Amnesty International: EMPATHY CALENDAR

Credits & Description:

Advertiser: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Agency: LEO BURNETT, MSL WARSAW
Category: Best Use of Ambient Media: Large Scale
Mural Artist: Artur Wabik
Art Director: Agnieszka Zajaczkiewicz (Leo Burnett)
Art Director: Andrzej Santorski (Leo Burnett)
Art Director: Nina Lupinska (Leo Burnett)
Copywriter: Kamil Kowalczyk (Leo Burnett)
Art Director: Malgorzata Nierodzinska (Leo Burnett)
Copywriter: Piotr Zygmunt (Leo Burnett)
Art Director: Sebastian Bulski (Leo Burnett)
Video Artist: Katka Michalak
Creative Director: Pawel Heinze (Leo Burnett)
Developer: Pawel Kulinski (Leo Burnett)
Art Director: Agata Bankowska (Leo Burnett)
Public Relations Manager: Agnieszka Jurkiewicz (MSL Warsaw)
Administrator/Developer: Daniel Kiska (Leo Burnett)
Account Manager: Lukasz Zajaczkiewicz (Leo Burnett)

Execution
The idea was divided into various media types:A wall calendar 100 meters long, which means an open-air wall mural in the center of Poland’s capital.The calendars, which are pieces of walls. They were given to celebrities and collaborators of Amnesty International.The Facebook wall calendar. It is a special Facebook application that allows internauts to mark off each day on their own computers.Thanks to various forms of calendars we tried to reach for as many people as it is possible – from friends of Amnesty International, through celebrities, and up to all sensitive people. They can measure time like prisoners, and feel empathy with the imprisoned.

Effectiveness
Poles counted their 'prison time', starting from anonymous residents of Warsaw, through a multitude of internauts, up to ambassadors, politicians, journalists, artists, and even the President of Poland. Amnesty International received on its Facebook profile dozens of reactions concerning this campaign. People in another city (Gdansk) got inspired wall calendar and created its own.The idea gained a great appreciation in other Amnesty International offices abroad. They adapted this idea and planned to create similar mural-calendars for 2014.Dozens of Polish media informed about Empathy Calendars and this issue was discussed on many blogs and websites.

Strategy
Amnesty International conducts activities concerning prisoners of conscience, who serve long-term sentences. We were briefed to develop an awareness campaign, which will make people care about that fact, create buzz around the imprisoned, and support this issue during Letter-Writing Marathon in December 2012. We reached for existing customers: friends and supporters of Amnesty International; and all sensitive people.Every one of us has to measure time. So, why couldn’t we do it like a prisoner? And we arrived at the following idea – let’s bring prison time into the world of the free.Then we created Empathy Calendars. Not a typical list of 12 months. These calendars match the terms of prisoners’ sentences, even those with an end left unspecified. They allow measuring time just like a prisoner, marking off each day on a piece of wall. Week by week. Month by month. More than all year long.