A. Film
B. Press
C. Outdoor
D. Radio
E. Film Craft
F. Design
G. Interactive
H. Creative use of Media
I. PR projects
J. Marketing Services projects
K. Advertising Campaigns
I-1-3. STATE WITHIN A STATE
| Agency | DDB Worldwide Latvia |
| Creative head | Gatis Murnieks |
| Author of idea | Gatis Murnieks |
| Product | City of Ventspils |
| Description | Even by Latvian standards, Ventspils is a small town. Almost everyone in Latvia has a positive opinion about the quality of life in Ventspils, but only 16% considered Ventspils to be a tourism destination. To change this, we first defined that Ventspils is really a state within a state. Thus the campaign idea was born — to print its own money and open embassies throughout the world. The announcement of Ventspils’ currency caused a tsunami in the media, whose waves extended as far afield as the neighbouring countries of Estonia, Lithuania and Russia. Even the Head of the Bank Latvia, Prime Minister and President were forced to take part in debates about the legality of Ventspils’ currency, while the general public shared its versions of the currency’s design via social networks. In the Latvian media, the news about vents became the most debated issue of the week. A week after the launch event of Venti, 74% of Latvians were aware of the campaign. As a result, almost 10 million vents ended up in circulation, received by 28 000 people. As a currency to be used to make payments in Ventspils, vents were used by people in 16 countries. During Ventspils Online Embassy’s the first seven working weeks, it was visited by almost 50,000 guests of the state, which is 7,000 more than the population of Ventspils. And they’ll be back. |
| Team members | Gatis Murnieks, Creative director Ivo Jusis, Art director Nora Kirta, Account manager Kristaps Silins, Strategic planner Kunti Berzinska, designer Andris Rubins, Managing director |
