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In November 2023, Ukraine celebrated the 10th anniversary of the start of the Revolution of Dignity – an event that significantly influenced the country’s development trajectory.

However, even after 10 years and a full-scale invasion there is still a barrier of misunderstanding between Ukrainians and Europeans. On one hand, most EU citizens agree with the statement that “Ukraine should join the EU when ready.” At the same time, russian propaganda portrays Ukraine as an incapable state and works to sow division within the EU.

A step towards overcoming this barrier of mutual understanding was to be a joint symbolic communication campaign that through the example of the Revolution of Dignity would demonstrate that Ukrainians feel and share European values. Given the tendency to avoid news about Ukraine in Germany, especially negative ones, the campaign aimed to facilitate the publication of quality materials that would reveal context and convey embedded messages.

Since Europeans do not completely believe that they are similar with Ukrainians, perhaps it is worth communicating our common values through the universal language of humanity. It sounds “right” and is understood in various social contexts worldwide. And that language is music.

During the Revolution of Dignity music united, supported, and inspired. Blue and yellow piano “Ukraine” not only served as a musical instrument but also became a physical and symbolic barrier between forces and peaceful protesters. Considering the deep symbolism of the piano the Publicis Ukraine and MSL Ukraine team proposed to create a cultural event alongside another symbolic monument, but for Germans, the iconic Brandenburg Gate.

The culmination of the event was the performance of the EU anthem “Ode to Joy,” in a four-hand rendition as a poignant symbol of Ukraine’s inevitable accession to the European family.

The campaign generated over 50 publications in leading German media, including online, print, and 11 features on major TV channels. The total non-unique publication coverage exceeded 486,100,000, with unique coverage reaching 40,500,000 — all without any media investments. Additionally, the event served as a platform for conveying important messages by official figures.

For over 100 years, Carol of the Bells has been synonymous with Christmas. However, many people are unaware that this iconic song originated from Ukraine. Mykola Leontovych, a Ukrainian composer, arranged a traditional Ukrainian folk song into the version we know today, in 1914.

To aid Ukrainian children affected by war, we transformed the beloved Carol of the Bells into 

a donation platform using Shazam. The new version of the song, titled Carol for Charity, encourages listeners to Shazam itself and donate for children’s needs with just a few clicks.

“Carol for Charity” went viral in 11 countries. With the help of Publicis Groupe teams worldwide, it was featured on 22 radio stations and integrated directly into Christmas movies via bumper ads. Media and TV coverage further boosted the project’s popularity, leading to the song being played over 1,000,000 times. 

The project received numerous awards at prestigious festivals such as Cannes Lions, LIA Awards, Mad Stars, The One Show, and Golden Drum.

Advertising for bread producers is usually a rare occurrence, as they typically do not heavily invest in communication projects. However, in recent years, ‘Tsar Khlib’ has broadened its product range, gained confidence, and made the decision: it’s time to take action.

Leo Burnett follows its own philosophy – HumanKind. This philosophy revolves around the desire to find a perfect balance that benefits both the brand and the individual. To achieve this, one must have a deep understanding of both sides. And what better way to showcase a brand than through its production process? Thus, the team gathered and embarked on a visit to the ‘Tsar Khlib’ factory to witness everything firsthand.

Before diving into the brainstorming session, it is crucial to explore how consumers perceive the brand’s products and the overall category. With insights from the client and the Publicis Groupe Data Science team, it was revealed that ‘Tsar Khlib’ holds a place as one of many consumers’ ‘favorite brands.’ However, a significant portion of the audience had not yet noticed the brand, simply regarding it as ‘just bread.’ The team also discovered that consumers prioritize bread quality, appreciating naturalness and taste. Even in everyday meals, Ukrainians enjoy treating themselves, turning a modest meal into a culinary delight. This behavior was coined as ‘everyday gourmets.’

This led to the development of a new brand platform called ‘Craftsmanship Tastes,’ emphasizing the key product attributes valued by consumers – quality and taste.

In transparent communication, it is not only essential to declare but also to demonstrate and convince consumers that these principles are reflected in the product manufacturing processes. Hence, a section named ‘Our Rules’ was created. This segment explains the bread-making process and why it yields such delicious results. Through engaging videos, viewers are provided with insights into daily practices, often imperfect, juxtaposed with the solid principles that ‘Tsar Khlib’ adheres to in product creation. Each rule represents a production insight, revealing the truth about the product while offering valuable and interesting information about its benefits.

To ensure the effectiveness of creative campaigns and boost sales, it is vital to establish communication channels correctly. Fortunately, the skilled professionals from PMX Publicis Groupe Ukraine expertly targeted advertising efforts in Kyiv and the surrounding region. The outcome was promising – awareness of ‘Tsar Khlib’ and its product range began to surge.

Collaborating with technologists, production staff, and the agency’s brand team, around 100 ‘rules’ were compiled, encapsulating the secrets of ‘Tsar Khlib’s’ craftsmanship. Stay tuned to the brand’s communications to uncover more hidden production insights.

Selling OTC pharmaceuticals online is one of the most challenging ventures in performance marketing. However, with the advent of Covid-19, we identified a potential opportunity. Specifically, we anticipated a surge in online sales and a transition of users from offline to online platforms.

We took the initiative to become market pioneers, establishing the most transparent and effective collaboration with online retailers. We successfully launched Performance Marketing for Sandoz drugs, transforming the Black Box Pharma eRetail Media market into a clear, comprehensible, real-time analytical system. This allows for clear tracking of our advertising campaigns’ business results and boosts sales by attracting new users.

There are problems too uncomfortable and embarrassing to talk about. It is unpleasant even to think about them, nor to say out loud that you have constipation. Even in the circle of close ones, you’d rather hide somewhere than talk. But you can’t hide from it.

Guttalax picosulfate is a drug created specifically to solve this delicate problem of constipation. And Publicis Ukraine team with Sanofi Ukraine has had to create a concise communication for it.

The team faced a task to carefully uncover the problem and at the same time work with the stereotype that digestive problems arise solely from an unbalanced diet. The truth is that constipation can rise because of several factors such as stress, traveling, climate change, lack of physical activity, and after the course of specific medications.

The team chose plasticine and animation. And the whole process was made by a team in-house. They composed the plasticine, wrinkled and shooted everything ?

Molokija has found the solution in the situation with a quite limited advertising budget and persistently strong competitors’ activity. The Brand has stood out and found its own communication niche in the category.

Rebranding has been conducted, which led to changes in product packaging so that the product ingredients are now the most important highlighted detail. The aforementioned changes along with elaborately planned cross-media activity led us to the significant increase in OFF-TAKE indexes. As a result, both the White Yoghurt and Kefir became No. 1 in terms of market share in hryvnias as well as in tonnages in the period from February till May 2021.

CHALLENGE

The male deodorants market is driven by 3 strong brands-mastodons both in sales & in media activity. Each leader plays on its own clear territory with different male groups.

Men Expert is a young brand in the category with still low brand awareness among men as weak media support doesn’t build wide TA reach & involvement into the brand niche for a long period.

INSIGHT & IDEA

More than 60% of the core male audiences are interested in computer game playing. In Ukraine, the cybersport niche is still unoccupied. Each Men Expert franchise has its own unique property as DOTA heroes have their own unique power.

Decision: to conquer real male territory with high reach potential to differentiate Men Expert among strong & active competitors.

IMPLEMENTATION

Zero stage: teasing OOH & digital campaign to stir up TA interest declaring new brand territory.

Semi-finals: strong TA reach achievement due to 2 non-stop days of DOTA Minor streams with Men Expert as main partner & digital campaign support led on a game console raffle to build link with business.

Grand final: active TA involvement into Grand final and native reach building driving by engaged bloggers.

RESULTS

• 70% TA reach in TOP-5 cities
• +5 p.p. Brand Awareness growth among the young male audience
• +2 p.p. Brand Consumption growth among the young male audience
• record deodorants sales* in units & value in the e-com channel during the campaign

For years the Chewing Gum category was represented by 2 leading brands: Orbit and Dirol. Orbit was a prominent player both in media investments and sales. Meanwhile, Dirol was #2 brand and eventually fell into the stasis where ad investment maintained the existing level of brand awareness while losing its positions in brand usage, consideration, and market share. Yet, Dirol decided to refresh its positioning and appeal to a younger audience – Generation Z.

Looking for an interesting youth territory we came upon bloggers trend. A big part of the audience is not only interacting with blogger content but dreaming of becoming one. Willing to help people with video content we created a Dirol Blogger Academy. Participants of the project had the possibility to learn how to become a blogger with special lessons from popular influencers, and the winner got 1 mln. views on Youtube for promotion of personal channel.

This project reflected the audience’s dreams vowed prominent brand slogan “Dirol. Inspires with taste” and positively affected brand sales.