The Big Picture
Issue 17 | December 2010
Agency
BBDO New York
Creative Team
Chief Creative Officer: David Lubars; Senior Creative Director: Linda Honan; Art Directors: Kim Haxton, Stuart Matz; Director Of Integrated Production: Brian DiLorenzo; Content Producer: Nicholas Gaul; Director Of Music, Radio Production: Rani Vaz
Production Team
Production Company: Park Pictures; Director/DOP: Lance Acord; Executive Producer: Jackie Kelman Bisbee; Line Producer: Caroline Kousidonis; Production Designer: Clem Price Thomas; Visual Effects Company: Method Studios; Editing House: Cut + Run; Editor: Steve Gandolfi; Color Grading: Stefan Sonnenfeld @ Company 3
Date
13/4/2010
Background
Being environmentally conscious can sometimes seem overwhelming. For Starbucks’ Green Initiative, the goal was to show that if everyone made one small change, they could in fact change the world.
Idea
On March 18 – 19, in New York, they created a massive event where thousands of people traded in their paper cups for reusable mugs. Artists used the individual cups to create a mosaic image of a sequoia tree. The image was symbolic of the larger impact we can have if we all do our part.
The event was documented, creating a 60-second television spot that encouraged people all over the country to bring a reusable mug into Starbucks on April 15th and receive a free cup of coffee.
A longer film was also posted to YouTube, to Starbucks’ Facebook page, and to the Starbucks website, where people were invited to calculate their own daily impact, and encouraged to take the pledge to switch to a reusable mug.
Results
The campaign persuaded over one million people to bring a reusable mug into Starbucks on April 15th. On Facebook, 790,000 fans from around the world participated in the action. And on Starbucks.com, thousands of people have pledged to switch from paper cups to reusable mugs, saving an estimated 10,000 trees per year.
Our Thoughts
This is nothing more and nothing less than a magnificent piece of theatre but its narrative theme is about the potential tragedy of outrageous packaging. Rather than ram the message down our throats that our obsession with wrapping and packing is damaging the world we live in, which Starbucks is hardly placed to do anyway, Starbucks has simply introduced the theme and then allowed people to take up the story from there, which they have in their tens of thousands.
In the UK, about 40% of supermarket packaging cannot be easily recycled. Indeed, in September Sainsbury’s was taken to court for its excessive packaging.
Starbucks is at least taking the initiative here, before it, and other fast-food outlets, are legislated into being more considerate.