How a Blank Newspaper Can Write History

By participating in the Ad Discovery and Creativity lab we had the chance to penetrate deeper in the marketing industry. The first case study we were requested to fulfill was to select one of the Cannes Lions 2019 Grand Prix Winner campaigns and describe it, present its purposes and evaluate it. Our team chose the campaign created out of Impact BBDO, Dubai which used a blank newspaper in order to make a political statement in Lebanon. We selected this campaign because we thought it was “a perfect demonstration that print creativity can do a lot for print media itself, for print journalism.”

More specifically, the Lebanese newspaper An- Nahar published a blank Press in order to make a political statement to evoke counteraction to the government’s idleness. The real causes that led to publishing of the newspaper were that people of Lebanon demanded reorganization measures regarding the economic crises. They protested for additional consolidation measures concerning the government’s dept which equaled 153 percent of its gross domestic product.

Moreover, Lebanese people demanded an independent and a non-sectarian cabinet and also to put an end to the government’s corruption. Lastly, the country’s environment condition jeopardized population’s well being, since it has been consumed and has been in dept to the current waste crises. As a result many health problem cases (and specifically cancer) have been recorded. Subsequently, the locals demand the right to live a healthy and prosperous life.

The newspaper’s editor in chief encouraged citizens to use the blank spaces of the newspaper as a tool in order to send a message to politicians. Thus, it is obvious that the main target group was local -and more specifically Lebanon’s citizens.

As it is already mentioned, this campaign was aiming to make a political statement in Lebanon but its effects grew further, giving The Blank Newspaper campaign managed worldwide dimensions. This way not only did it become the best selling edition of the newspaper, but it was also published from over 100 including the New York Times, Washington Post and the BBC making it a global phenomenon. This movement owes its popularity to its originality as well as to the level that international audiences could relate to it.

The key message to the whole story is that if the politicians are not working for the people’s benefit, why should anyone else do so? This is a very dangerous state and caused many political disorders. This action had impact on several domains. Firstly, people of Lebanon were ‘’used’’ as a mediator since they were encouraged to write their own messages about the situation on the blank newspaper and post them on social media so that the Lebanese politicians could see them.

As a result, this strategy caused a huge wave of interest and speculation in the country. The activation quickly became a number one trending topic on Twitter and the country was flooded with alternative future opportunities. Furthermore, international media and celebrities took notices propelling Lebanon’s political crisis into the global spotlight. So it became a global phenomenon that even Lebanon’s politicians could not ignore.

All in all, Blank Newspaper campaign had dramatic content and elements such as conflict, tension for example about the future of this passive situation and surprise about the journalists’ and people’s reaction. At the end the primary conflict with the blank newspaper was resolved with the jury’s decision that the Grand Prix was easily awarded.

The Blank Newspaper inspired our AdMe Agency with their beyond innovative but most importantly meaningful action. These purpose-driven campaigns bring a level of depth and meaning to creative work that the marketing industry needs. The mix of creativity and originality made the blank newspaper campaign to stand out.

Lastly, the BBDO company decided to deal with the blank newspaper’s issue because it was a rare matter with social meaning and it was worthy to be worldwide presented. Nowadays, it is very well-known in the advertising field that people have been interested in social issues and companies tend to promote them in order to thrive in this domain.

If you wish to read more of AdMe you can visit my fellow worker’s articles bellow.

AdMe Company’s team: Agelos Latsi, Artemis Logkaki, Eleni Perperidou, Ioulia Ntoka, Mustafa Beyazkuş