The rule
It is known – the campaigns are always about sending a message. That’s the rule.
There is one fear, a very specific kind. It is always actual and widely present among those who work on creative projects. Surely, it can be present and creeping around the minds of people from other professions, but I’m limited by my call and experience, so I will stick within the industry where your unbridled creativity must meet the client’s requests.
These last few words unveil the fear I am talking about – the fear of doing things you don’t like.
Reasons for that kind of fear can be numerous: illogical, complex or even risky requests of the client, misunderstandings, stubbornness, egoism, missing to get a higher sense of the delivered solutions, changing the brief at the last minute, overdemanding, the Full Moon, Solar storms, bad weather, bad karma, bad habits, you name it.
Simply given – bad experience.
The shine
A grim picture, you will say. But, not as eery as it sounds. Sometimes just one sparkle brake the grayness and you got the project you love to work on.
That happened to me and my fellow teammates at the end of the past year when we received a request to come up with an idea for the campaign that celebrates the 30th anniversary of declaring Montenegro as an Ecological state.
Of course, we seized it. And of course, we panicked.
Our panic was driven by the fact that we must deliver the concept that everybody will not only like, but feel it. And in the land where we are very fond of divisions, that was not an easy job.
Yet, we were sure about one thing – all of our citizens, despite the differences, love our country.
That was additionally confirmed by the research finding we received at the beginning of the project. The team, and by this I mean Anna, Ali and Amanda, who have been in charge of the strategy development, did a great job noting the results we should follow during the creation of the concept. We were happy to see that our conclusion met the public opinion – all of us really love our country.
And that was the springboard for our idea.
The Holy Trinity of slogan making – the Fact, the Emotion and the CTA.
We jumped into development and the crucial part of every campaign was on the menu – the slogan. We asked ourselves – what’s the line that everybody will hear, feel and accept? Yeah, all of us love our beautiful country, that’s cushty, but how to cook it properly. And we started adding the various ingredients, many of which didn’t meet the taste we wanted, until we found the perfect three – the fact, the emotion and the CTA.
Montenegro is the only Ecological state by the Constitution. Yes. And we love our country, despite all flaws we are facing. Yes, yes! And we must protect her and keep it beautiful. Sh#t, yes!
And after a helpful intervention of our client, we dropped the slogan: For the only one in the world. It’s ours. Let’s keep her that way. (MNE: Za jedinu na svijeu. Naša je. Čuvajmo je.)
It needs to be known – Marko’s voice was crucial for the adoption of the slogan. When we heard it said in the deep voice of an experienced anchorman, the slogan engraved in our minds and that was it.
Great, the slogan is set. Now we needed to put it in the ears and hearts of everybody.
A child. A girl. A superhero.
“Let’s write a children’s song about ecology and stuff”, Marko said. “We can’t write a children’s song. We are adults, which means we are boring”, I replied. But the idea of the children’s song as the core communication channel lingered on.
We were squeezing our brains about what to do. We really wanted to use that children’s moment. Children are sincere, pure, brave and the future belongs to them. Who can be the better messenger than them?
And suddenly, one name came out – Dragan Radulović, late Montenegrin children’s poet and the most loved guy by generations. We knew that choice is right, but our astonishment exploded when we discovered that Dragan has actually written a poem about the importance of protecting the environment. The Green song is called.
Our idea flourished, our concept was fit. And Ksenija gave the approval, followed by her iconic stern look.
“It must be a child, a girl and it must be a superhero”, we all agreed about the main role for our video, which was the backbone of our concept. A little superhero, in a self-made costume in the colors of the campaign, runs through the daily routines of elders and changes their habits, from her room, across the plains and sea, ending with cleaning the beach, all followed by the recital of the Green song in the background.
“That totally makes sense”, said the partners. That was enough to wrap up everything.
Our campaign got the final shape. Cudos for that go to our graphic designer and recreational comedian Stefan, who gave our idea a visual touch that made everyone like it.
Troops
And I’m serious with that latter. As my allies, who will confirm those slightly romantic and rapturous claims, I call the numbers. Over 90% of the respondents who have heard the slogan of the campaign liked it. Of those who have seen the campaign, almost 80% have expressed their liking for it. When all sum up, every other person in Montenegro has either seen or heard about something regarding the campaign. All in all, many of the early defined objectives have been achieved. And this is the right place to shout a big thanks to Olja and DeFacto crew, who put a huge effort to present the real picture of the publicity about our job.
I have mentioned the partners, but in this case, I can freely call them teammates. GCSI, M&C Saatchi and the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial planning and Urbanism were huge support. Helene helped held us connected and Ivana and the ministry team were open and full of understanding. But, I must point out one name. Anna, you are the lifesaver.
Love’s the thing
In the end, it was all about love. Love for the initial request, love the idea that we made and love the beauty of our small country. Yes, it can sound pathetic, I know. But let’s face it – nothing works without love. Or, by the words of the immortal Leonard Cohen – love’s the only engine of survival.
The campaigns are always about sending a message, it is said at the beginning of this story. This time, we have sent an important one, the one we believe in. And that’s the most important thing about the messages.
So, for the only one in the world. It’s ours. Let’s keep her that way. For us and for those who will inherit this piece of paradise.I will finish with a few shout-outs. A big thanks to video boss Čojba, the most devoted cameraman Nemanja and the absolute master of photography – Duško. They got our respect by showing initiative which is very rare – they dive into the topic by themselves and got familiar with it as well as we did. No, I will not say even more. I need to keep the integrity of our little creative family.
