Cannes Lions

THE ZIMBABWEAN NEWSPAPER

TBWA\HUNT\LASCARIS JOHANNESBURG, Johannesburg / THE ZIMBABWEAN / 2009

Awards:

1 Gold Cannes Lions
1 Silver Cannes Lions
2 Bronze Cannes Lions
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Presentation Image
Presentation Image

Overview

Entries

Credits

Overview

Execution

We developed a unique solution. One of the most eloquent symbols of Zimbabwe’s collapse is the Z$ trillion dollar note, a symptom of their world record inflation.

This money cannot buy anything, not a loaf of bread and certainly not any advertising.

But it can become the advertising. So, we led with a direct campaign by sending bundles of cash to captains of industry, politicians and media personalities.

Outcome

Overnight, trillions of dollars of Zimbabwean banknotes achieved what they’d never been able to buy – real and meaningful advertising coverage.Within hours, we were in the national press.

And a couple of days later, the campaign was on national television and radio.And then the internet discovered it and it spread across the world. Soon we were on the New York Times site, Yahoo news, the Huffington Post and hundreds and hundreds of websites and blogs.As the campaign continues, sales of The Zimbabwean continue to soar.

In the week of the roll-out alone, the website logged over 2 million hits.More copies of The Zimbawean than ever are crossing the border into Zimbabwe.We used Mugabe’s own creation against him.

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