People In Need - Thank You, Czechs

THE RESULTS - Our campaign, “Thank You, Czechs” was the most talked-about topic in Czech Republic for 2 weeks, raising mass awareness of the People in Need's work and reaching 75,074,675 people. THE CHALLENGE - People in Need is a Czech nonprofit, non-governmental organisation that implements humanitarian relief and long-term development projects, educational programs, and human rights programs in crisis regions all over the world. 28 years after the Velvet Revolution of Czechoslovakia in 1989, tolerance and solidarity was at an all time low. In a country with no actual refugees, Xenophobia and anti-refugee rhetoric was dominating the government elections. THE SOLUTION - We created and launched “Thank you, Czechs,” a campaign sharing with authentic and honest messages from people across the globe to the people of the Czech Republic about the help they had received. Written in foreign languages, we knew the mysterious inscriptions on the billboards would gain huge media attention - because people couldn’t understand the language. They caused so much concern, the billboards were removed within weeks of being put up. After the billboards were removed, we continued to share the stories of people who had benefited from the NGO on a microsite, where the people of Czech Republic could read and learn about the plight of refugees. By revealing the truth, we helped reveal stigma, encourage empathy and help break down the Xenophobic and anti-refugee attitudes witnessed during the country’s elections.