Powering the ‘Right to rest’ for Publicis Groupe

To eliminate the stigma and negative connotations around rest in the advertising sector, where working hard and resting little are often still seen as a sign of productivity and success, the Belgian branch of Publicis Groupe launched Right to rest: a campaign encouraging employees to take paid rest breaks during working hours. Because just like athletes need lots of rest to perform at the top level physically, anyone wanting to be in shape creatively and mentally too must take sufficient rest.

With this initiative, Publicis aims to be a pioneer for change: within its own ranks first and foremost, but also in the creative and advertising sector in general and by extension even the work world in its entirety.

PR megaphone To turn the perception of rest into a positive one and make people conscious that rest is a necessary condition for great work, a coordinated internal campaign was set up with workshops, posters, dedicated resting areas and a specific job number for people to register their paid rest moments. However, if Publicis really were to inspire a mindshift within the sector, more was needed. 

Hence why they called upon us for a classic PR campaign, to effectively communicate their message towards the rest of the advertising world as well as a more general audience.

Maximum impact So, we started pitching, to great result: interviews were conducted with just about every HR media in the country as well as several other trade magazines, a major national newspaper and - cherry on the cake - a tv report for the evening news on Belgium’s biggest commercial broadcaster. As such, a combined pr value of over 180k was realised, for a budget of less than 5k: maximal impact for a minimal budget, and a great start to this ongoing campaign.