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After hearing news of a country being invaded, you’d be forgiven if your first thoughts weren’t, “How will this affect people trying to build PowerPoint decks and get to meetings on time?”. But that’s exactly what millions of everyday Ukrainians have been forced to figure out. All in an effort to continue making ends meet while working in a full-time war zone.
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Coverage of the invasion in Ukraine is non-stop. Our team was mindful of not simply adding to the media noise unless we had something new to say. So when Ukrainian PR pro and anti-propaganda activist Julia Petryk asked our agency to help ensure her story – and the story of millions of Ukrainians – wasn’t forgotten, images of her and people like her working from the discomfort of their bathrooms caught our attention. That’s why we launched Bathtub Creative – a fictional agency designed to shed light on the real-life working conditions Ukrainians are facing. Because for many remaining in Ukraine during the Russian assault, the safest place to work from home is their tub.
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Most of our audience had never lived through a war. But they do know what it’s like to feel cramped, powerless, and afraid. Using those feelings as an emotional touchstone, we designed Bathtub Creative as a way to help people feel and better understand what was going on.
How?
By creating a ridiculous ad agency that was set apart by two things. 1.) All employees work in bathtubs. And 2.) They wish they didn’t have to be open. As you scroll through the homepage, you learn what it’s like to work in this situation before ultimately finding out why Bathtub Creative’s workforce has been forced to work in uncomfortable conditions.
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Like any agency trying to introduce itself, LinkedIn was a natural place to get the word out. No one had heard of our new Bathtub based agency. But plenty of people from around the industry know the people from Curiosity. So we had everyone at our agency add jobs at Bathtub Creative.As new job alerts flooded our network’s notifications, word got around fast. Media contacted us in minutes. We knew if we used Bathtub Creative’s hiring spree as a device to get our audience to the homepage, it would only take a few seconds for people to be inspired to give.Additionally, we declared 12/20/22 #WorkFromTubDay and donated $1 for every tagged photo of participants working from their bathtub.
For the full saga, give Bathtub Creative a follow on Instagram and LinkedIn.
To make sure our impact was felt financially, Bathtub Creative raised funds in the form of donations and by selling merch – Soap. We collected over $9200 to help the MacPaw Foundation purchase over 6,000 essential toiletries for Ukrainians in need. We’re proud to say the campaign made waves – racking up 12 million impressions, over 10,000 social engagements, and 55 global news stories.
