Everyone must do their part in ending discrimination when the occasion is presented to them, but sometimes you need to break barriers and orchestrate those game-changing opportunities.

We could have made another campaign against gender discrimination. Instead - we found a symbol of Polish sexism and ended it. We didn’t just join the inequality conversation, we bought the oldest and most iconic Polish porn magazine and shut it down on International Women’s Day. But only after we published its very last issue replacing its former PORN content with articles and imagery that educated on issues of sexism and inequality.

Poland is a country where women earn 18,5% less than men, we do not have effective system solutions preventing discrimination, kids at school do not get equality education, everyday sexism in public space is still socially acceptable. We are a conservative society which objectifies and marginalizes women. Even for the westernised liberal Polish middle class gender inequality is an abstract problem.

Our client, Gazeta.pl, is a liberal news portal. It is brand which builds its credibility by social engagement - it is a portal which starts mass discussions about significant social topics. The role of engaged liberal media in time of far-right, anti-women government should be bold and brave. We had to start a serious mass discussion about sexism and gender inequalities.

“Your Weekend” is Poland’s longest running and most widely read adult magazine. In December 2018, when it came up for sale, we persuaded Gazeta.pl, our client, along with Mastercard and BNP Paribas, two brands with a long-term commitment of empowering women, to buy the magazine and before we shut it down for good, turn it into a beacon for gender equality.

Its last ever issue challenged the established cultural norms it had so significantly contributed to building. The regular sections were reimagined to spark a national conversation on equal rights and sexism. Leading Polish female photographers offered powerful positive portrayals of gender and womanhood.

The magazine’s social media channels were transformed into education platforms. The conversation we ignited engaged the country and established gender inequality and sexism as issues everyone had to reckon with.

The Last Ever Issue became the best selling issue of “Your Weekend” in 10 year.

The main assumption was to make the topic mainstream. That is why we have decided to target the campaign to the average middle class in Poland. People we wanted to engage were not rejecting the topic, but thought that it is the issue which doesn’t affect them. We didn’t want to judge anyone or to instruct. The thing was to show the perspective of women. And by that to make people realize that we all live in a society which is not equal. The campaign consisted of two essential parts: the last paper issue of “Twój Weekend” magazine and internet campaign in our clients portal around the topic.

A teaser campaign started a week before the launch creating excitement about the iconic magazine’s last ever issue.

Nationwide offline and online sales were launched on 2019 International Women’s Day. Gazeta.pl sold “The Last Ever Issue” through their publisher’s distribution networks such as Empik (a chain of 200+ bookstores), Relay/Inmedio/1 Minute (chain of 1000+ newsagents / convenience stores), publio.pl and kulturalnysklep.pl (online platforms owned by the publisher).

Sales were supported by an integrated campaign including OOH, cinemas, radio, social media and PR. 100+ copies of the magazine were sent out to journalists and influencers which ignited a fierce social media debate.

A content section was created at gazeta.pl. It publishes content related to sexism, equality and diverse narratives of feminism. This content is redistributed through the media channels of what used to be an objectifying adult magazine.

Our most impressive result is... 0. That’s the exact amount of impressions of “Your Weekend’s” objectifying content since 08/03/2019.

The campaign organically reached 4.5M people and generated 25M media impressions (Poland’s adult population is c.a. 28M) according to media monitoring services.

“The Last Ever Issue” content generated 500k+ visits to gazeta.pl.

The campaign was mentioned by Poland’s most influential TV shows such as “Pytanie na Sniadanie” and “Szklo Kontaktowe”. It was even featured as the main story on gazeta.pl’s biggest competitor’s news site - onet.pl.

The online edition of the magazine was the best selling e-magazine in Poland of March 2019 (although readership of e-magazines in Poland is still in its infancy).

Projected offline sales make it the best selling issue of “Your Weekend” in 10 years.

But most of all we transformed a vehicle for objectifying women into a platform for gender equality.