Title	SPY ON THE NSA
Brand	THE DAY WE FIGHT BACK
Product/Service	LOBBY-ORGANISATION ; PRIVACY RIGHTS
Category	C02. USE OF SOCIAL IN A PR CAMPAIGN
Entrant Company	HAPPINESS BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Advertising Agency	HAPPINESS BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
Advertising Agency 2	BIG ON RESULTS Cheltenham, UNITED KINGDOM
Production Company	BLISS INTERACTIVE & MOBILE Ho Chu Mingh City, VIETNAM

Name	Company	Position
Karen Corrigan	Happiness Brussels	Creative Management/Strategic Director
Philippe Fass	Happiness Brussels	Creative Management/Creative Director
Niek Eijsbouts	Happiness Brussels	Concept Provider
Sharif Abdel Mawla	Happiness Brussels	Concept Provider
Michael Middelkoop	Happiness Brussels	Concept Provider
Thomas Colliers	Bliss Interactive/Mobile	Webdeveloper

The Campaign

The goal was to give lobby-organisation The Day We Fight Back a tool that would reach a broad web audience to spread the message that personal freedom still triumphs, despite the increase of mass surveillance caused by the NSA. To reach this goal we didn't want to attack organizations like the NSA with a hateful message. Although people all over the world felt powerless against this huge organisation. We followed the daily news topics around the NSA privacy issues. When the topic of discussion was at an all time high we launched the campaign just before the new NSA director got nominated. On spyonthensa.com we showed a 24/7 videostream of the NSA headquarters. People got the opportunity to spy back by capturing the stream and by sharing this with their friends. This lead to 20.000 unique visitors in the first week and more than 8.800 people capturing their recordings of the NSA. It contributed to the worldwide public opinion being turned against those practices of organisations like the NSA.

The Brief

The goal was to give a broad web audience a tool to spread the message that personal freedom still triumphs. To reach this goal we didn't want to attack organizations like the NSA with a hateful message. Instead, spyonthensa.com gave them a taste of its own medicine.

Results

- With zero media budget we received 20.000 unique visitors in only one week. - The website got covered on major blogs (including: Fastcompany, PSFK, The Drum) and different news media (including: De Telegraaf, Business Insider, Le Vif / L'Express.) - More than 8800 people captured their recording of the NSA and shared this through social media. - We became front-page news on Holland's biggest newspaper De Telegraaf. - In a few hours after the launch, the article on Business Insider received more than 948 readers. - Fastcompany's article became best read article of the week. - A social media reach of over 5,500,000 - It contributed to the clear stand taken by the public opinion worldwide, influencing legislators, heads of state and even the NSA itself to take positive actions.

Execution

The campaign went live on the 10th of February. We implemented the campaign with a top down approach. The following influencers successfully took over the action and wrote about it extensively. Starting with Free Press NGO's: Including Bits of freedom, Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Privacy International. Two days later, news organizations : including De Telegraaf, Business Insider and Le Vif / L'Express After three days, the media & technology influencers: including PSFK, FastCompany, The Drum and Vice. The message then spread naturally via their Twitter accounts, followers and Facebook pages.

The Situation

When the NSA privacy scandals reached their peak, people felt powerless against this huge organization.

The Strategy

We followed the daily news topics around the NSA privacy issues. When the topic of discussion was at an all time high we launched the campaign just before the new NSA director got nominated.