FOSIM : Enough is Enough

Client: FOSIM /Foundation Open Society Institute Macedonia/

Year: 2001

Scope: Social Campaign, Logo, Verbal Identity, TV, Radio, Print, Web, Action Kit

Challenge

FOSIM is part of the Soros network in Central and Eastern Europe and it stands for the strengthening of participative democracy and sustainable development of Macedonian civil society. As an answer to the Macedonian war conflict in 2001 and it’s outcomes (destabilized democracy and inactive outlook in the civil sector), FOSIM created a civil initiative  platform of over a 100 Macedonian NGOs. They commissioned a public awareness campaign from zip:zap, with the aim to raise awareness, and even more importantly, to stimulate action: to give people a voice and “weapons” against the war.

Approach

We searched for a solution that would bear no signs of religion, politics or ethnic characteristics and could be accepted by any Macedonian citizen as symbol of protest with clear message that anyone can use.

A huge survey of public opinion gave us deep insights into the state in which common people were – scared, but ready to overcome the situation.

The intention to communicate the necessity of resolving the problem and the possibility of a new beginning, distilled into the idea of “stopping and starting”. Pursuing this idea, we created a symbol, a visual system and communication tools that were ready to serve as protests instruments. We choose the punctuation sign for full stop as a campaign symbol – the  sign which is used in any language and in any of them it has the same meaning. It stands for an end, but also for a new beginning. “Start by putting a full stop and saying ‘Enough is enough'”!

We further massively communicated the way a full stop can be used. We created and spread stickers, pens, posters…We put the symbol to use by anyone who wanted to say “Enough is enough.”

Results