In 2019, Lebanon’s political system was in disarray. Politicians could not form a functioning government and used the newspaper to apologize and play the blame game.
To send a message about public frustration with inaction, the advertising agency Impact BBDO created a brilliant campaign for the independent newspaper. A Nahar. “We printed a completely blank edition of the paper,” explains BBDO creative director Tres Colacion. “The concept was to illustrate that literally nothing was being done.”
The blank paper ran out in several runs. Citizens even used blank pages to write their own headlines urging politicians to take action. The campaign won numerous honors from the advertising community, including thirteen awards at Cannes Lions. But Colacion says his human impact is what really leaves him humble.
“The other day, someone told me they were using our campaign as a reference for something they were working on, which was amazing,” Colacion says. “Let people take something you’ve done and influence what they’re doing? There’s no prize that can mean so much.”