#WhatWeAreFightingFor міжнародна комунікаційна кампанія
CREATIVE CONCEPT AND PLATFORM FOR AN INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGN ABOUT THE REASONS FOR FIGHTING AND UKRAINE'S VISION OF PEACE
While all of Ukraine is forced to fight for its legitimate right to freedom and sovereignty at the cost of lives, some world leaders and unofficial sources still allow themselves to promote a formula for "peace" based on territorial concessions to the aggressor. For Ukrainians, the answer is categorical – no compromises, only the complete defeat of the aggressor, the restoration of the 1991 borders, and security guarantees for the future. However, the world needs additional arguments.
In late autumn 2022, the public organizationBRAND UKRAINEapproached us with a powerful mission – to show that the freedom and territorial integrity of Ukraine cannot be subject to negotiation. The project, called #WhatWeAreFightingFor, is an international communication campaign about Ukraine's formula for fighting and peace, about the motivation, resilience, and courage of our past, present, and future.
The Task
From the very beginning, our team faced the task of developing a creative concept for the project that would:
a) Demonstrate to foreigners the uniqueness and distinctiveness of each region of Ukraine, its historical roots, cultural heritage, people, and what inspires them to fight for Ukraine's victory.
b) Reach a minimum of 12 million people from North America and Europe with the campaign.
c) Show the world the uncompromising reasons and arguments for our struggle.
We understood that conveying the key message of our struggle to foreigners using general concepts was an impossible mission. Initially, we planned to present our arguments in the form of associations with images familiar and understandable to the world, such as the Eiffel Tower or the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus. But in the process of developing the idea, we came to the conclusion that the uniqueness of Ukraine is so bright and interesting that it does not need to be compared with anything – people, culture, nature, discoveries, architecture, industry, which have no analogues on the globe.
The Creative Idea
603,628 km² – the area of sovereign, independent Ukraine. For us, this is not just territory or a piece of land, it is the embodiment of a thousand-year struggle for the right to be Ukrainians, which they are constantly trying to take away from us. On these 603,628 km², geniuses are born who make scientific discoveries. This is the land that is saving the world from famine today. Here, creativity is intertwined with innovation. Here, ideas are embodied, and "Mriya" rises into the sky – not only the most powerful and largest aircraft in the world but also a symbol of the Ukrainian soul.
603,628 is the minimum number of reasons why we are fighting and the main theme of the creative concept of the #WhatWeAreFightingFor communication campaign.
The Solution
So, the idea is clear. But how to package it all to ensure the key message is conveyed to the target audience?
This is where our other expertise – digital – comes into play. We decided to create a platform based on the official website of Ukraine, Ukraine.ua, which would host pages dedicated to each region of Ukraine, with a detailed storytelling of its features and the most striking facts. And the main page would become a connecting link that would show the integrity of our state and its history, core values, key figures, and achievements.
We wanted to show the world the reasons for our struggle, but in the process of development, we also discovered a lot of new and interesting things for ourselves. Therefore, in addition to the English version that was initially planned, it was decided to add a Ukrainian version for each of us, Ukrainians. As a reminder of the path already travelled and as motivation for further resilience, as well as undeniable facts and arguments from our shared history, why every corner of the sovereign state is Ukraine.
Design
There was so much information that we wanted to convey to the world that the development of the design, and later the content of the site, became quite a challenge for our team.
Since the main way of presenting information is still text, we needed to format it in such a way that the user would want to read the page to the end. So, the role of design here is invaluable.
We needed to combine the past and present, people, achievements, landmarks, associative images: from pysanka (Easter egg), roosters, unique embroideries, perepichka (traditional pastry) to large-scale projects and developments recognized by the world. How to arrange everything so as not to lose anything? Collages! How to bring them to life – the animated "parallax" effect. This lively form of presentation while scrolling through the main page and regional pages became the highlight of our platform. In addition, we drew symbol images for each region that reflect its identity. And all of this was supported by wonderful photos of modern Ukraine provided by partners from Depositphotos and the Ukraine.ua photo bank, and archival images.
Additional Challenges
#WhatWeAreFightingFor is a challenging project because there was less time for implementation than the amount of work. It was important for our team, for all of Ukraine, and for the world to launch the campaign by the anniversary of the full-scale invasion, February 24th. To remind people that the struggle continues, and we will not tire until we restore peace throughout Ukraine.
Another challenge was finding photo/video materials, excerpts from documents that illustrate this or that information block. Good quality and verified sources were critical requirements.
Changes to the project were made literally at every stage. A few days before the release, new ideas emerged. We realized that the main page of the project lacked a visualization of who WE are - who are these people who are fighting? So, a collage was created - a collective image of Ukrainians who defend interests on the diplomatic front, eliminate the consequences of Russian destruction, risking their own lives, volunteers who help the army, people, animals, the resistance movement in the occupied cities, cyber warriors. We are the portrait of the modern Ukrainian nation. Later, this image became the hallmark and main visual of the project in all media resources.
In the last days before the launch, we also changed the meaning of the parallax effects of the regions on the main page — from individual facts to the general values that characterize these regions. Reimagining important components of the project took place literally in the development process.
But experience and teamwork yielded results – the world saw a well-implemented project on the morning of February 24, 2023.
The Result
In short, we personally are very satisfied and proud of our work :)
Here's what the client has to say:
“At the stage of selecting a partner, a non-standard creative idea and experience in implementing digital projects were important to us, as the website was the key element of the campaign. We really liked the team's idea that Ukrainians have 603,628 reasons to fight for Ukraine - the number of square meters of its area. It has been continued and manifested in the campaign products.
The implementation of the project was not easy due to the limited time frame and the complexity and comprehensiveness in general, but the CF.Digital team coped with the tasks perfectly. This is a positive consequence of both clear and pleasant communication throughout the project, and the team's involvement in all stages.
After the launch, we received very positive feedback from both the audience and our international partners. This is a very multifaceted project that will have an impact and a long-term perspective. We have identified a very difficult task - to tell about the value, history, and people of each region - and now we can use the created resource and materials to scale the project and create other types of creative products.
The CF.Digital team is very professional and focused on quality results. We are happy to be partners!" – Yaroslav Turbil, Head of Ukraine.ua, co-founder of BRAND UKRAINE.
#WhatWeAreFightingFor shows the world that everything is actually unambiguous.
The #WhatWeAreFightingFor campaign was developed by the public organization BRAND UKRAINE together with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. The creative concept and website were developed by the CF.Digital agency. The campaign for social networks, along with the texts, was prepared by the ANGRY agency and Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Marchenko. The visual partner of the project is the international content platform Depositphotos. The campaign is funded by the European Union.
The development of the project was also supported by: plusone social impact, the Centre for Strategic Communications and Information Security, and the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory.
