Roar for the Tiger
Issue 15 | June 2010
Agency
Ogilvy Russia
Creative Team
Writer, Art Director, Director: Carl Le Blond; DOP: Pavel Kapinos, Levan Kapanadze; Agency’s Producer: Nikonorov Dmitry; Senior Account Manager: Anna Smirnova; Russian Translation: Vadim Sessyunin; Project Assistant: Anna Tafrova
Date
May 2010
Background
2010 is the year of the Tiger. WWF Russia, in partnership with the government, has organised ‘The Global Summit on Tiger Preservation’ which is to be held in the Russian city of Vladivostock. They wanted to create as much noise as possible about the event but with no budget.
Idea
Four Russian celebrities/ambassadors, who in their own way have a real connection and passion with the great Amur Tigers, were asked to speak up on behalf of the endangered beasts. In the commercials and online films, they do not speak but they roar, as if they are tigers. What they are actually saying is revealed in subtitles. They point out that the Amur tigers will soon be extinct through deforestation, poaching and lack of food if we do not act now.
Results
The campaign has only just gone live and there are no numbers, as yet.
Our Thoughts
There have been plenty of ‘Save the tiger’ ads in the past, many of them shocking.
What we responded to in this campaign was the fact that it didn’t set out to shock but to recruit. Big-name celebs roar like tigers and ask their fan groups to go online and join the cause. Not complicated.
Sometimes I think we try too hard in our communications and creativity simply gets in the way of the message. Here the message is clear. And, underlining it, is the evidence that the stars rather enjoyed being big cats for an hour or two, Ana Mikhalkova and Russian rock-god Ylya Lagutenko especially.