Title	PRAGUE CASTLE FOR SALE
Brand	CZECH POINT 101
Product/Service	REAL ESTATE COMPANY
Category	D02. COSTS/CREATIVE PERFORMANCE PR CAMPAIGN
Entrant Company	PASSION COMMUNICATIONS Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC
Advertising Agency	PASSION COMMUNICATIONS Prague, CZECH REPUBLIC

Name	Company	Position
Emil Jimenez	Passion Communications	Ceo/Cco
Brendan Donnellan	Passion Communications	Managing Director
Lukas 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 solve the issue.

The Brief

The Goal 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

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. All of which lit up with thousands of 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

Execution With our fully integrated PR approach we targeted media outlets such as property portals 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

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 the mainstream media and gain the attention of key decision makers in the government who would sympathise with our cause.

The Strategy

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 can take your property, you should return the favor and take theirs. We put Prague Castle up for sale.