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Thank you, Czechs
People in Need
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
Anti-immigrant rhetoric was dominating headlines
People in Need is a Czech nonprofit, non-governmental organization 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.
In this context, how could we make the Czech Republic general public aware of the importance of development activities of Czech NGO, People in Need?
The solution
Sharing the truth
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.