In the run up to the Euro 2012 Championships, host nation Poland was looking down the bowl of an "inconvenience" truth. Thousands of football fans were due to descend on the country, drink beer… and find that the nation’s public toilets were too few, far between and not up to standard.

After 3 years of lobbying for better quality conveniences, washroom equipment producer CWS-boco seized upon the upcoming football championship and imminent influx of fans to turbo-charge its campaign through a single insight: making the authorities and public aware that the state of the nation’s toilets could flush Poland’s reputation abroad down the drain.

The integrated Toaleta2012.pl campaign started a movement, mobilizing the general public, media and politicians to take an unlikely and impassioned stance in support of the toilet issue, ensuring it occupied a prominent place in the media and ultimately allowing Poland to stand proud as football fans from across Europe answered the call of nature at the Championship.

CWS-boco is a B2B provider of washroom hygiene products and services to business clients and office facilities. The insight was simple: that the state and preparedness of Poland’s infrastructure to EURO 2012 – airports, motorways, bars and yes, toilets – was as vital to tourists’ positive impressions of Poland as was their recollections of the matches and their team’s success. The integrated Toaleta2012.pl campaign started a movement, mobilising the general public, media and politicians to take an unlikely and impassioned stance in support of the toilet issue.

The result was simple. The toilets got better. The authorities in Poznan alone spend half a million euros modernizing or building new public toilets thanks to the issues raised by the campaign.

Additionally, Poland’s reputation was secure: 57% of foreign tourists assessed the standard of public toilets as high or very high during their visit to Poland.

The campaign drove these outcomes through an unprecedented level of tier one and prime time earned coverage in Polish media, reaching over 8 million people through 542 hits (€220,000 media coverage). All for a campaign budget of €35,000.