This case was focused on changing the image of Gafisa from a passive brand to a pioneer in innovation, creating a relationship with its target. The target audience is made up of high-income families, employees, and successful young people buying their first apartment. Actually, before this campaign, the target didn’t have a relationship with the brand; they only knew it like a benchmark referring to product quality.

After research conducted by Millward Brown, Gafisa was perceived as a company that delivered quality, but was labelled as an old and non-innovative brand, distant from its consumers. So, why can’t Gafisa build something together with its target? The idea to construct the first building ever made by consumers came from this insight. This allowed the target audience to say what they want to the brand, and receive it back- thus creating a relationship.

The creative strategic solution was based in a crowdsourcing idea: “The Collaborative Building” - a construction which was designed by consumers. The campaign started within the internet: a fanpage was shaped for the audience, where they could suggest things they wanted in their new house (The Collaborative Building, in case). All content created by consumers in social networks generated content for the other mediums.Special Programs on Discovery Channel tested the suggested ideas. Different kinds of media were integrated: in casa.com.br website, a special tool transformed typed words by the internet users in ads which ran in magazines. Daily, media in elevators brought illustrations of the best ideas posted in the virtual world, transporting it to the real-world, radio spots were recorded by consumers, and further, Gafisa sponsored one of the biggest music events in Brazil: Planeta Terra, where people could experience other ideas in person.

The campaign can be seen as really successful, when we see how the consumers interacted with the brand. Actually the audience constructed the campaign, feeding back with ideas across all different types of media. The fanpage has registered 1m post views, received 39,000 'likes', and 3,000 ideas. Considering all media, more than 38m people were impacted.

In 1 year: purchase intent increased 42%; 34% of respondents had a better image of the company; an additional 56% people know Gafisa; and sales increased by 92%. The apartments go on sale in the second half of 2012.