2017 marked the 30th anniversary of the Erasmus Student Exchange programme organised by the European Commission. The representation of European Commission in Spain approached Canela to ask for ideas on how best to celebrate this anniversary with the intention of celebrating the idea of European Citizenship.
After investigating testimonials from ex Erasmus students one recurring theme was that many of them had fallen in love during the programme with someone from a different country and had gone on to start a family with that person. So we decided to look for some these “erasmusbabies” and bring them and their families together in an event to celebrate 30 years of the Erasmus Programme. We began with a creative call to action in social media channels with the hashtag #Erasmusbabies. We also created a Facebook competition looking for these couples with the prize of a trip to the city where they first met. In addition, we sent to the media information about the Erasmus programme and offered them interviews with families of “erasmusbabies”.
In just three weeks of the social media campaign we hit 1,302,850 people and achieved a total of 18,882 clicks on the link to the campaign. 300 plus families came forward to participate in the competition. We selected 30 of these families to attend the 30th anniversary event in Madrid. 4 of the 5 major national news channels, Antena3, Cuatro, Informativos RTVE and LaSexta, attended the event, as well as local television TeleMadrid, news agency EFE and the radio stations Cope and Ser. More than 70 national media covered the news of the #erasmusbabies and the 30 year anniversary of the Erasmus Programme, the coverage included 20 interviews with families and the European Comission spokespeople.
In recognition of this campaign Canela was nominated for a SABRE Awards in the category of Institutional Image 2018.