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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.

The “Finance” category was rapidly declining, and the client set an ambitious goal – to increase website traffic from organic search by 80%, to increase the number of applications for the top 6 products by at least 2 times (+100%), and to increase the average monthly revenue per consumer of these products by at least 20% in the category.

We predicted the formation of pent-up demand in this category and, using AI technology, discovered the opportunity to cover a wider range of search queries to attract more potential clients.

We planned an unconventional SEO tactic “To search as they search” – create a website specifically for service consumers and optimize it based on how they search. It worked wonders in scaling PrivatBank’s presence in organic search results.

We conducted a detailed analysis of search queries based on the principle of “search as they search,” created new pages on the website according to them, generated ideas for relevant content using AI, and promoted these pages using links.

We exceeded the website traffic goal by 89% and the application submissions for the top 6 products by 96%, but more importantly – we increased the average revenue from the top 6 products by 28%, surpassing the average annual inflation rates in Ukraine.

Vanish changed its communication message to one that shows the benefits of its product, and at the same time provides an additional argument to encourage and support people in their quest for conscious consumption of the planet’s resources. Now the brand uses the message: ” Your favorite clothes look new much longer.” The Publicis Ukraine team also created an emotional print with the agency’s employees acting as heroes.

The work became one of the best global examples of “Print” ads of the first half of 2021 by “Lürzer’s Archive”. It is one of the most authoritative Austrian advertising resources. Since 1984 the issue has been publishing a selection catalog of the best advertising works from around the world.

Media support for Vanish projects is provided by the Spark Foundry Ukraine agency.

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.

We faced a challenge to break into the everyday life of people with a new product Kabanosy – long, thin sausages made from natural meat, positioned in between the meat-sausage and snack category. Until 2019 the product was unknown to both Ukrainian customers and distributors. Retail shops didn’t understand in which division the product should be sold, customers were puzzled whether to make sandwiches or eat Kabanosy with beer.

New product inspired us for a new approach for mixing media channels. We turned the classical media mix upside down and developed “DigiVision”, where digital plays a leading role in generating reach and TV is playing a secondary role. Non-standard and effective usage of media allowed Kabanosy to become a leader of the category of Snack and Meat products with minimal investment and significantly grew monthly sales.

This is a story about how we succeeded in finding a touchpoint with the most difficult and inapprehensible audience for all marketers – the Z generation. Against the backdrop of a growing market, a strong competitor, and a falling share of Garnier Pure, we were able to succeed.
Our decision, on the one hand, was obvious – to choose the brand ambassador. But on the other hand, not everyone is able to find the right one. The one to whom teenagers could look up to and was interesting to watch.

We chose Open Kids and did not lose out. Business results and increased attention to communication with girls from the music band serve as evidence.

Now our audience feels that with Pure they are the coolest ones!

tvlab – creative partner of the project.