How German Media Was Shaken in Support of Türkiye and Syria
In February of 2023, a series of earthquakes struck both Turkey and Syria. The most devastating and powerful earthquake in 20 years - these resulted in many casualties as well as homes and livelihoods lost. The people of Turkey and Syria are still on the long road to recovery.
To bring more awareness and in turn donations to the cause, the Havas Germany team alongside the Seven.One AdFactory worked to disrupt the media landscape in Deutschland by creating 'The Big Shakeup'. Enlisting over 20 charities and numerous media outlets, the team began to alter existing ads, making them shake as if an earthquake had just hit. Following this, an appeal message to support the people of Turkey and Syria graced 20,000 screens across Germany, encouraging audiences to donate to support the cause.
With donations doubling since the stunt occurred, and social media conversations and impressions continuing to rise, one day of the campaign running made a huge difference to the cause.
To hear more about the process, Eric Schoeffler, Havas Germany’s chief creative officer and Europe executive creative director, speaks to LBB’s Nisna Mahtani.
LBB> Talk to us a little about the initiative behind 'The Big Shakeup' and how the Türkiye-Syria earthquake informed this.
Eric> The earthquake and my close connection to Havas Istanbul were basically the starting point. I’ve been running the ECC (EMEA Creative Council) for Havas for eight years now, and it was before our council meeting in Milan in March 2023 when I got a call from my friend and CCO of Havas Istanbul at the time, Volkan Dalkilic, telling me that he might not come due to the situation after the quake and the emotions everyone was going through. I convinced him to come and talk about it to the group. He gave a very touching and powerful presentation, and it was shocking to hear that almost everyone had relatives, friends, or at least someone they knew who was affected by the disaster.
When I came home from Milan, I talked to my creative directors, and we set up a proactive creative brief that was available to all creatives in the agency. We generated many ideas to support the people in Turkey and Syria, but 'The Big Shakeup' (which was first called ‘Moments in Turkey’) was by far the most powerful one. The idea was initially created by Demyan, a junior digital art director, and supported by Guido, our digital executive creative director. But we quickly formed a big, totally dedicated team from all disciplines and started the journey, not knowing if we would really manage to get it done.
LBB> What was the main goal when you set out to create the campaign?
Eric> It was obviously about generating donations for a cause almost everyone in Germany forgot. We have so many crises all around the world simultaneously, and as one drama is replaced by the next, it’s really difficult to keep donations coming in. But the situation for the people has hardly improved since the day of the quake. And that was the basis of the idea. To draw (or in our case ‘shake’) people’s attention back to the situation in Turkey and Syria. That’s why we focussed the campaign on the first anniversary of the quake.
LBB> Bringing together over 20 aid organisations is not an easy task. What was the starting point of the collaboration?
Eric> This, in fact, was not the problem, since the organisation ‘Aktion Deutschland Hilft’ is exactly that, an alliance of several well-known and credible aid organisations.
LBB> And how did you get Germany’s media landscape on board?
Eric> That would have been the hardest part. But luckily, one of my friends and former creative director when I was at DDB, Thomas Schwarz, is now managing director for Seven.One Media (the creative arm of Seven.One Entertainment Group, home to some of the biggest TV stations in Germany). He was the door opener. When I called him, he immediately felt the power of the idea and agreed to join as a partner for the project. Together, we then started to reach out further and collected more partners like WallDecaux or TikTok.
LBB> When it came to the assets and the way in which they altered and literally became shaken up, what was the process of changing those existing ads?
Eric> The tricky part was creating the perfect ‘earthquake-like’ shaking. We did a lot of research and a bit of trial and error to get it right. I even visited an exhibition in Istanbul where they explained the different kinds of earthquakes and how to better protect against them in the future. It’s pretty shocking how much and in which directions the earth moves during a quake. To convey this feeling in the short time of an ad was a real challenge.
LBB> This campaign not only featured in the media but also across social channels, OOH, websites, streaming providers and more. How did you coordinate such a big campaign? What was the most challenging part?
Eric> Everything was a challenge. Many partners, many clients, many workstreams, many meetings, many fuck-ups, many timings, but only one launch day that could not be postponed. This project was asking for a lot of commitment, patience, resilience, and willingness to collaborate for one big goal from everyone involved. And everyone was equally important in this project. So, the credit list might be the longest I’ve ever seen. And rightfully so.
LBB> So far, what have some of the responses to this initiative been like?
Eric> The responses have been great. Donations have significantly increased, and it was great to see how people engaged on social media. We knew upfront that there would be people, brands, and communities who didn’t want to be connected to Turkey or Syria due to the political situation. Every topic is heated these days, but in our case, we felt support for our project and the cause from all ends.
LBB> How about globally?
Eric> The campaign was fully focused on the German market, so it basically stayed there. But I hope LBB will help to spread it further, at least in the creative industry.
LBB> What should people take away from this campaign?
Eric> For creative folks, there are some takeaways:
A. It’s not as easy as a case film might pretend.
B. Collaboration is everything. So is commitment.
C. Impossible is nothing, but it’s really tough to prove it.
For the public, I really hope that people understand the need for support, even after a year, even with other disasters dominating the news. And also, we should never forget that it was mainly Turkish (and Italian) people who helped to rebuild Germany when it was down to the ground.
