The Zimbabwean Trillion Dollar campaign

The Zimbabwean newspaper faced a fight for survival earlier this year. Driven into exile by the Mugabe regime, the paper had a 55% luxury import duty slapped on it, putting it way beyond the price range of the average person in Zimbabwe.

Using a potent symbol of the country’s collapse – the Z$100 trillion dollar note – the newspaper’s agency TBWA\Hunt Lascaris created an integrated poster and direct mail campaign to raise awareness of the paper's plight and to drive sales outside Zimbabwe.

Within days, the campaign made national television and radio, and once it was picked up by the internet it spread far and wide, featuring on The New York Times site, hundreds of other sites, blogs and beyond.

Sales of the newspaper have soared and more copies than ever are now reaching Zimbabwe.