Title	RESPECT OF THE TROPICS - HIJACKING A MEDIA PLATFORM
Brand	FOUNDATION INTEGRATION
Product/Service	SAFETY AND PUBLIC AWARENESS MESSAGE
Category	B08. CHARITIES, FUNDRAISING, APPEALS, NON-PROFIT ORGANISATIONS, PUBLIC HEALTH & SAFETY, PUBLIC AWARENESS
Entrant Company	WALK Warsaw, POLAND
Advertising Agency	WALK Warsaw, POLAND

Name	Company	Position
Aleksander Frydrych	WALK	Senior Digital Creative
Mateusz Żdanko	WALK	Senior Digital Creative
Piotr Jabłoński	WALK	Copywriter
Sebastian Oszczepaliński	WALK	Agency Producer

The Brief

Each summer several hundred young men in Poland end up on wheelchairs after diving into water in unsafe places. A warning message must be sent every summer holidays, because as most obvious truths this one is also easly forgotten. Young men usually dive to show off and to earn respect of their peers, as at this age respect and self esteem is most important.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

By creating a series of absurd, water related products supposed to enhance manly qualities we tried to illustrate the absurd of making yourself a perfect macho man. With hilarious copywriting and pictures we've tried to create a contrasting background to a serious message that was revealed when scrolling down the selling offer page. Exactly as on vacations: careless fun ends with an accident. A mix of humour and an unexpected warning, and an unprecedented use of online selling platform was the key to gaining a nation-vide viral effect. With a zero media budget the message had to spread itself.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

In just 3 days, we got more than 500 000 views and free media coverage in all the biggest news sites in Poland. Discusions started and people shared their observations on reckless behaviours on the beach. Our action gained so much appreciation, it was the most discussed topic on polish Twitter that day. Some news sites described it as the best social ad in Poland. People who bought our products were not charged in any way. Instead – we’ve sent them “Respect of the Tropics” t-shirts and they willingly became ambassadors of our campaign. Total media cost: 3 euros!

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Where to communicate the creative idea having no media budget? We've decided to hijack a media platform - the biggest online selling platform in Poland: allegro.pl (an e-bay like platform). The cost of puting a product on sale on allegro.pl is minimal (1 euro). There was an additional benefit of allegro.pl - the platform is known, trustworthy and from time to time, people put things up on sale with descriptions so funny, they quickly go viral. That was our goal. An uprecedented use of a selling platform as a medium for a public awarness message going viral.