COBBLESTONE TRIBUTE

TitleCOBBLESTONE TRIBUTE
BrandHET NIEUWSBLAD
Product/ServiceHET NIEUWBLAD
Category A09. Promotional Content for Publishers and Networks
Entrant LDV UNITED Antwerp, BELGIUM
Idea Creation LDV UNITED Antwerp, BELGIUM
Credits
Name Company Position
Dries De Bruyn LDV United Creative Director
Dennis Vandewalle LDV United Creative Director
Dries De Wilde LDV Copywriter
Willem De Wachter LDV United Art Director

Why is this work relevant for Entertainment?

Watching sport is one of the world’s favorite ways of entertainment. But when there's a pandemic, there are other priorities. When the news is stranger than fiction and hospitals are filled with patients, brands need to take a stand and support the heroes of the day. Healthcare workers were the people who were in the front line fighting for our health, our real heroes. Het Nieuwsblad chose the cancellation of Belgium’s biggest sports event as an opportunity to honor healthcare workers instead of cycling champions. The Cobblestone was a warm gesture to give them the same recognition

Background

Situation:Het Nieuwsblad is Belgium’s leading newspaper for editorial cycling content. Our cycling content tagline is “We own cycling”. Every year, the road cycling season starts end of February with the opening race, De Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, a road race that even carries the brand’s name. Brief: After the opening race, Het Nieuwsblad planned a communication campaign to highlight their cycling involvement. But due to Covid19, all sports event in Belgium were cancelled as of beginning of March. So we needed to find a way to talk about cycling, without having any actual race. And our message needed to be aligned with the Covid19 situation. Objectives: Claim that Het Nieuwsblad is still the nr 1 newspaper for cycling news and spread a message of hope & support in the difficult Covid19 times.

Describe the creative idea

In a normal year, millions of fans would be cheering for their cycling heroes, but this spring, other heroes were taking action: the health workers who were fighting for the nation’s health. So we turned the course of the canceled Tour of Flanders into an ode to our nation’s health workers. The Cobblestone Tribute was born. On the most iconic roads of the race, we painted the names of hundreds of anonymous health workers with the same last name as cyclists. This way, we turned Flanders’ empty hills into monuments to honor healthcare workers nationwide.

Describe the strategy

We developed a communication recovery plan for our clients during Covid19: how to communicate in times of holistic stress. For Het Nieuwsblad, it was clear that we needed to tell a story without any opportunistic feel. We’re the leading newspaper for cycling, but we couldn’t tell it. We needed to show we understand the situation that we all were living in. The biggest day race in Flanders (and the rest of the world) is The Tour of Flanders.Every year, it’s almost a national holiday for all cycling enthusiasts.So this was the momentum to spread our message. We needed a message of hope & support. One of understanding but also with a big thumbs up to everybody who was contributing to help defeat the virus. But due to Covid19, the race day was cancelled. No riders, no fans, no sound, nothing. We wanted to use this momentum to spread our message.

Describe the execution

Implementation The Cobblestone Tribute was aired on national tv on the exact moment the race was supposed to take place. At the same time, the most famous pro riders started sharing the film online. Fans and journalists followed, by the end of the day the Cobblestone was picked up by all other newspapers, making the story spread even further. Timeline Launch on 5 April 2020, aired from 5 until 8 of April. Placement Several TV channels in Belgium from DPG media and SBS. Several media platforms picked up the news, was also widely spread over social media. Nearly all Belgian newspapers shared the story. Scale 7 out of 10 Belgians were reached

Describe the outcome

Pro riders, cycling teams and fans were touched and shared this story of hope and solidarity. Other big news media followed and spread the message of the Cobblestone Tribute. The story was the talk of the weekend and raised the appreciation for all healthcare workers in Belgium. And there was Media Peace for One Day: For the first time in years, for one day, the war between the Belgian media brands was put on hold. All newspaper competitor news outlets covered the campaign and shared the video across all their digital platforms. This increased the reach of the 70% of the Belgians. This campaign was used by ACC (association of communication companies in belgium) as a benchmark case for communication in crisis times. In one weekend, the Cobblestone Tribute counted over 15 million impressions, reached 7 out of 10 Belgians and earned 4 million euros of media value.