In November 2023, Ukraine celebrated the 10th anniversary of the start of the Revolution of Dignity – an event that significantly influenced the country’s development trajectory.
However, even after 10 years and a full-scale invasion there is still a barrier of misunderstanding between Ukrainians and Europeans. On one hand, most EU citizens agree with the statement that “Ukraine should join the EU when ready.” At the same time, russian propaganda portrays Ukraine as an incapable state and works to sow division within the EU.
A step towards overcoming this barrier of mutual understanding was to be a joint symbolic communication campaign that through the example of the Revolution of Dignity would demonstrate that Ukrainians feel and share European values. Given the tendency to avoid news about Ukraine in Germany, especially negative ones, the campaign aimed to facilitate the publication of quality materials that would reveal context and convey embedded messages.
Since Europeans do not completely believe that they are similar with Ukrainians, perhaps it is worth communicating our common values through the universal language of humanity. It sounds “right” and is understood in various social contexts worldwide. And that language is music.
During the Revolution of Dignity music united, supported, and inspired. Blue and yellow piano “Ukraine” not only served as a musical instrument but also became a physical and symbolic barrier between forces and peaceful protesters. Considering the deep symbolism of the piano the Publicis Ukraine and MSL Ukraine team proposed to create a cultural event alongside another symbolic monument, but for Germans, the iconic Brandenburg Gate.
The culmination of the event was the performance of the EU anthem “Ode to Joy,” in a four-hand rendition as a poignant symbol of Ukraine’s inevitable accession to the European family.
The campaign generated over 50 publications in leading German media, including online, print, and 11 features on major TV channels. The total non-unique publication coverage exceeded 486,100,000, with unique coverage reaching 40,500,000 — all without any media investments. Additionally, the event served as a platform for conveying important messages by official figures.
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53% of Ukraine’s economy depends on food and agricultural exports. Today, landmines occupy 30% of our land, which is twice the size of Portugal. Without global assistance, it will take decades to make it safe. Countless agricultural fields remain dangerous. People can’t work there.
The Minefields Honey Project ‒ the mix of nature and tech helps us to create a product that was never meant to exist by turning unsafe areas into flourishing gardens for symbolic honeymaking.
Personnel limited edition jars with details about our issue became a diplomatic tool and were given directly to influential people. The harvested honey became an invitation to fundraising events for Ukraine’s demining. The first 55 personnel jars were presented at special economic events such as World Economic Forum (Davos) and, USA-Ukraine Partnership Forum (Washington D.C.).
For now, the project has resulted in 175 000 000 impressions and numerous headlines with zero budget investments. It also received awards in huge international festivals such as Cannes Lions, KIAF, and others.
In 2024, Saatchi & Saatchi Ukraine, Kernel Ukraine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, and the Union of Beekeepers of Ukraine gathered the new honey harvest to ensure the project’s continuation.
read moreThe celebration of Kyivstar’s 25th anniversary was supposed to be the highlight of 2022. However, due to the war, traditional approaches to business and media planning no longer worked.
In the realities of full-scale war, Kyivstar reduced its media budgets by 30%. Consumer behavior changed, but the positioning of the brand “Human Connection” became even more relevant. The campaign for a new tariff for the 25th anniversary with the option of donations for the army was launched as a special crisis solution in wartime to save the lives of Ukrainian defenders and literally restore human connections in the de-occupied cities. The key challenge was optimizing the media support of the campaign.
The basis of the planning was Big Data from previous campaigns. Based on this, we created a new approach to planning, using econometric attribution modeling of users’ actual actions. Our data-driven strategy led to a significant shift in the TV and digital media split from 70/30 to a more effective 35/65. We managed to identify the most influential communication methods, thus increasing the amount of direct communication (SMS, push notifications, etc.) and additionally the share of display components in digital tools due to its economic efficiency and higher conversion rates in donation activations.
For continuous tracking of results and accuracy, we created live dashboards.
Results:
x2.5 Activation of the superpower “Helping the Armed Forces of Ukraine”
+20 p.p. Contribution to the restoration of Ukraine
+4 p.p. Brand connection
+4 p.p. Market leadership in mobile communications
read moreSelling OTC pharmaceuticals online is one of the most challenging ventures in performance marketing. However, with the advent of Covid-19, we identified a potential opportunity. Specifically, we anticipated a surge in online sales and a transition of users from offline to online platforms.
We took the initiative to become market pioneers, establishing the most transparent and effective collaboration with online retailers. We successfully launched Performance Marketing for Sandoz drugs, transforming the Black Box Pharma eRetail Media market into a clear, comprehensible, real-time analytical system. This allows for clear tracking of our advertising campaigns’ business results and boosts sales by attracting new users.
read moreThis is a showcase of how Lenovo, a hi-tech electronics brand, thinks not only about the functional features of its products, but also takes care of both product usage conditions and client’s comfort.
Creating of Lenovo Meowbook – laptop for cats – added more emotions into the user-brand relationships as well as highlighting such a problem as ‘device damaging from cat’s fur’ which became communicative innovation in this category.
Virus orientation, originality, and non-standard merging of high technologies and additional customer care allowed Lenovo to be organically discussed in media and got 9.5 million impressions.
read moreChallenge
COVID-19 and the introduction of strict quarantine restrictions are events that have greatly affected all of us and forced us to change our usual way of life. Now people had to get used to living in self-isolation and connect with the world (work, friends, relatives) by various devices and messengers. The situation contributed to the surge in popularity of the video conferencing format.
Many not only locked themselves at home but in themselves too. This influenced a lot of the beauty industry. After all, people began to pay much less attention to their appearance.
Solution
We decided to utilize this trend – and encourage people who have become hostages of their homes to be more open and “see” each other online more often. Yes, see each other! And start turning on cameras. And with the help of Garnier Fructis Superfood people who could look like whatever looked super.
read moreCHALLENGE
The category of female hygiene products is highly competitive, where each of the brands in its communications informs about the quality benefits of the product. Differentiation is extremely important for brands like this. It helps to build the affinitive territory. Libresse has set a goal for itself – To create a world where women can live the life they want, by breaking V-zone taboos, and the Libresse brand will help her feel confident and protected. regardless of the day of the cycle.
INSIGHT & IDEA
Globally, powerful communication has been developed for the Libresse. All our #історіїVсередині need to be heard. To know each other. To help each other. To see each other. And no woman can be forced to hide what she feels inside. Changes in communication have also affected the brand’s appearance.
Decision: not just to scale a new brand message, but to engage women to share their own stories: to learn one, to help one, to see one. Our #історіїVсередині must be heard.
IMPLEMENTATION
To be seen: attracting coverage media: TV + Digital, connecting Discovery Ads in YT and organically received a significant number of social network shares.
To be heard: A sexual podcast with The Village, to break taboos around sex and the V-zone.
To be discerning: By making influencers the voices of the brand who told their stories by launching WOM on social media
To be informed: Drove traffic to the website with paid search by posting a fun period’s test on Wonderzine.
RESULTS
For years the Chewing Gum category was represented by 2 leading brands: Orbit and Dirol. Orbit was a prominent player both in media investments and sales. Meanwhile, Dirol was #2 brand and eventually fell into the stasis where ad investment maintained the existing level of brand awareness while losing its positions in brand usage, consideration, and market share. Yet, Dirol decided to refresh its positioning and appeal to a younger audience – Generation Z.
Looking for an interesting youth territory we came upon bloggers trend. A big part of the audience is not only interacting with blogger content but dreaming of becoming one. Willing to help people with video content we created a Dirol Blogger Academy. Participants of the project had the possibility to learn how to become a blogger with special lessons from popular influencers, and the winner got 1 mln. views on Youtube for promotion of personal channel.
This project reflected the audience’s dreams vowed prominent brand slogan “Dirol. Inspires with taste” and positively affected brand sales.
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