FONTS FOR FREEDOM

TitleFONTS FOR FREEDOM
BrandREPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS
Product/ServiceFREEDOM OF PRESS
Category A12. Not-for-profit / Charity / Government
Entrant SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Idea Creation SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Media Placement MEDIAPLUS Munich, GERMANY
PR ACHTUNG! Hamburg, GERMANY
Production PLAN.NET Munich, GERMANY
Production 2 INSTANT WAVES Berlin, GERMANY
Production 3 SUPREME MUSIC Hamburg, GERMANY
Production 4 NEVEREST München, GERMANY
Additional Company BBOX TYPE Berlin, GERMANY
Additional Company 2 STUDIO HEU.LAND Munich, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Alexander Schill SERVICEPLAN GROUP Global Chief Creative Officer
Leif Johannsen SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Managing Director Art
Patrick Matthiensen SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Managing Director Text
Soen Becker SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Creative Director Art
Eduard Hoerner SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Creative Director Text
Sarah Gstrein SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Art Director
Mojca Zavolovsek SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Art Director
Henrik Claus SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Texter
Lennard Bahr SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Account Manager
Dennis Fritz SERVICEPLAN GROUP Senior Motion Designer
Anja Meiners bBox Type Designer
Ralph du Carrois bBox Type Designer
Katrin Habermann Neverest Producer
Jonas Binder MEDIAPLUS GERMANY Senior Consultant & Planner
Sofia Hiestermann achtung! Senior Account Manager
Lena Marg achtung! Account Manager Press
Claudia Rienhoff achtung! Account Director Press
Marcus Maczey PLAN.NET GERMANY Managing Director
Marlene Ulmer PLAN.NET GERMANY Account Manager
Richard Wegele PLAN.NET GERMANY Creative Director Art
Tammy Jajes PLAN.NET GERMANY Art Director

Why is this work relevant for PR?

Newspapers are an essential element of PR. Freedom of the press is equally important. With Fonts For Freedom, we turned big German newspapers into powerful examples of press freedom, helping Reporters Without Borders to spark a global debate about press freedom, and banned newspapers from around the world to reach far more people than they originally would have, with more than hundreds of millions of contacts in over 100 countries.

Background

Reporters Without Borders Germany is dedicated to the fight for press freedom worldwide – which is under pressure more than ever: Every year, more critical newspapers around the world are shut down by oppressive regimes, with a record high of over 300 newspapers banned in 2017.

Describe the creative idea

Every newspaper has it’s own recognizable custom house font. For Reporters Without Borders Germany, we recreated the iconic typography of shut down newspapers to bring them back to life stronger than ever, with the support of major German newspapers.

Describe the strategy

We chose banned newspapers from different countries, to cover different interests and target groups, to maximize potential public attention. The Cambodian Daily, Cambodian newspaper, banned in 2017. Özgür Gündem, Kurdish,banned in 2016. Mawio, Tanzania, banned 2016. Taraf, Turkish, banned in 2016. Azadliq, Azerbaijan, banned in 2016. tuoi tre, Vietnamese, banned in 2018. Then, we gave the fonts to major German newspapers, again covering different demographic target groups: Die Welt, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, taz, Augsburger Allgemeine. They used the fonts along with matching topics in print and digital to bring the shut down newspapers back to life. To take it even further, billboards, posters and banners using the fonts directly confronted visiting politicians with the newspapers they tried to shut down. On our website, there is a growing permanent archive for fonts of shut down newspapers. Anyone can directly use them to spread the message on the streets and on social media.

Describe the execution

Together with renown typography experts, we recreated the custom house fonts of six shut down newspapers from around the world: The Cambodian Daily, Cambodian, banned in 2017. Özgür Gündem, Kurdish,banned in 2016. Mawio, Tanzania, banned 2016. Taraf, Turkish, banned in 2016. Azadliq, Azerbaijan, banned in 2016. tuoi tre, Vietnamese, banned in 2018. Then, we gave the fonts to major German newspapers: Die Welt, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, taz, Augsburger Allgemeine. They used the fonts along with matching topics in print and digital to bring the shut down newspapers back to life. To take it even further, billboards, posters and banners using the fonts directly confronted visiting politicians with the newspapers they tried to shut down. On our website, there is a growing permanent archive for fonts of shut down newspapers. Anyone can download or directly use them to spread the message on the streets and on social media.

List the results

Fonts For Freedom launched around the state visit of Turkish president Erdogan in September 2018, with posters, billboards and banners all over Berlin. In total, more than 5 mio. issues of participating newspapers containing the fonts were distributed in print and digital. The campaign sparked a global debate about press freedom, with more than 400 media mentions around the world and 2.7 mio. interactions – downloads, comments, likes and shares. As a result, Fonts For Freedom helped the shut down newspapers to reach far more people than they originally would have, with more than 830 mio. contacts in 132 countries.