Reporters without Borders is an international organisation which supports innocent journalists who have been imprisoned while in the course of their work and campaigns for their release.

They wanted some sort of action on International Human Rights Day (10^th December) to help promote their cause and to raise funds.

Idea

In collaboration with the Austrian Post Office, Reporters Without Borders opened their own Post Office for the day, where a uniquely designed, special edition postmark was used to print over a postage stamp depicting a detained journalist. The result showed the journalist as if behind bars.

Even before the envelope was opened, Reporters Without Borders had made clear its mission.

Results

The mailing generated newsarticles supporting the organisation in 28 newspapers in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, spreading the message and helping generate donations as well as publicity.

Comment

At a time when volumes of direct mail have been falling thanks to email and electronic media, you would think that Post Offices everywhere would be innovating busily to ensure marketers see mail as being relevant and modern.

For me, the stamp has long looked like a brilliant advertising medium in its own right. But only the Austrian Post Office seems to be flexible enough to allow advertisers to create their own stamps. A few years ago they let Haagen-Dazs make stamps that tasted of ice-cream and now here they are working in collaboration with Reporters Without Borders to create a stamp and a frank, which, on World Human Rights Day, was in itself a powerful message.

The commercial possibilities of having your own stamps are enormous. I simply don’t understand why Post Offices around the world aren’t doing anything with them.

Any thoughts?

Client: Reporters Without Borders, Austria

Product: Not-for-profit organisation

Title: Human Rights Postmark

Media: Mailing

Country: Austria, Germany

Date: December 2010

Agency: Serviceplan Munich

Creative Team

Christoph Everke, Cosimo Moller, Alexander Nagel, Elena Ressel,

Annalena Bottmann

Production:

Nadine Wintrich