Underwater Text Campaign

Background

Greater Wellington Regional Council (GWRC) is responsible for the care of the environment of the lower part of New Zealand’s North Island. They have set up an initiative called ‘Be the Difference’ to help protect this area. The seas and harbours of the Wellington region always look azure. No one believes there is the start of an environmental problem. GWRC therefore wanted to use this issue to recruit new members to ‘Be the Difference’.

Idea

Clemenger BBDO Direct’s solution was to show, literally, how disgusting and unnatural car detergent, paint and dog poo is in the region’s water. Massive metal posters were placed on the bottom of the region’s indoor and outdoor swimming pools. Swimmers would then see what it was like, from a fish’s point of view, to swim in the poisons people pour down drains such as paint, dog poo and car wash detergent. Also model dog poos, car detergent bottles and paint cans were put in aquariums in shopping malls to show, as realistically as possible, the kind of environment that people’s actions were forcing the region’s marine life to live in. The text number on the ‘pollutants’ acted as a device to draw enquiries to the council’s environmental ‘Be the Difference’ initiative.

Results

142% uplift in texts compared to earlier levels.

Target Audience

People in the Wellington region

Our Thoughts

The best creative ideas are unexpected juxtapositions. So, how do you get people to see how they are polluting the sea when it looks fine to the naked eye? By showing it - literally. See the fishes swimming around a can of paint in an aquarium and you get the picture. Powerful stuff.