Winners & Shortlists

PRAGUE CASTLE FOR SALE

TitlePRAGUE CASTLE FOR SALE
BrandCZECH POINT 101
Product/ServiceREAL ESTATE COMPANY
Category A03. PUBLIC AFFAIRS & LOBBYING
Entrant Company PASSION COMMUNICATIONS Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC
Advertising Agency PASSION COMMUNICATIONS Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC
Credits
Name Company Position
Emil Jimenez Passion Communications Ceo/Cco
Brendan Donnellan Passion Communications Managing Director
Lukáš Pohánka Passion Communications Senior Art Director

The Campaign

Challenge: The Czech government was attempting to cancel Czech Point 101‘s company trademark despite being instructed by a European Court not to do so. Passion was charged with escalating the situation in media and applying pressure on the government. Solution: The Czech goverment was attempting to take our client‘s property so we returned the favour by putting Prague Castle up for sale. Outcome: The campaign hit all major news outlets and pressured the government officials to do solve the issue.

The Brief

The aim of the campaign was to get the Czech government to abide by the EU court order and allow our client to operate as Czech Point 101.

Results

The campaign was picked up in all major Czech media as Radiožurnál, novinky, tyden, televizny noviny, denik, české noviny, euro zpravy, novina, reflex magazine and some international publications like Bloomberg.. Blogs lit up with commentary about the underhanded tactics of the Czech government, which were supposed to have ended after the cessation of communist Czechoslovakia post-1989‘. We fielded calls from interested media and real estate developers all around the world looking to purchase the property, stating that “money was no object”. Within 10 days of the campaign going live, the owner of Czech Point 101 was contacted by representatives of Ministery of Interior, who sympathised with his cause and promised to bring full support to put things straight. Currently Czech Point 101 uses its trademark without any restrictions.

Execution

With our fully integrated PR approach we targeted media outlets to drive traffic to a microsite where they saw a video of the Prague Castle’s ameneities and development potential. The twist came when our client appeared on the screen and explained his dilema with the Czech government.

The Situation

When the Czech government opened a branch of public office and named it Czech Point they proceeded to cancel our client’s trademark and ordered the company to stop operating under the name Czech Point 101. This was clearly a case of the government pressuring the little guy for its own gain. We took the case to the European Court, who ruled in our favor and ordered the Czech government to relinquish its claim on the Czech Point trademark. Of course, the Czech government ignored the ruling. Czech Point 101 tasked us with bringing this issue to mainstream media and gain the attention of key decision makers in the government, who would sympathise with our cause.

The Strategy

The strategy was to frame the issue around intellectual property safety and challenge the market to question, "Is your intellectual property safe in the Czech Republic?" Therefore, if the Czech government takes your property, you should return the favour. We put Prague Castle up for sale.