After years of war against armed forces, and the weakening in numbers and resources of guerillas thanks to actions enforced by the military, the Colombian government saw fit to create an ad campaign in order to encourage armed insurgents to defect, and further slash their numbers.

In interviews with former guerillas, a big insight was discovered: they felt like prisoners, just like their own hostages.

In order to communicate that, tv ads, radio spots and specific actions were developed to target the remnant rebel fighters. Soon, different brands, celebrities and people joined the effort in the serach for peace.

After long talks with defectors, we found out that when guerrillas were not fighting, they watched soccer. The favourite national pastime. We also learned from those who managed to escape that they used to feel like prisoners lacking any freedom and family. So we told some of their stories on TV and radio spots during soccer games. We aired testimonials of higher ranking officers who had defected. We also handed out and airdrop flyers with those stories in remote areas. Hostages who had escaped or had been freed told their stories, newspapers joined the effort, colombian celebrities made big apperaances, humorous scketches aired on TV, and people took to the streets and marched for peace.

More than 8.500 guerillas have defected.

Defections went up 73% Senior rebels and higher ranking officers´defections also went up 13% For the first time the number of defections is bigger than those of dead in action.

Some batallions have now less than 20 combatants.

The campaing encouraged other brands like El Espectador newspaper and celebrities like Shakira and Carlos Vives to help.

Inspired by the effort, people took to the streets to make themselves heard in a big march for peace. Social media was all the logistics it was used to put it together.