We had the goal of raising massive awareness of the struggle for gay rights in Russia leading up to the Olympics. The strategy was to create a piece of video content that would break through the clutter – But we had $0 media to support the video. So, we implemented a comprehensive targeted PR plan to get maximum reach.

We created “Luge”. The video shows two lugers thrusting back and forth in the traditional (and suggestive) starting motion. As they take off down the track, our message appears: “The games have always been a little gay. Let’s fight to keep them that way”.

Our targeted PR approach made Luge an international phenomenon – receiving 10 million views in under 2 weeks. We seeded content online and reached out to key social influencers. We then monitored the campaign 24/7 to amplify any story that appeared in the media. Luge was featured in every single one of the top 10 news outlets in the world. CNN even named it one of their top Olympic stories.

Luge also broke into pop culture, popping up in social feeds and featuring on shows like Jimmy Kimmel and Perez Hilton. In total, the luge had an estimated 750 million impressions. Our client CIDI’s social interaction was up over 30,000%. All with a media spend of $0.

Luge was launched online 3 days before the opening ceremonies of the Olympics. As part of the launch, a traditional press release was paired with a comprehensive outreach plan targeting media sources and social influencers around the world.

The campaign gained strength as planned, but we were able to be nimble and amplify coverage as it appeared, seeding the content further and reach out to more influencers.

The campaign was monitored and lasted for the entire 2 weeks of the Olympics, garnering nearly 1 billion total impressions and over 10 million views.

Luge became one of the most talked about stories during the Olympics. It was #1 on Buzzfeed’s list of “10 Ways Canada Has Already Won The Winter Olympics”. CNN also named it one of the top 5 stories of the Olympics.

The Canadian Institute of Diversity and Inclusion’s social interaction increased by over 30,000% and the video received over 10 million views on YouTube – making it the most watched ad of 2014 in Canada. Luge garnered over ¼ billion impressions and it is estimated that total media coverage is over 5 times that amount.