Extra Day

In early 2024, Silpo approached Patsany with a challenge: to create a unique campaign for February 29, an extraordinary day that comes only once every four years. The brand’s goal was not only to promote 50% and 29% discounts, but also to capture the spirit of this unusual day—bright, unexpected, and a little strange. 

At Patsany, we keep it simple: an extra day on the calendar means an extra opportunity to create something extraordinary and surprising. 

Our task was to turn the extra day of the year into an additional day for great bargains. Patsany needed to create a compelling backstory and develop the concept, name, identity, and video scripts. Moreover, we had to add unconventional solutions to make the February 29 discounts an event that couldn’t be missed.

February 29 is a day that has no established traditions or associations. For some, it represents new opportunities; for others, it’s something unusual; and for some, it’s simply another day on the calendar.  On the one hand, the space for imagination is limitless, but on the other, we need to create these associations ourselves and communicate them to the audience. The second challenge was to unify the brand’s diverse commercial offers—discounts on specific products and categories—into one cohesive, creative idea.

A leap year appears out of nowhere, disrupts everyday routines, creates a shift in the universe with an extra day, and then suddenly disappears. This cosmic phenomenon didn’t spare Silpo either: soon, various anomalies began to appear. First, they affected prices, which started halving—resulting in discounts of 50% on many products. 
Then, the anomalies spread to the guests: as soon as they entered Silpo, they began speaking in a half-formed language—and understanding each other perfectly.

Patsany dubbed February 29 the Extra Day, which brought unexpected anomalies. Yet even on this strange day, Silpo guests could grab their favorite products at amazing discounts. Thus, the campaign's central message became: "Extra Day – Extra Discounts."

After all, the more days in the year, the more reasons for discounts at Silpo.

To convey the unusual, absurd, and quirky vibe of February 29, Patsany developed a visual identity incorporating several elements: RGB effects, glitch, stretch, white geometric grid, and distortion. This created a flexible, dynamic system that allowed the visual concept to be adapted across various digital and offline media.

We also modified the Silpo logo, introducing glitch and stretch effects to make the design uniquely cool and cohesive.

One thing was clear to the team: an abnormal day needs an abnormal ambassador. We didn’t hesitate for long before inviting Vasya Baidak, Ukrainian comedian and self-proclaimed CEO of absurdist humor in Ukraine. He became the face of the campaign, perfectly embodying all our ideas across videos and other communication channels.

The co-pilot of absurdity was Arkady Fishman—the man famous for riding around the Ternopil region on a homemade couch on wheels, a stunt that made headlines in Ukrainian news.

Together, Vasya and Arkady embodied the perfect blend of absurdity and relevance for the campaign—showing that this casting was spot-on.

The video series consisted of situational sketches set in Silpo, where Vasya and Arkady shopped for discounted products, cruised around on a couch, and… spoke in half-words. Butter became "but," kabanos (sausages) turned into "kab," and even "Vlasny Rakhunok" (Personal Account) became "Vlas rakh." As a result, the anomalies of the Extra Day spread throughout every part of Silpo. 

At Patsany, we keep it simple: if we can make something even more absurd, we do it. So, in our videos, the characters didn’t just speak in half-words—they sang in them.

We wrote rhythmic lyrics, and the campaign track music for Extra Day was composed by sound producer Sura Tomasyan. This way, our videos didn’t just look absurd; they also sounded absurd and irresistibly catchy.
"On the extra day, I purchased-chased-chased everything, because prices were halved-halved-halved." Catchy? Absolutely. 

You can expect anything from an abnormal day—that’s exactly what we thought. So, we developed a series of animations where Vasya Baidak’s head chaotically moved across the screen, twisting, looking surprised, and very happy. Vasya multiplied, stretched, and sometimes simply disappeared into a kaleidoscope of his own copies. Along with him, the recognizable Silpo elements like a grocery basket and a shopping cart experienced their own abnormal animations. 

The vibe of the strange "Extra Day," along with our design system, was reflected in the POS materials. We created promo tags, wobblers, and posters to inform guests about the abnormally favorable deals. We chose an asymmetrical shape for each printed medium, where the products seemed to blend slightly into the texture of the white geometric grid, glitch, or stretch. 
This way, traces of the abnormal "Extra Day" could be seen within Silpo.

So, Patsany kicked off the brand's communication year with a bright and abnormal campaign. We turned February 29 into more than just a strange day—we added an oddly absurd and relaxed vibe while showcasing Silpo's amazing deals. 
Our videos garnered over 1 million views; animations with Vasya's head were playing non-stop on LED screens, and social media was flooded with comments from people singing along to our track—"On the extra day, I purchased-chased-chased everything."

It was an abnormally cool campaign. And a small spoiler: an unusually cool and creative year is coming up for Patsany & Silpo.