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. The campaign idea was born with “Dekkenet El Balad” (The Country’s Corner Shop). 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. Corner shops in Lebanon are not only part of the folklore of the country but are known to provide more than the usual merchandise and services you’d usually look for. The mercantile nature of corruption in Lebanon made the corner shop a culturally relevant symbol to use in our campaign. All in all, the guerrilla campaign, stunt and movie aimed at creating conversation and directing people to the reporting website. Without any media budget, the pertinence and boldness of the idea, got people to talk about it, share it and encourage each other to report. In a country of 4 million, the campaign got 51 million impressions. 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 pressure and ensure continuity. To date, reports amount to more than 2 billion Lebanese Pounds.

The Brief

Our objectives was to develop a platform that will encourage people to report corruption and quantify incidents involving corrupt practices in Lebanon with the ultimate aim of raising the public debate and exert pressure on politicians to respond. From research we knew that people were skeptic to the concept of “fighting corruption”, We couldn’t invite people to fight corruption: the word itself is too intimidating and abstract. But thinking of closing down a business is easy and familiar. This is why we didn’t invite people to fight corruption, we invited them to let it go bankrupt.

Results

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.

Execution

We first started with a guerilla campaign with a shop called “Lebanon4sale” advertising for driving licenses, official papers, etc. And, a week later, in the middle of Beirut, an actual corner shop called “Lebanon4sale” opened. “Lebanon4sale” invaded the territory through portable shops and activists trying to sell their merchandise in every corner of Lebanon. We then launched an online movie which brought to life the reality of “Lebanon4sale” and introduced the NGO that was renamed after the campaign: “Stop the Shop”. We also added the call to action “Stop the Shop” on our posters. 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.

The Situation

In Lebanon, corruption is intertwined within the entire system; this is why fighting such a beast seems, to most people, unthinkable, unnecessary or even useless. When our client came to us, they insisted on the fact that they didn’t want to raise awareness but get people to report. Because it’s only when enough reporting is done, that they can hold people accountable. Knowing that this campaign required such a behavioral change, it was clear that we were going to need more than a traditional campaign, but truly create a movement and a belief that corruption can be fought.

The Strategy

The Strategy consisted of: 1 - Creating an enemy: the guerilla campaign with wall tags and posters as well as the opening of the shops all aimed at getting people’s attention and starting the conversation. 2 - The call to action: the online movie and the poster aimed to build on that anger and invite people to do something about it with the call to action “stop the shop” 3- Closing the deal: once we got people to our reporting page, everything was designed to ensure they finish the journey and do not drop out half way. We ensured the website was dynamic and the journey intuitive and created a virtual map of Lebanon that allowed people to see the live status of corruption – a tangible consequence of their reporting.