Full-service for the biggest operation the country runs - in the worst possible year to run it

The Census is the most important statistical operation a country runs, and in 2021 Macedonia hadn't held one for nearly 20 years.

BDG won the pitch and took on the full-service role behind the operation, a devilishly difficult job that among other things meant answering a question nobody had a template for: how do you create a campaign for 837,255 homes and many more people in the diaspora, all while a covid pandemic is still strong?

We started with safety, producing an animation explaining the protocol for a safe Census and a video training for every person conducting it. Around that came the persuasion: TV spots across traditional and digital media, animation videos on why the Census matters, explanatory films with and without officials from the State Statistical Office, OOH in every major city, and daily social content.

Then the second covid wave hit and everything stopped for five months. When it restarted, we rebuilt momentum with a public-figures PR campaign, two new TV spots, and indoor and bus advertising added to the mix.

The campaign delivered 220 posts in total, 135 tweets, 1.3M reach and 2.3M engagement on social, 7M web banner impressions, 1.5M YouTube views, 1.2M impressions on Viber and 500K on GDN.

But the numbers that mattered were the ones the country was actually counting: 1,832,696 citizens, 568,175 households, 837,255 homes, and 204,805 people in the diaspora.

Macedonia finally organized a successful Census, and we were honoured to be an integral part of it.