A simple letter was adressed to advertisers, but it wasn’t sent by post. It ran on the homepages of 24 agencies, who each put their site offline for a whole week. Instead of their usual content, they agreed to show a part of the letter, ending up as a nationwide strike.

A few years ago, the members of the ACC, the Belgian Association of Communication Agencies, signed the Competition Charter. This document lays down seven basic rules for agency competitions. However, today more and more advertisers seem to be ignoring the charter. A joint action by the agencies was needed to remind advertisers of the document they once committed to.

Almost every major Belgian agency decided to join the action, making it a statement by not just one agency, but by the whole sector. The action was quickly picked up by the whole advertising world. Within one week, over 850,000 homepages were visited. The action got support from the IPA in the UK and the South African ACA. It also opened a worldwide discussion on Advertising Age, Adverblog, Contagious, Creative Review and various social media.

The idea made it very easy for every Belgian agency to get involved in the action.As an agency, it is easier to stand up if you know others do the same. That way almost every agency joined within a few days.Every client or potential client who visited an agency's website that week, was confronted with the charter they once signed.