Solution
The basic tools in public relations, as well as the good will of the citizens and all supporters of the Initiative, were crucial for the results of the campaign, which was conducted with a 0 kuna budget.
Through media briefings and reports, journalists were introduced to the demands of the Brački pupoljci and the topic was raised in the media. After the opening of the story on Telegram and N1 television, all other leading media began to broadcast it. After each new event regarding the demand, key messages were sent, allowing the Association to imposed itself as the first source of information on the issue.
The two meetings on Brač were prompted by sending official letters to the President and Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia and at the meetings the ruling party made new promises, which served as an additional tool for media pressure. Quick reactions to events, statements and decisions of the ruling party, such as the new refusal to amend Art. 47. in the Committee on Health and Social Policy, served to provoke the emotional reaction of the public and communication errors of the ruling party. There were reactions to the statements of Minister Butković and all allegations from other sources that were considered untrue. Communication with members of parliament ensured that the proposal to amend Art. 47 arrived on the agenda of the Committee on Health and Social Policy (June 27, 2019) before the summer break, as well as for discussion in the Parliament (July 10, 2019). At these debates, the request of Brački pupoljci was again rejected, provoking negative reactions towards the ruling party and creating new communication content.
By protesting on July 6, 2019 in the port of Supetar, the protesters blocked the disembarkation of the ferry for 120 seconds in order to symbolically show how much do the island children with disabilities depend on this means of transport. The length of the blockade symbolized the 120 months (10 years) the Association had been fighting for this right. The protests and statements of the members of the Association were broadcasted by all national televisions, as well as other leading media.
Numerous citizens, by publishing and highlighting the cover photo #nestozbiljavazno, demanded an amendment to the Law and the action went through many other initiatives: in Index’s video column Comment of the Week, journalist Dora Kršul explained what it was about; as part of the RokOtok project Ribafish dedicated the swimming route between Hvar and Brač to the campaign; cyclist Frane Drpić donated the everesting adventure to the Association; Boris Jokić wrote about the demand in a column on Tportal; legendary football player Fernando Torres supported one of the actions of the Brački pupoljci.
In order to achieve an even greater organic reach of the campaign people from public life were involved. On their Facebook and Instagram profile, they shared their own photos and videos with a demand to grant free ferry rides. On the Association’s Facebook page, the most emotional content was placed, which encouraged users to be more engaged and, thus, increase the organic reach. The fact it was free made the campaign even more credible. All announcements, reactions, photos and videos of support, TV and other service reports shared by users from private profiles as well as from well-known and various influential and highly followed fan sites (e.g. Dnevna doza splitskog nereda, Bernard Jurišić, Pokret otoka, etc.) were getting posted
All goals have been achieved and some were exceeded. Before the summer parliamentary break, the Government issued a Decision according to which free ferry transport was immediately provided without waiting for comprehensive amendments to the Act (July 11, 2019). The Association was involved in drafting comprehensive amendments to Act. The law was passed unanimously in Parliament on November 29, 2019, including free ferry transport. The proposal came from the Government, therefore the HDZ MPs could not reject it. The campaign also launched a debate on the rights of the most vulnerable groups in society and introduced free ferry transport into the new Act for other neglected categories of passengers with disabilities. There were 408 publications on portals, 31 in newspapers, 28 TV reports and articles and 76 radio announcements. The organic reach of Facebook posts at times reached 130,000 users per post with 5,000 reactions, comments or shares. 0 HRK were spent to reach all objectives.
This Truly Matters campaign was named the best PR campaign in Europe among 350 finalists in 60 categories at the European Excellence Awards. The campaign also received the world’s most valuable PR prize, the Golden World Awards for Excellence by the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), Grand PRix Awards of the Croatian Public Relations Association (HUOJ), Eventiada IPRA Golden World Awards as well as a bronze Effie in Croatia.
