Tourniquet of Care: How a military tool became a symbol of love

Daria Cherkashyna CEO HAVAS Red Ukraine Yaroslava Fedchenko Client Service Director HAVAS Red Ukraine Daria Savchenko Head of Strategy HAVAS Red Ukraine Oleksandra Halutskykh Project Manager HAVAS Red Ukraine Anastasiia Russu Senior Creative Copywriter HAVAS Red Ukraine Maiia Bilych Creator HAVAS Red Ukraine Viktoriia Kulish Executive PR manager HAVAS Red Ukraine Oleksandr Hadomskyi CEO SICH-Ukraine

BACKGROUND In wartime Ukraine, a tourniquet is a life-saving necessity. Yet for civilians, it carried a heavy emotional code: fear, blood, war. People avoided buying them — afraid of “inviting tragedy”. SICH, the #1 brand among military medics, was only beginning to enter the civilian market.  Traditional advertising could not break the taboo.  So we needed to move the tourniquet beyond the military context and reframe it as a normal, desirable part of civilian life — without trivializing its critical purpose. IDEA If people feared buying a tourniquet, we made them want to gift one. The idea was sparked by a viral X post from a military medic who used AI to create a pink, heart-printed tourniquet. Instead of ignoring it, SICH turned the digital concept into a real limited-edition product. We transformed the tourniquet into a symbol of love. Through the platform “Tourniquet of Care”, influencers introduced a new social behavior: gifting a tourniquet as an act of protection and care. EXECUTION The campaign was fully organic — no paid media, no contracts. 34 socially responsible influencers joined voluntarily. They publicly gifted tourniquets to loved ones, reframing them as thoughtful presents rather than emergency tools. The content triggered a wave of UGC, as people replicated the ritual, turning gifting into a social norm. The military device entered unexpected civilian spaces: toy stores, marketplaces, mass festivals, even The Bachelor TV show — redefining its cultural meaning. RESULTS • 1,300,000+ organic reach with 0 media budget • 150+ organic mentions in stories • 34 influencer activations joined without contracts • 10,000 units sold in under 2 months • Earned-only influencer ecosystem, 0 paid budget A life-saving battlefield tool became a civilian symbol of love.