The challenge was to deliver work that would be persuasive and memorable without the aid of traditional media support.

Our job was to illustrate how Chavez’s priorities weren’t aligned with those of average Venezuelans, and that his views were disconnected from the way people in Venezuela actually lived.

Rolling blackouts, a sky rocketing murder rate, food shortages, the exporting of oil to make friends and influence people internationally while regular citizens don’t have access to basic goods and services—these things can’t simply be explained away. Not in the real world. But in Hugo’s Fantasy Land, they could. This was the idea we used as the springboard for the look, feel and language of our campaign. We wanted to show a fantastical place, and also a menacing one, where logic and facts were of little use.

Voter turnout was over 80%, the highest in decades. And while Chavez was re-elected, it was his most closely contested election ever. In 2012 Chavez won by 9% points. In 2006, the previous election, he won by 26%. Certainly this campaign played one small part in the change happening in Venezuela, but not an insignificant one.