Vileda is the Spanish market leader in the mechanical cleaning product sector. Its business is primarily based on the production of mops, which make up 50% of its billing. The mop is a Spanish invention commercialized by Vileda in the 70s, leading to a significant social change: we no longer had to get down on our knees to scrub the floor.

Vileda celebrated the 40th anniversary of this invention in 2014, a difficult time for the brand. In a sector where product differentiation is challenging, and in a country in serious economic crisis, sales had suffered a double digit loss since 2008. Added to this were the aging of its core target market, and the difficulty in attracting younger generations.

The brief was to develop a PR strategy that took advantage of the 40th anniversary of the brand to:

- Provide Vileda with brand awareness going beyond the product itself.

- Make a meaningful change in the way younger generations and their favorite media perceive the brand.

Our strategy: help consumers rediscover the link between Vileda's mop and social liberation.

That's how "The Bad News" was born, the first newspaper designed specifically to be stepped on after mopping. It contained a selection of the worst news from the last 40 years, compiled so that Spaniards could protest it by stepping all over it.

A real newspaper that was distributed to clients and opinion leaders and that managed to bring PR into the promotion-based household sector.

First we decided on the strategy: to once again link Vileda's mop with that original spirit of liberation, but with a focus that would be more meaningful for younger generations.

Second, we decided that design was going to be a key part of our proposal. The mop is a design object. The decision to join a stick with a cleaning cloth may seem obvious to us now, but before its invention generations scrubbed the floor on their knees. Using design we could remind younger generations who were born with this invention already in their homes of this fact, since many wouldn't have known the history behind it.

To achieve these two goals we needed to create something that was new, creative, fun, had a spirit of protest and, above all, was real and tangible.

We came up with a solution by means of an unusual custom that is very typical in Spain, and that we've all seen in our own homes: spreading newspaper over a freshly-mopped floor to avoid footprints. In a society worn out by bad news, this custom gave us an opportunity to once again link Vileda with social values.

"The Bad News" is the first newspaper designed and intended to be stepped on after mopping. A selection of the worst news from the last 40 years, created to be read, spread out on the floor and stepped on. Created so that Spaniards could protest the bad news of recent decades by stepping all over it.

"The Bad News" was designed using traditional newspapers as a reference. It was divided in sections: International, Sports, Culture, Life & Style, Fashion, Obituaries, Weather and Entertainment. It also included, as a wink to its readers, content that's always present in a paper, such as a puzzles section, an interview on the back page and a section reserved for editorials.

The articles contained in each section were chosen with a clear criteria: they had to be bad news, but, at the same time, make readers smile. The more than 100 articles included were composed in a journalistic tone based on the original, but with a humorous touch: witty allusions to the world of cleaning.

The campaign led to an increase in sales of Vileda's mops of 20%, and the brand's market share rose by 6 points.