Nearly two years into the financial crisis in Lebanon, the government attempted to pass a distorted capital control law on people’s savings, which meant that Lebanese citizens' savings deposited in US dollars could only be withdrawn in the devalued Lira at an unfathomable exchange rate.

Millions lost their hard-earned money in what has now been labeled the biggest Ponzi scheme in economic history, with an estimate total loss of nearly 70 billion dollars while the corrupt perpetuators of this crime remained exonerated.

One economist even coined the viral term “lollar” (a combination of “lol and “Lebanese dollars”) to symbolize the irony and absurdity of not being able to access your own money.

In the charged context lobbying newly elected MPs promising change, TI-LB needed to send a clear message and a reminder to the Lebanese: we, the people, will not be paying the price of their wrongdoings.

If Lollar was a satirical term invented by the Lebanese to symbolize corruption in a currency, why don’t we put a name on the face and link monumental symbols of corruption to these bills, and bring them to life?

Why don’t we fight corruption and its perpetuators, by bringing Lollar, the currency of corruption to life, and pay them back using the so-called currency they invented?

Using 7 distinct custom-made paintings symbolizing different sectors of corruption in Lebanon, we created 6 “Lollar” bills, assigning a value based on the magnitude of damage done - with a 7th painting about the Central Bank, the main culprit behind the financial crisis, designed behind each note.

Through a strategic partnership with key opinion leaders, journalists in our manifesto video, and leading TV station LBCI, we engaged the public and launched a monetary revolution through a mega on-the-ground on Pay with Lollar Day. This was precedented by a meticulously planned pre-seeding strategy, in which select influencers and KOL’s were given the Lollar bills ahead of time and asked to share them on their social media platforms with no context. Popular WhatsApp news groups were also pre-seeded, spreading photos of the unfamiliar bills and questioning their meaning. Within a span of a couple of days, the photos spread like wildfire, and there wasn’t a Lebanese person active on social media who wasn’t familiar with the bills.

We also bridged Lebanon’s online and offline worlds by enabling citizens who couldn’t join us on ground to share our bills with a customized message feature through our campaign microsite.

- Pre-seeding influencer pages on WhatsApp, Instagram and Twitter, sharing our bills and

questioning their origin and meaning to their followers

- A big media launch event, inviting several NGOs, journalists and media influencers generating

momentum and enlisting guests as spokespersons to circulate the bills and raise awareness on

“Pay with Lollar Day,” with artist Tom Young presenting interruptive displays of the bank notes

- An on the ground activation with a custom-built ATM machine distributing Lollar bank notes in

key locations

- A microsite expanding the accessibility of the notes with an option to include a personalized

message.

- Six animated online films, educating viewers on the story behind each note and the campaign’s

main objective

The creation and production of a creative media buy in the daily economic section of LBCI dedicated to portraying the Lollar fluctuation against the US dollar during the span of a week

- The distorted capital control law was stopped, and a new version preserving the depositors’

rights is currently under study

- The central bank of Lebanon and its governor Riad Salameh were exposed, with Salameh called

in for investigation by European investigators

- Local, regional, international coverage with exclusive partnership and collaboration with the

biggest TV station in Lebanon and AFP news wire.

- Reprinting of additional 10,000 Lollar bank notes to accommodate demand

- International coverage including Euro News, The Economist, and France 24

- $9.2M earned media value

- 4.5 billion Total Impressions