An ex-communist country that joined the European Union in 2007, Romania is on a rampant crusade against corruption. The anticorruption prosecutors have organized themselves in an independent anticorruption Directorate since 2002, but only in the last three years they have intensified their activity, managing to convict very important names in Romanian politics, including an ex-Prime Minister. The prosecutors have convicted 2189 dignitaries in 2013 + 2014, and 2015 has been impressive as well - even the actual Prime Minister and the mayor of capital city Bucharest are being investigated.
Funky Citizens is a three-year-old bold non-profit actively involved in the areas of good governance, transparency and anticorruption. Being fond of digital tools, they decided to create www.maricorupti.ro, an easy to use and interactive database of all the big shots convicted for corruption. The rationale is that this historical moment must not be forgotten as a form of memory. The following communication materials were created to promote the website and to introduce the usually rough subject of „anticorruption” in a friendlier manner.
To maximize efficiency and test a new version of self-funding for Funky Citizens, we have decided to market these communication materials to our fans. Unlike in the case of a simple PayPal donation, the Funky Citizens donors will now receive a more intimate nice-to-have memorabilia in exchange for their financial support. The creative concept is that of a limited edition set of 20 collectible stickers that are being sold offline, at events, and online, through Funky Citizens' democracy store and third-party partners.
As far as production quantities go, we have split the 20 stickers into three categories, based on the gravity of the corruption deed of each convicted politician. The ones who have a longer jail sentence are the ones who are harder to collect (therefore we have printed up less copies of them), while the pawns, the ones with 2 or 3 years jails sentence, are more common to be found in our random packs. To officially launch the stickers we teamed up with Decât o Revistă (DoR), an independent magazine with which we share a common audience. We distributed them as a gift for their 800 subscribers all around Romania, then continued to sell the stickers online, in packs of 3, 5, 7 and 10 plus a board with 8 slots to stick them on (one can buy more boards and stack them with previous boards).
As far as information architecure is key for us: we have decided to focus the sticker on the politician, by featuring an illustration based on a real photograph with themselves. The background color is synced with the color of the politcian's party, and icon(s) in the bottom right communicate the corruption deed for which he has been sentenced. In the upper side, right below the politician's name, we have highlighted his public job (ex: member of Parliament) and the years in jail he has received.
From a creative standpoint, we drew inspiration from the familiar illustration style of the mobsters in Grand Theft Auto. For maximum retention, we have combined this playful style with the rough info (years in jail, job title, corruption deed) placed on a clear-cut serious layout. We chose to give life to some animations and create some animated gif banners with a naughty attitude. They are to be placed on various websites and are subtle animations of some of the most famous politician's faces. It's surprisingly fun to see ex-noveau-riche George Becali winking from a banner promoting a "corruptopedia". The headline reads "the encyclopedia in which you don't want to be featured".
