Stopping operations at a single store for 30 minutes takes preparation. Doing so simultaneously at more than 230 stores, factories and production facilities across Bosnia and Herzegovina means coordinating thousands of people, informing customers and ensuring that everyone understands why work is being interrupted. Bingo Group did exactly that on 8 March 2025, as part of the It’s Time to Stop! campaign developed by Via Media.
The stoppage had a specific goal. Bingo locations became places where citizens could sign initiatives calling for stronger legal protection for women. While 9,000 employees stopped work for half an hour, the company put its network and daily contact with citizens at the service of demands that women’s protection organisations had already put before the institutions.
Why Attention Was Not Enough
Over six years, more than 60 women were killed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. News of femicide sparked shock and public condemnation, but attention would then fade. Civil society organisations had already launched an initiative to have femicide recognised as a separate criminal offence. By early March 2025, only 5,000 signatures had been collected.
The problem was already familiar. Every new killing of a woman brought back the same concern, the same reactions and the same sense that something had to change. The campaign therefore sought a way to turn that concern into a concrete action that could be counted, demonstrated and taken to the institutions. A signature became the simplest form of public support, but also proof that a large number of people stood behind the demand for stronger protection for women.
For Bingo Group, this issue also had a very personal dimension – of the group’s 9,000 employees, as many as 6,000 are women
The company decided to use the resources at its disposal, its employees, infrastructure and presence across the country, to support the demands of organisations that had been working on this issue for years.
An Idea That Required a Business Decision from the Client
Via Media proposed that Bingo Group stop operations for 30 minutes on 8 March. A company with more than 230 stores, factories and production facilities would interrupt its own business operations to invite citizens to sign initiatives calling for stronger legal protection for women. The idea was clear, but its implementation depended on whether so many employees and locations could be prepared for a simultaneous stoppage.
Every employee needed to know why work was being interrupted, and customers needed to understand what was happening and how they could support the initiatives. Bingo locations also had to be prepared for signature collection, so that the action would not end the moment business resumed.
On the project, Via Media brought together strategy, creative concept, design, copywriting, digital, production, PR and operational execution. Bingo Group involved its business operations in the implementation, without which the idea could not have existed in that form. In this campaign, collaboration between the agency and the client was not merely part of the process, but a prerequisite for bringing the idea to life at all. Stopping work at more than 230 locations meant bringing thousands of people, precise organisation and a clear shared decision together at the same moment. Only then did the communication message gain the weight of a real act.
The Organisations’ Work Behind the Call to Sign
The campaign supported initiatives by the organisations Glas žene Bihać, Tim volim život Cazin, Izvor Sanski Most, Ženska vizija Tuzla, Inicijativa građanki/na Mostar, Udružene žene Banja Luka, Budućnost Modriča and Fondacija Lara Bijeljina. They had already been advocating stronger legal protection for women; Bingo Group and Via Media helped their call for signatures reach a much larger number of citizens.
The action also spread beyond Bingo premises. Media outlets gave it coverage, television stations paused part of their programming, and influencers and football clubs supported the initiatives. Each new participant increased the number of people the call could reach, while signing remained the concrete action towards which the communication was directed.
From 5,000 to 111,753 Signatures
The campaign reached millions, generated more than two million interactions, a strong organic response and hundreds of media reports. Its most important result, however, was not the number of people who saw the stoppage. An initiative that had 5,000 signatures before the campaign gained the support of 111,753 citizens.
At Dani komunikacija 2026, the It’s Time to Stop! project won the BalCannes Grand Prix and the Impact Prix, an award recognising projects with measurable social impact. It also won golds in the Retail, Best Experiential Advertising & Events and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion categories.
Several months after the campaign, amendments to the Criminal Code were adopted. This was the goal women’s protection organisations had been working towards even before Bingo Group stopped operations. The campaign gave their demand significantly broader public support, expressed through signatures that the institutions could not easily ignore.
Behind the half-hour work stoppage were years of advocacy, a network of organisations across the country and complex preparations within the company. The visible part of the campaign was brief. What it made possible was far more lasting: after each new wave of public condemnation, support for change could, this time, actually be counted.
The Team Behind the Project
Via Media
CEO and Creative Director: Haris Mujanović
Strategic Planning, Strategy and Digital Strategy: Elma Kadrić
Copywriting: Ensar Sulejmanagić
Design: Adisa Bajić
Agency Production: Naida Lindov
Post-production: Irfan Avdić
Digital Creative: Baris Šabić
Client: Bingo Group
