Title	DON'T TELL MARTTI
Brand	CRISIS MANAGEMENT INITIATIVE (CMI)
Product/Service	PEACE BROKERING
Category	A09. 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

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.

Execution

The launch detailed the campaign idea to the public and media alike. In an initial PR push media were asked to keep the story only in digital channels and away from radio, print, and TV, capitalising on CMI’s good media relations. To keep interest going, the campaign’s progress was communicated to media and the public regularly. To ensure fundraising result and generate engaging content along the two-month campaign, businesses were invited to donate and share their messages of peace. Aside from the main campaign film, paid visibility played a small role. Outdoor advertising was used as a stunt, when Martti was abroad and the streets were safe for our secret. All campaign messages relied on the creative idea, always detailing why the media was “safe” from Martti and assuring consumers the campaign premise was real. Martti’s family, his staff and security guards were also committed to guarding the secret.

The campaign raised 631,877 € – over 316 % of its original goal. The sum amounts to 16 rounds of peace talks mediated by CMI in the world’s toughest conflict areas. The campaign was discussed in the Finnish media over 50 times, although the Finnish press did play along with the request of keeping the story out of TV, print and radio. During the campaign, online platforms of the country’s leading media shared instructions on how to participate. After the great reveal the campaign was publicised by all main media outlets, finally also in print, TV and radio news. That the country’s press were willing to help keep the secret, showed their goodwill and the quality of CMI’s media relations. 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. In addition to 10,000 individuals, the campaign received donations from several of Finland’s leading businesses, strengthening their relationship with CMI. 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.

The Situation

Don’t tell Martti was a fundraising campaign that put good media relations to the test by taking a surprising twist on earned media, asking journalists not to discuss about the campaign in print, TV or radio, to keep it a secret from just one man. Through a shared secret, it created a genuine relationship with consumers and CMI. It also brought world peace one step closer by equipping one of the world’s leading peace organisations with enough money for 16 rounds of peace talks in world’s toughest conflict areas.

The Strategy

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.