months. 1.598 bribery reports gathered. 2.737 mobile App downloads. 61.541 views on YouTube. 32 Shops “opened” across Lebanon. 4 Booths ‘opened’ in 4 universities. A reporting car went across 26 districts, covering 5.261 km in a country of 10.452 km2. 4 Street Guerrilla activations in Greater Beirut. 3 vending machines across 3 theatres. The data gathered allowed SED to issue 2 reports on Jan/Feb 2015 used as a reference by the media/banking authorities. On Jan 26, SED closed the first “shop” in Lebanon by helping develop, sustain and replicate a fully DIGITIZED AND CORRUPT FREE Police Station.

Describe how the campaign/entry was launched and executed across each channel in the order of implementation.

We started with a guerilla campaign with wall tags and posters advertising for driving licenses, official papers, etc. On these tags and posters there was only a phone number available. A week later, in the middle of Beirut, a shop called “The Country’s Corner Shop” opened. In this shop you could buy everything from a driving license, to a working permit, to free votes. Simultaneously, we launched our online movie that brought to life the reality of the “Country’s Corner Shop” while ending with a call to action, inviting people to close the shop. Once people started reporting and numbers started to show, a “Stop the Shop” car started going around the country and parking in front of the most corrupt entities to sustain the pressure and ensure continuous engagement.