Title	ENEMY FRONT W HOUR
Brand	CI GAMES
Product/Service	ENEMT FRONT (VIDEO GAME)
Category	C01. USE OF DIGITAL IN A PR CAMPAIGN
Entrant Company	McCANN WORLDGROUP Warsaw, POLAND
Advertising Agency	McCANN WORLDGROUP Warsaw, POLAND
Production Company	DELAPOST Warsaw, POLAND

Name	Company	Position
Jacek Szulecki	Mccann Worldgroup Poland	Executive Creative Director
Szymon Szymanski	Mccann Worldgroup Poland	Managing Director
Lukasz Kotlinski	Mccann Worldgroup Poland	Art Director
Iza Przepiorska/Kotlinska	Mccann Worldgroup Poland	Copywriter
Mateusz Jankowski	Mccann Worldgroup Poland	Art Director
Agnieszka Wichracka	Mccann Worldgroup Poland	Account Director
Pawel Trocinski	Mccann Worldgroup Poland	Account Executive
Bartek Klus	Mccann Worldgroup Poland	Account Executive
Anna Gonera	Mccann Worldgroup Poland	Strategy Planner
Edyta Wierciak	Mccann Worldgroup Poland	Agency Producer
Magdalena Kieferling	Mccann Worldgroup Poland	Communications Director
Blazej Krakowiak	CI Games	Pr Director
Marek Tyminski	CI Games	Chairman Of The Board
Wojciech Jezowski	Black Rabbit	Director

The Campaign

Every year on 1st August at 5 pm, Poland stops for one minute to honour heroes of Warsaw Rising. It was the largest resistance action of World War II but people from other countries don’t know about that and how important it is for Poles. Even those around the world playing a video-game called Enemy Front, which is set during this battle. We encourage our client – the Polish listed company to change this and spread global public awareness that the Warsaw Rising was a real important historical event, not just a virtual one. At exactly the same moment when Poles stop on the streets – WE STOPPED THE GAME. Gamers as well as all internet users were redirected to special site where they could watch a short documentary about the Warsaw Rising. They also had a chance to be a part of the anniversary and honor the heroes through social media. On Facebook and Twitter the campaign reached over half a million gamers and non-gamers - in 8 hours, more then 30 000 people have honored the heroes on website and shared this on the FB. Unsurprisingly, the idea also quickly drew the attention of traditional media before, during and after the game was stopped. Thanks to this PR campaign, for the first time, thousands of people around the world commemorated the memory of the heroes of the Warsaw Rising. And for those players returning to the game at 5:01 pm - IT WAS NO LONGER JUST A GAME.

The Brief

The goal of this global initiative was to draw the world’s attention to the largest military action of the resistance in the history of Nazi-occupied Europe, encourage people around the world to honor the memory of its heroes and make them emotionally connected as a part of the 70. Warsaw Rising anniversary. This was the first time a video game had a patch installed to deliberately stop it by the manufacturer to convey a public awareness/ educational message around a historical event within the virtual action of the game. Through this action CI Games created a new digital CSR standard.

Results

On Facebook and Twitter the campaign went viral, with gamers and also non-gamers generating a confirmed reach of over half a million people in 8 hours. The idea also quickly drew the attention of media, both national and international (more than 100 cuttings in all kinds of media without costs). Thanks to this campaign, for the first time, more than 30 thousands people around the world honored the memory of the heroes of the Warsaw Rising. Over 50 000 people from 124 countries visited our website http://www.itwasntagame.com. For those players returning to the game at 17:01 - IT WAS NO LONGER JUST A GAME – as they express it on their social media profiles. The posts about campaign were twitted by Polish ambassadors as well.

Execution

According to plan a special patch was uploaded a few days earlier caused the virtual action in Enemy Front to freeze for a minute. One month before we identified key journalist (national, international and local media) and bloggers writing about Warsaw Rising, as well as technology and games. One week before we arranged TV and radio interviews with key Polish TV stations. The day before we sent specially dedicated press pack to all kind of media through our network in 20 countries. Very emotional, spontaneous buzz both on Twitter and Facebook was created when the game stopped.

The Situation

What producer of Enemy Front Game (taking place during WWII) could do about social responsibility in digital world to help the World understand the importance of that fateful day in Warsaw and to honor the memory of heroes (in similar age as the game players) who fell in combat, helping Poles to achieve freedom? How to create the world buzz around this controversial subject using pop culture tools (a game as a medium supported via PR and social media)? How to build emotional connection and encourage people to honor the memory of the Rising heroes they have never heard before?

The Strategy

At exactly the same moment when Poles stop on the streets to honor the heroes – WE STOPPED THE GAME and created media and social media buzz around this action. The day before, press packs including press release, photos and dedicated movie were distributed among the world media and in social media channels. A special patch uploaded a few days earlier caused the virtual action in Enemy Front to freeze for a minute. The interruption of the game led viewers and general public to special site with educational, documentary about the Warsaw Rising which was viewed all over the world with people paying tribute themselves for as far afield as Kenya, Mongolia and Taipei. They also had a privilege to honor the heroes through social media. At the anniversary day we generated the social media rush. All PR activities cost us nothing.