
World's Most Eligible Bachelor
Ol Pejeta Conservancy
Issue 44 | September 2017
Agency
Ogilvy Africa
Creative Team
Regional Creative Director Joao Espirito Santo Group Creative Director Alemu Emuron Group Creative Director Maxwell Ngari Creative Partner Kwame Nyong'o, Robert Osano Group Creative Director Shashank Jha Worldwide Design Director Sid Tomkins Designer Peter Hahn
Production Team
Production Sound Engineer, Super Sonic Africa Sean Peevers Producer, Super Sonic Africa Thomas Kalume Project Manager, Super Sonic Africa Muna Chuba
Other Credits
CEO, Ol Pejeta Conservancy Richard Vigne Director of International Communications, Tinder Agnes Gomes-Koizumi
Date
April 2017
Background
The last living Northern White Rhino lived in Kenya's Ol Pejeta conservancy and could not mate naturally due to old age and a range of other issues. If he was to die, his species would become extinct with barely any hope of revival. They were critically endangered.
Ol Pejeta Conservancy wanted to raise $9 million for research into artificial reproductive techniques such as IVF, to enable Sudan to breed through one of 7,000 Southern White Rhino surrogates.
Idea
Considering the fact that Sudan had 7,000 females ready to carry his baby and he was literally 'one of a kind', living on a picturesque 90,000-acre ranch under the protection of his personal team of military trained bodyguards, his profile was put on Tinder and he was dubbed "The World's Most Eligible Bachelor."
Tinder users just had to swipe right to match with him and be redirected to Ol Pejeta Conservancy's site where they could donate to his cause.
Results
The site crashed an hour after the launch of the campaign.
There were two billion impressions in the UK alone in just one week.
Two million people right swiped on Tinder.
Celebrities including American TV show host Jimmy Fallon talked about it.
Our Thoughts
I sometimes think we are too obsessed with originality in advertising. Mark Earls has written a great book on the subject, "Copy, Copy, Copy".
This idea, for instance. Using Tinder as an advertising medium is not new. But this particular use is both pertinent and shocking.
I was born and brought up in East Africa. When I was a lad, there were around 3,000 Northern White Rhinos minding their own business. They had managed to survive for several million years. And now, well... the story of Sudan is the story of the dead hand of homo sapiens on the planet, symbolic of all the other extinctions both before and after him.
Even though he has two armed guards at all times, they have still had to cut off his horn to protect him. How pathetic is that?
Any idea that helps raise any amount of money for this cause gets my vote. Even though it is, alas, a lost cause.