In Romania, a country that equals autism with dementia and does nothing to support the suffering children, Horia Motoi - a small NGO fighting autism, had only one tool: an SMS number, where people could donate 2 EUR /SMS for children with autism.

But how could we make this SMS number the most popular in Romania and get people to donate?

We got the queen of pop-dance music in Romania, CORINA, to change her stage name into 8847, our SMS number, on 28th of March.

The name change triggered hysteria among the fans; other artists were concerned; and press was equally surprised but curious and happy to talk about it. We leaked fake stories regarding the meaning of the name and encouraged fans to discuss on Facebook the reason behind the change.

And it worked: for exactly 8847 minutes, nobody suspected the truth. On the 2nd of April, World Autism Day, we came clean on 'Happy Hour', the most watched daytime show in Romania. The same day, we posted on 8847’s Facebook page an app that allows people and brands to change their profile picture and cover photo into a custom made 8847 version.

2.5 million Facebook impressions, hundreds of people and brands changing their profile picture, including Toyota and World Class. Even Corina added 30 thousand more fans to her Facebook page.

1 in 4 Romanians found out about our campaign with zero paid media.

But, more importantly, we had 5.000 SMS within the first 30 minutes.

The name change triggered hysteria among the fans; other artists were concerned; and a lot of interest was shown by the press who crowded the news with stories. To confuse the people even more, we leaked fake stories to the press regarding the meaning of the name and they bought them, publishing all kinds of theories.

Plus, we encouraged fans to discuss on Facebook the reason behind the change.

And it worked: for exactly 8847 minutes, nobody suspected the truth. On the 2nd of April, World Autism Day, we came clean. It happened on the most watched daytime show in Romania: Happy Hour. During the show, the host – Marutza – made the first donation, followed shortly by others on his show.

The same day, we posted on 8847’s Facebook page an app that allows people and brands to change their profile picture and cover photo into a 8847 version.

The fans went wild on the social networks: Facebook and Instagram. 2.5 million Facebook impressions, hundreds of people and brands changing their profile picture, including Toyota and World Class. Even Corina added 30 thousand more fans to her Facebook page.

Traditional media also responded well: 1 in 4 Romanians found out about our campaign with zero paid media.

But, more importantly, we had 5.000 SMS within the first 30 minutes. The money gathered so far will help 20 autistic children to enter Horia Motoi’s effective therapeutical training.