The Global Peace Index (GPI) gauges the peacefulness of 158 countries for domestic and international conflict, safety and security in society and military terms. Identifying peacefulness trends and characteristics according to country ranking, it is produced by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) as the world’s leading measure of global peace.

After six years, the IEP was anxious to avoid fatigue when launching the 2012 Index. But it was important to convey that if there had been world peace in 2012, the global economy would have benefited by an estimated US$9 trillion.

So prior to the launch, influential advocates were recruited online, in the UK Parliament and amongst the top-tier media to maximise interest in this measure of world peace.

The 2012 GPI was launched with material tailored to each country, supplemented by social media, an engaging animated video and a partnership with the Guardian’s Data Blog. A major launch event took place at Chatham House in London attended by 100 senior delegates representing some of the world’s most influential organisations, NGOs and governments.

The launch raised awareness with 10,000 pieces of coverage in the media. It’s estimated that the total reach was a record 1.6 billion people, a 65% increase on 2011.

The Index provides an independent impartial and informed view on how a more peaceful world might be achieved. By helping raise and sustain awareness of the Index to people who can act on it, the GPI and the agency have helped make that action more likely.

The campaign launched at London’s Chatham House to stimulate debate between 100 senior delegates.

Other activities included:

- Senior advocates recruited pre-launch (February)

- An Early Day Motion tabled in the UK Parliament (April)

- Key London events staged to influence key stakeholders (April)

- Launch communication tailored to each country in the GPI (June)

- Crafting core messages drawing out the last six years’ trends

- Producing an animated online video

- Using social media press releases to supplement traditional PR with all coverage and analysis shared via Twitter, and partnership with the Guardian Data Blog

As the IEP is a not-for-profit organisation, it was vital that the GPI launch received solid ROI. Using the agency’s international network, we implemented automated event registration, IT solutions, and online tools to minimise the cost of multiple offices, allowing us to deliver a truly global campaign with top-tier media coverage.

Fatigue barriers were broken by the record-breaking launch.

Output/awareness: launch attended by the Foreign Office, embassies, LSE, Department of International Development, UNICEF, the Red Cross and Centre for International Studies. Doubling delegate numbers of 2011, twice the influence.

Knowledge/consideration: Top-tier national media on every continent including 20 one-to-one briefings (50% up on 2011). Nearly 10,000 pieces of coverage in the launch week reaching an estimated 1.6 billion – up 65% on 2011.

Action/Business Impact: 350 unique website links and 1,000 more Facebook fans on the first day; over 1,000 tweets; 18,000 Google hits in the launch week (up 38% on 2011); blog coverage on 2,000 outlets, website traffic up by 40% on 2011. A partnership with Guardian Data Blog allowed GPI data to be used and ‘remixed’, getting people talking about making the world peaceful.

The campaign struck a global chord making action more likely – taking one step nearer global peace.