The Bad News
Vileda Espana SA
Issue 34 | March 2015
Agency
Proximity Barcelona
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer Eva Santos Creative Director Ferran Lafuente Art Director Sergio Lahoz Copywriter Laura Cuni Social Media Team Antonio Guerrero Maria Quintairos
Production Team
Client Team Elisabet Go´mez Ine´s Reverter Account Team Amanda Mun~iz Alba Cristo´bal Aida Mateo Video Production Team Victor Maduen~o Eli´as Maldonado A´striz Mendez Teresa Mun~oz
Date
November 2014
Background
The mop was a Spanish invention, which made housework easier for millions of people. Vileda had been making affordable mops for 40 years and wanted to mark the occasion in some way.
The problem was that mops were not in themselves very interesting. The challenge, then, was to find a way in which Vileda could capture media attention.
Idea
After people mopped their floors in Spain, habitually they would then spread out sheets of old newspaper to protect it from dirty footprints.
From this observation was born 'The Bad News', a limited edition newspaper containing 40 years of news that fully deserved to be stepped on. Even more so in a country where there had been no shortage of bad news in recent years.
Events like the Prestige catastrophe, the unemployment figures, the financial crisis, cases of corruption, the Azores summit, the death of the albino gorilla Snowflake and some of the Spanish national football team's darkest moments were all covered.
'The Bad News' was not just a tribute to Vileda's 40 years history but to the entire Spanish people, still standing after so many years of rubbish.
It was mailed to journalists and influencers and distributed free in some of the busiest office lobbies so that it would be stepped on by the largest possible number of people.
Results
'The Bad News' received more than 31,500,000 media impacts, reaching 72% of the target and achieving an earned value of €185,549 based on an initial investment of €7,000 (ROI=€26.4).
Digital media, radio channels and print media such as 'El Mundo' published the story and talked about the 40th anniversary of the mop. A number of TV channels covered it and even CNN International reported on the campaign.
Our Thoughts
This is such splendidly mordant irony. It is absolutely true that the Spanish have had a pretty awful time of it lately and to be able to laugh at it all is a testament to a proud and civilised culture.
The Directory Big Won rankings have seen Spain descend from a high of 4th in 2008 to 10th in 2014. The collapsing economy must have had something to do with it. However, ideas like this provide evidence that creativity in Iberia may be down but it isn’t out.