2016 Winners & Shortlists

FAKE FINES

BrandSAKKER EL DEKKENÉ
Product/ServiceAWARENESS CAMPAIGN
EntrantLOWE PIMO Beirut, LEBANON
CategoryUse of Promotional Stunts/ Live Advertising / Live Shows / Concerts & Festivals
Entrant Company LOWE PIMO Beirut, LEBANON
Advertising Agency LOWE PIMO Beirut, LEBANON

The Brief

In a curious attempt to ‘improve’ road safety, our government created a traffic law imposing high financial penalties on drivers for traffic violations. A law just like another law applied in a corrupted way. April 1st, 2015, or April Fool’s Day, was the date set for the new traffic law to be implemented. It was a date that simply screamed irony and we at Sakker el Dekkenne, a Lebanese, anti-corruption NGO, decided to raise awareness and ask people to report government corruption, and since humor is often the best way to engage the Lebanese people, we decided to prank everyone.

Creative Execution

In the early hours of April 1st, more 120,000 fake fines were placed on car windscreens across Beirut and 30 of its surrounding regions. From a distance the fines looked real enough, but each of the five special designs focused on a specific type of corruption with the government named as the offender. Subsequently, 120,000 people woke up shocked at receiving a fine, until they actually read the message!

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

The prank created a huge buzz online! A spontaneous hash-tag “#AKALTA” was created by people sharing their fines on Instagram and Facebook. Thousands were reached through social media, blogs and by word of mouth. Millions were reached through the prime time news on all the major Lebanese channels and through the main newspapers. Even though it was an April fool, the prank convinced everyone that corruption and death on the roads are certainly no joke.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

The aim of this awareness campaign was to counter attack the implementation of the new Lebanese traffic law due to take effect on April 1st, while citizens were suffering of road-safety corruption. That's why our campaign was based on a 1 day street activation on the early hours of April 1st , covering the main capital and 30 surrounding regions.

Credits

Name Company Role
Madona Zeidan Lowe Pimo-beirut Creative Head
Rania Barakat Lowe Pimo-beirut Senior Art Director
Tina Arab Lowe Pimo-beirut Art Director
Charbel Harb Lowe Pimo-beirut Graphic Designer
Elie Charbel Lowe Pimo-beirut Production Manager
Sarita Saad Lowe Pimo-beirut Copywriter