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Silver Winner

Digital — Use of Social Media

Entrant: Leo Burnett Detroit, Troy

Troy Public Library
"Book Burning Party"

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Production Manager: Jennifer Samra Creative Technologist: John McClaire Agency Producer: Tony Booth Executive Agency Producer: Jennie Hochthanner Art Directors: Bob Veasey/Derek Tent Copywriters: Glen Hilzinger/Rob Thiemann/Mike Davis Creative Directors: Glen Hilzinger/Bob Veasey Executive Creative Director: Peter McHugh Agency: Leo Burnett Detroit, Troy Corporate Name of Client: Troy Public Library
Description of the Project

Due to a struggling economy, Troy, Michigan couldn’t afford to sustain its library, so it scheduled a vote for a small tax increase. With no organized support for the library, a well-funded anti-tax group waged a dominating campaign against it. So we created a political action group of our own, and - using reverse psychology - posted signs around town that said, “Vote to close Troy Library Aug 2, Book Burning Party Aug 5.” Our signs invited a shocked and infuriated public to our Facebook page, and we added Twitter, Foursquare, flyers and more to help drive engagement. As the conversation spread from newspaper to TV and across the blogosphere, the campaign became an international media incident as outcry over the idea of burning the library’s books drowned out the opposition and galvanized support for the library. With a budget of just $3500 (US), we created a global conversation around a local issue generating over 650,000 impressions from Twitter and Facebook alone. In the end, voters flocked to the polls at numbers 342% greater than projected. The library won the election by a landslide.

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