Winners & Shortlists

CHRONICLES OF THREATS

Bronze Eurobest

Case Film

Presentation Board

TitleCHRONICLES OF THREATS
BrandOSCE REPRESENTATIVE ON FREEDOM OF THE MEDIA
Product/ServiceFREEDOM OF MEDIA
Category B08. CHARITIES, FUNDRAISING, APPEALS, NON-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS, PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY, PUBLIC AWARENESS
Entrant Company SAATCHI & SAATCHI Belgrade, SERBIA
Advertising Agency SAATCHI & SAATCHI Belgrade, SERBIA
Credits
Name Company Position
Veljko Golubovic Saatchi/Saatchi Executive Creative Director
Zarko Veljkovic Saatchi/Saatchi Creative Director
Dragana Petkovic Saatchi/Saatchi Associate Creative Director
Ivana Zekovic Saatchi/Saatchi Creative Director
Sonja Milovic Saatchi/Saatchi Managing Director
Ivana Minovic Saatchi/Saatchi Client Service Director
Zorica Marjanovic Saatchi/Saatchi Account Director
Nikola Zmajevic Saatchi/Saatchi Belgrade Copywriter
Tatjana Milnovic Saatchi/Saatchi Account Planning Director
Ivan Zornic Saatchi/Saatchi Agency Producer
John Pallant Saatchi/Saatchi Regional Creative Director Emea

Results and Effectiveness

One murder case was resolved. Investigations on another two murder cases have seen progress and it is expected that they be resolved soon. A White Book on threats and violence against Journalists in 2013 has been released as an official document. The success of the campaign sparked an initiative to establish the commission that would investigate the political background of the assassination of Zoran Đinđić, Serbia’s Prime Minister. Also, a number of similar initiatives were launched in the region. Number of media impressions exceeded 70 million. Our media budget was zero.

Creative Execution

Our aim was to demonstrate to the general public how journalists feel when threatened. For the campaign, one out of hundreds of authentic threats documented against journalists was selected and made public by inserting an anonymous letter into the most popular Serbian daily newspapers. At the same time, a video message tied to investigative journalism threats was posted on news websites. The threats inserted in newspapers and posted on the internet, were designed to put the readers in the position of journalists who receive threats day to day. The fake threat quickly spread amongst the population and was featured on the news. When the stunt was revealed on news channels, it opened up a big debate in Serbia about the sorts of threats journalists receive daily. Consequently, unsolved cases of murdered journalists that had been forgotten for years were revisited and became the hot topic on news channels. Resolving these cases became a pressing issue for the new government.

Insights, Strategy and the Idea

In the past 20 years in Serbia, three journalists have been murdered and dozens threatened. None of the cases were resolved. The freedom of press is in danger even after the democratic revolution. While journalists live in fear, murderers lead normal, everyday lives. General public is unaware of dangers facing journalists in their efforts to find out the truth and inform the public. The general public’s attitude is: I don’t care – I have no idea – It’s not my job – It’s not my problem. Our challenge is to help people of Serbia understand the importance of journalists and their work; also, to help them understand that the ones who threaten journalists are threatening them as well, by undermining their right to know the truth. Our idea was to break the silence by making people feel what journalists are experiencing on a daily basis.