The mark of courage

The Situation

For the 2012 elections in Venezuela there appeared to be a real chance to change the decaying regime of Hugo Chavez. Enrique Capriles had a large following yet faced serious challenges in the election just getting information out. With Chavez’s government controlling the media, messaging was censored and with the new electronic voting system in which all voters had to scan their fingerprint prior to entering the voting booth. Many Venezuelans feared the scan would be used to identify them and their vote.

The Solution

That’s when Empresas Polar, loved by the people and fan of Capriles, came to us with a problem that couldn’t be solved traditionally.

So we took the thing people feared and presented it as an icon of change. The thumbprint.

So we made it the mark that would instill courage back into voters. Infused with beauty and national pride. To reinvent it not as a symbol of personal fear but as a mark of personal courage. Not of individual identity but of national identity.

Next, we circumvented the state-run media and built a new attitude and behavior around the thumbprint. Something that can be carried into the moment of the vote. While clearly Chavez was not behind our effort to “speak with your thumbs” he also might damage his reputation by stopping the campaign. So, while the message is bi-partisan, the existence of it propped up Capriles.

Branding
Visual Identity
Campaign
Experiential