DON'T TELL MARTTI

Short List
TitleDON'T TELL MARTTI
BrandCRISIS MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE (CMI)
Product/ServicePEACE BROKERING
Category A11. Charities & Non-profit
Entrant MILTTON Helsinki, FINLAND
Idea Creation MILTTON Helsinki, FINLAND
Media Placement MILTTON Helsinki, FINLAND
PR MILTTON Helsinki, FINLAND
Production COCOA MEDIAPRODUCTIONS Helsinki, FINLAND
Credits
Name Company Position
Mikko Hakkarainen Miltton Creative Creative Director
Maria Kuorikoski Miltton Creative Copywriter
Hanna Lemmetti Miltton Creative Creative Strategist
Fanni Perälä Miltton Creative Art Director
Lauramaria Havu Miltton Account Director
Hanna Valle Miltton Creative Graphic Designer
Laura Ruokola Miltton Project Manager
Pauliina Männistö Miltton Project Manager
Pyry Lepistö Miltton Creative Video Creative
Tomi Seppälä Miltton Creative Video Creative

The Campaign

The fundraiser was timed with CMI founder, Nobel Peace laureate and former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari’s 80th birthday. Because Martti is a well-known and beloved national figure, we decided to frame the fundraiser as a secret group gift for him. This fun and quirky approach stood out from traditional charity fundraisers. CMI’s work was simplified into easily understandable and measurable units: rounds of peace negotiations. The idea was to raise money for five rounds of peace negotiations and surprise Martti on his birthday. To keep the campaign secret from Martti, it was carried out in channels he doesn’t follow: online and social media. As the CMI is relatively unknown to public, they needed a personal and fresh sight to launch their first ever public fundraiser successfully. The campaign was launched with an online video featuring the former president’s son, well-known and high-ranking politicians and CMI’s staff planning the birthday surprise.

Creative Execution

The campaign was based on a simple idea: by keeping discussion strictly in social media, we could keep the fundraiser secret from Martti and then surprise him on his birthday. An idea of a shared, public secret, known to everyone except one man, electrified the campaign and created an active online community genuinely invested in the campaign, both in terms of keeping the secret and ensuring the fundraiser’s outcome. The Don’t Tell Martti -campaign kicked off on 20th April and ended two months later, on the 80th birthday. The launch was through a video where Ahtisaari’s son, well-known politicians and CMI staff planned the birthday surprise on WhatsApp. The secrecy wasn’t a mere marketing ploy, it was real. Media were asked to avoid traditional media so that Martti wouldn’t find out. They happily played along. Martti’s family, staff and security guards also committed to keeping the secret.

The campaign raised 631,877 € – over 316 % of its original goal. The campaign was discussed in the Finnish media over 50 times. Media reach was 29 million people, which is over 5 times the population of Finland. It was the #1 most talked about topic on social media. The campaign video was the most shared Facebook ad ever in Finland. CMI became an organisation familiar to all of Finland and a reason for everyone to be proud of. Despite all this, the secret stayed safe from Martti for 57 days. The secret was revealed in a live online broadcast, which has been viewed over 100,000 times. "I couldn't imagine anything more wonderful than this", concluded Martti after being gifted with the biggest surprise of his life.

Our main definition of target was excluding: we wanted everybody to know about the campaign except for one person. We were dedicated to keeping this a secret from Martti Ahtisaari. To connect with potential audiences, the aim was to find people who shared CMI’s vision: every conflict could be solved through negotiation. During this time of global political uncertainty, both people and businesses alike were responsive to our message of working peacefully towards sustainable stability. The call to action was primarily donations and social sharing as a follow-up. Due to an extremely restricted budget, the reach had to occur organically, and for this reason creative work from visuals to tone-of-voice were designed from a social shareability point-of-view.