2015 Winners & Shortlists

The Brief

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. We needed the Lebanese to report acts of corruption, but first we needed to show how blatant corruption had become in Lebanon. And so, we created a real shop named ‘Lebanon4Sale’ where people could actually interact with the shop and bypass the system.

Creative Execution

Through guerilla marketing, a PR stunt, outdoors, an online movie and a Facebook app that served as traffic driver to the main reporting website, we brought to life the Country’s Corner Shop called “Lebanon4sale” and invited people to close it down by reporting corruption - which allowed our client to gather data and quantify incidents involving corrupt practices in Lebanon. The mercantile nature of corruption in Lebanon made the corner shop a culturally powerful symbol to use in our campaign.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We started with a guerilla campaign with a shop called “Lebanon4sale” advertising for driving licenses, diplomas, etc. And, a week later, in the middle of Beirut, an actual shop called “Lebanon4sale” opened. “Lebanon4sale” looked exactly like a regular corner shop, and inside of it, the driving licenses and other official paper were disposed like regular merchandise. We replicated ‘Lebanon4Sale’ look and feel through a Facebook App where people could virtually purchase the shop’s content. Once people started reporting and numbers started to show, a “Stop the Shop” car started going around the country to gather on the spot reports.

Results

Up until today, more than 1,600 reports against corruption reached 3.4 billion Lebanese Pounds (USD 2,266,666). Moreover, the data gathered has already allowed our client to develop their first report on corruption in Lebanon, which is why they came to see us in the first place. We also managed to recruit 434 volunteers in one month who are now themselves going to the street, shocking people with the Country’s Corner Shop items. And finally, because of its disruptive power, with no media budget, the campaign got 51 million impressions on social media and 2.6 Millions USD of earned media.