In December 2009, Hoop Polska, one of the biggest non-alcoholic beverage companies in Poland, began its winter advertising campaign 'Colędowanie' (which is a combination of cola and the Polish word for caroling) for the most popular Polish cola brand – Hoop Cola. It was based on a humorous advertisement, which showed Poles from different social groups carolling together. It was part of the brand’s new communication platform:'open up to others'. Just a few days after it was first broadcasted, the commercial was banned by the Council of Radio and Television Broadcasting (KRRiT), which argued that it was offensive to the religious beliefs of viewers. Hoop Polska and our agency reacted immediately. The commercial was changed to one where the Christmas song was removed and the singers had black boxes over their mouths. The aim of the PR campaign was to start a social discussion on the ban and allow consumers to express their opinions. The aims were reached; the brand’s awareness had never been higher. The crisis was turned into a success.

The communication maintained a positive, open character, which highlighted the main values of the brand. Materials, including the KRRiT decision as well as the official answer of Hoop Polska, both versions of the commercial, a press release and the opinion of a renowned music professor – Lucjan Kaszycki were sent out to journalists. The professor argued that the soundtrack used in the commercial was a laic song and not a Christian Christmas carol, so could not be offensive to anyone. The agency contacted over 250 journalists, to portray the problem in detail and answer all the questions that may appear. All the actions were supported by activities on social media.To end the campaign, bottles of Hoop Cola were given out with the Metro newspaper (Poland’s largest free, daily newspaper). The newspaper included a special thank-you note to all the people that expressed their opinion on the subject.

The support of society for the campaign was huge and Poles were appalled by the ban. As a result of the communication, the number of unique users on the www.hoopcola.pl website rose by 700% to 142,499 users. The number of visits rose by 1,355% to 314 917.

Polish journalists, marketing media as well as politicians including potential presidential candidate Janusz Korwin-Mikke commented on the subject on their blogs – criticising the KRRiT decision. The biggest Polish daily, Gazeta Wyborcza, conducted a survey of its own on whether the ban was justified.The Top of Mind awareness of the brand rose from 5% to 13%-the most dynamic growth on the beverage market sector. Spontaneous awareness of the brand grew from 43% to 51%-the highest in the history of the brand. 90% of users that took part in the survey on the brand’s website voted that the advertisement was not offensive.