Here is an AWESOME outdoor ad campaign created by DDB China (Shanghai Branch) for the China Environmental Protection Foundation to encourage Shanghainese people to walk, instead of driving cars, to move around in the city. As well described by China Smack advertising:

• The campaign involved laying a canvas 12.6 metres long by 7 metres wide on the ground, thus covering the pedestrian crossing with a large leafless tree. On either side of the road, beneath the traffic lights, were placed sponge cushions soaked in green, environmentally friendly, washable paint. As pedestrians walked towards the crossing, they stepped on the green sponge, thus leaving green foot imprints on the canvas of the tree. Each ‘green’ footprint on the canvas looked like leaves growing on a bare tree, which made people feel that by walking they could create a greener environment.
• The ‘Green Pedestrian Crossing’ was carried out across 7 thoroughfares in Shanghai. The campaign was then extended to 132 roads across 15 cities in China, with a participation exceeding 3.92 million people.
• Media interest, both online and offline, was significant. After the campaign launch, there were more than 300 thousands re-direct and 50 thousand posts on the Sina Microblog. Research revealed that general public awareness of environmental protection had increased by 86%.

One simple word: AWESOME and an ADFEST award well deserved. Perhaps one question though, what was done  with canvases and other campaign materials? Have they been recycled?

More in the video (in English) below:

The new ad below, featuring Hong Kong movie star David Wu, has gotten tons of views on the web and is playing in movie theaters all over Hong Kong. Instead of adopting a frightening tone by highlighting the health dangers of air pollution, this ad takes a very sarcastic…and funny approach to the issue of air pollution, in a great kitschy 1980s style!

“Fresh Air”, anyone?

Credits: Advertising Agency: DDB; Director: Shern Sharma; Original Music: Denise Hofmann
For the Chinese version, click here.

Plastic bags can indeed be easily mistaken for food by marine animals, such as turtles that consume jellyfish or squid. A plastic bag floating in the water and a jellyfish are very difficult to tell apart. This makes plastic bags a particularly hazardous form of litter to wildlife. Some scientists even estimate that in certain species, plastic amounts to up to 10% of the animal’s body weight!

This is not the first time such visual has been used in ads. It is actually very hard to distinguish who came up with the original design first…!

Scuba Dogs association:
“Turn this into an endanged species. Keep the beaches clean” – 2003
Source : joelapompe
Agency : McCann Erickson Guaynabo (Puerto Rico)

Surfrider Foundation – 2005
“Help us keep the ocean clean”
Source : joelapompe
Agency : Young & Rubicam (France)

]]> http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2010/04/04/ad-of-the-day-17-plastic-shopping-bag-jellyfish-ads/feed/ 3 http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2010/01/04/ad-of-the-day-16-greenpeace-energy-in-germany-and-the-deathzone-ad/ http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2010/01/04/ad-of-the-day-16-greenpeace-energy-in-germany-and-the-deathzone-ad/#comments Mon, 04 Jan 2010 03:12:10 +0000 admin http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/?p=992 Over the past decades, nuclear power in Germany has been high on the political agenda, with heated discussions about whether or not the technology should be phased out. More and more arguments for a “phase-out of the phase-out” have been put forward (led by Angela Merkel) due to the recent energy disputes with Russia and the increasing prices of fossil fuels…only to clash with very active anti-nuclear activists on the ground, and with Greenpeace first.

Titled “The DeathZone”, the latest commercial campaign by Greenpeace Energy in Germany [Update on Jan. 12, 2010: I have just been contacted by one of the copywriters behind the campaign. The campaign is not actually run by Greenpeace, but was part of a project led by students of the Miami Ad School Europe, in Germany] aims at raising public awareness around the issues of aging nuclear reactors and the real dangers and safety threats associated to it, by referring to the Tchernobyl disaster and the remaining 32km2 exclusion zone (here called DeathZone) around the disaster site.

In addition to the video below, the DeathZone campaign includes a series of billboards, a balloon release event, and a virtual line to be drawn through the city of Hamburg at a radius of 32km2 as a symbolic representation of the DeathZone.

[ Update on Jan. 12, 2010: A more up-to-date and 'official' video is available here, with a clear disclaimer at the end notifying that this film is the work of students of Miami Ad School Europe.]

All in all, a campaign that could very well be a missed opportunity for Greenpeace Energy to further its goals and generate effective engagement around an important and rather urgent issue. I explain:

• The message is flawed. Scare tactics are used. The video and the billboards feed the public with apocalyptic images of nuclear disasters, of doom and despair … similar to any ‘end of the world’ movie you can think about. The title of the campaign says it all: DeathZone.

• What about the future? In the video, it says that “60% of Germans oppose the change in the law (i.e. canceling the “nuclear phase-out option”), but the vast majority still uses nuclear power”. Here is a big challenge…but Greenpeace totally fails to offer any solution or viable alternative. In a pure dramatic style, the campaign maximizes the problem and minimizes the solution (which is actually non-existent).

• Without any positive messages or any forward looking offer, this campaign might very well leave the public helpless/hopeless. And will unlikely generate behavior change or even enhance support for the anti-nuclear cause, whether from citizens/general public … or politicians.

After 16 ads of the day…I (sadly) feel like I am repeating myself, am I ? 

Credits: Advertising Agency: Miami Ad School Europe // Art Director: Zoe Sys Vogelius // Copywriters: Duncan Munge, Amadeus Henhapl

Source: Green Advertising Blog

Via a very smart use of optical illusion, the black-and-white ads show images formed out of lots of small pandas…but when taking a closer look… it then becomes clear that WWF is doing much more than “saving the panda” types of initiatives.

• Antelope Ad

[Headline] Saving pandas is not our only mission.
[Body Copy] The combined efforts of WWF and our partners have sparked the recovery of the Tibetan Antelope Population.
Take a closer look at what we do and where you can make a difference. www.wwfchina.org

• Forest Ad

[Headline] Saving pandas is not our only mission.
[Body Copy] Over 10 million hectares of forests have been protected through our forest certification and sustainable forest management programs.
Take a closer look at what we do and where you can make a difference. www.wwfchina.org

• Water Ad

[Headline]Saving pandas is not our only mission.
[Body Copy] WWF and our partners have facilitated the reconnection of 17 lakes to the Yangtze River, infusing new life to its fragile freshwater ecosystem.
Take a closer look at what we do and where you can make a difference. www.wwfchina.org

A great advert series – as a proof of its success, one year later the ads are still running here and there!

Credits: Advertiser: WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature) // Agency: BBH China / Creative Director: Johnny Tan // Head of Copy: Leo Zhang // Senior Art Director: Yinbo Ma // Senior copywriters: Carol Ong, Leo Zhang // Agency Producer: Ken Wang // Illustrator: Alt Design // Market: China // Accounts Director: Jasmine Huang // Accounts Manager: Joyce Hong // Published: June 2008.

Since its creation in 2001, Swiss-based not-for-profit organisation Act Responsible – Advertising Community Together whose goal is to “federate, promote and inspire responsible communication on sustainability, equitable development and social responsibility” – has been putting together a unique database of responsible ads (press, outdoors, TV, cinema, interactive) featuring the best work for Charities, Public service and Commercial ads focusing on environmental and social issues.

In order to raise awareness about climate change in the context of COP15, Act Responsible has created virtual exhibition showcasing a selection of the best ads created for NGOs & Institutions.

Beyond the few that were recycling the not-so effective ‘polar bears’ theme, I rediscovered / discovered some ads (see below) that are particularly creative, targeted or impactful in raising awareness / enacting positive change.

Some very cool stuff. For more, click here!

This ad is not only brutal, shocking or gore: An airplane engine humming crescendos in the background as polar bears drop out of the sky, slam to the ground and meet their (very) bloody deaths. An imagery close to the worst of the 9/11 tragedy itself,

But this ad, from a climate change communications perspective, also presents all the elements of a counter-productive strategy, which might very well end up being totally ineffective at  driving behavioral change and engagement, as Ed Gillespie, co-director of sustainable communications agency Futerra, wrote in The Guardian’s Environmental Blog:

“Certainly it’s controversial imagery will garner press interest, after all I’m writing this analytical blog for starters, and for campaigning organisations with limited budgets and only one bite at the media cherry this is crucial. However I’m still not sure it will change behaviour, the danger is that by pumping up the high octane drama of an ad, you increase the risk of viewers feeling manipulated and dismissing it as pure propaganda. Or lapsing into highly questionable failures of tact and taste in pursuit of ‘edginess’.”

In the end, again, such ad will generate some sort of buzz online & offline and perhaps will get awarded at advertising festivals, but it will not generate any positive result for Plane Stupid and the cause they defend over the longer-term.

What we call climate porn (i.e. presenting apocalyptic visions of climate change, etc…) remains mostly commercially motivated…rather than mission-driven!

To watch the ad, click here.

Credit Image: Steve Cole, Getty Images

]]> http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2009/11/25/non-ad-of-the-day-13/feed/ 0 http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2009/10/12/adctivism-of-the-day-12-coal-story-by-greenpeace-china/ http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/2009/10/12/adctivism-of-the-day-12-coal-story-by-greenpeace-china/#comments Mon, 12 Oct 2009 05:28:48 +0000 admin http://www.sustainabilityconversations.com/?p=699 A great arty ad this week which is part of Greenpeace China’s campaign against the use of coal in emerging markets, and therefore here in China.

This animated film does a great job at raising awareness about a whole set of coal-related issues, both social and environmental, such as  deadly labor conditions, air pollution & climate change, thus leading to rising sea levels, etc. It therefore shows very well how a coal-fueled economic growth will inevitably (and is already) casts a shadow on China’s development at both social and economic levels.

Some numbers to keep in mind, and that are extracted from The Tue Cost Of Coal, a China-based research report sponsored by WWF, Greenpeace and the Energy Foundation, and published in 2008:

• China is the king of coal. It is the world’s biggest producer and consumer (coal makes up 70 percent of China’s energy needs – compared with a world average of 40 percent)

• Last year environmental and social costs associated with China’s use of coal came to RMB1.7 trillion – that’s about 7.1 percent of the nation’s GDP for the same year

• More than 31,000 coal miners in China died from accidents down the mine between 2000 and 2006

• Some 80 percent of China’s carbon dioxide – a key greenhouse gas – emissions comes from burning coal

• According to recent scientific data, rising temperatures, loss of arable land and water scarcity may cut China’s overall food production by up to 23 percent by 2050

Credits:

Advertiser: GREENPEACE // Ad Agency: OGILVY BEIJING, CHINA // Executive Creative Director: Doug Schiff // Creative Director: Yanyan Yang // Copywriter: Doug Schiff // Agency Producer: Fei Wang/Doug Schiff/Yimeng Bai/Lulu Yang // Account Manager: Vivian Guo // Production Company: VIGORTIME Beijing, CHINA // Director: Doug Schiff // Music: Artist/Title: Kadri Gopalnath // Animation: Li Zhen/Fang Xiaodong/Hou Kun/Yang Qian/Gao Lue/Hou Kun/Wu Xiandeng/Deng Nanbing/Sun Yuzhen // Art Director: Fei Wang/Yanyan Yang/Yimeng Bai // Other Credits: Animation Directors: Hong Yu/Li Jie/Zhang Aihua

Thanks @thomascrampton for sharing this.

All campaigns are being pretty innovative and make great use of digital communications tools through social networking sites, video sharing.

The best one I have seen so far is the six-month “Tck Tck Tck” awareness campaign, launched in June 09 at the Advertising Festival in Cannes by former Secretary-General of the United Nations and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kofi Annan, along with his Global Humanitarian Forum. “Tck tck tck” – digital shorthand for the countdown to Copenhagen and the urgent need to address global warming – is an open-source campaign, which invites consumers and ad agencies worldwide to come up with creative ways to call for world leaders to sign up to a tough international deal on climate change by cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

As part of this 360 campaign, a “musical petition” involving some 60 world celebrities in the name of climate change has been launched on Oct. 1^st. Created by Euro RSCG’s music label, The:Hours, the petition can be signed by downloading the new version of 1980s Midnight Oil hit Beds Are Burning, from the internet (link here) and free of charge; the song is going to be the soundtrack to this movement.

Beds Are Burning (Tck Tck Tck: Time For Climate Justice) on Vimeo.

Lyrics include: “How can we dance when our world is turning? How can we sleep when the beds are burning?”. The choice of the song is very symbolic as it highlights the greatest humanitarian challenge facing mankind today, and the need for us, “Earth natives”, to take our responsibilities, as much as the original political song urged the “Western World” to take their responsibilities and give the land back to Native Australians.

To be followed…

However, the genius and creativity of the ‘Melting Ice Men’ made it all: in bid to draw attention to global warming, and urge the German government to take action at Copenhagen, ice sculptures in the shape of humans were placed on the steps of the music hall in Gendarmenmarkt public square in Berlin, on Sept. 2.

Within 30 minutes,  the 1,000 ice sculptures created by artist Nele Azevedo had already began to melt, thus symbolically raising awareness on the possible effects of the global worming.

The operation/art installation was a great success, generating both domestic and international media coverage (The Telegraph, The Washington Post, Yahoo News, The Toronto Sun, etc..) , as well as a great amount of photos taken on site, shared online, and widely commented on blogs and micro-blogging platforms, etc.

A great piece of art-icy work done by Nele Azevedo, who was not a first-timer, and who mastered the use of her art in a very disruptive, yet poetic manner!

Again, I am pretty amazed to see how two powerful medium such as art and advertising can reinforce each other and be a very efficient, and innovative, way to spread a message and letting  citizens/people reflect on the effects of climate change, such as this Polar Bears ad for EDF in the US.

What do you think? Have you ever encountered any art-vertising of that kind?

Sources: Adland.tv and QG-RemarkableAdvertising

Credits Images: Reuters

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