Turtle Beach - Rapp London
International Fund for Animal Welfare
Issue 12 | September 2009
Agency
Rapp London
Creative Team
Paul Turner, Magnus Thorne, Ralph Barnett
Production Team
Jane Rose
Date
May 2009
Background
Every year, sea turtles return to their nesting beaches to lay their eggs. When they do so, the poachers are waiting for them. They flip the turtles onto their backs so they can’t escape, and then butcher the helpless creatures for their shells, which are turned into trinkets for tourists.
Unfortunately, many UK tourists unwittingly buy these souvenirs, without realising they’re fuelling the demand for a slaughter which is endangering the species across the globe.
IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare) wanted to raise awareness of the issue to holiday-makers.
Rather than a traditional DM pack, it was felt it would be better to engage the public directly, to involve them with the issue and evoke an emotional response – to create something they would remember when they next travelled abroad.
Idea
Over the May bank holiday, hundreds of hawksbill turtles ‘came ashore’ on the beach at Bournemouth, England.
They were life-size card models left for visitors to discover and play with. As they turned them over they discovered that’s what poachers do too.
The message asked holiday-makers not to buy seemingly harmless combs, necklaces and other trinkets when abroad.
Results
The public took to the stunt warmly, with thousands of families and visitors engaging with IFAW directly, stopping to investigate the turtles. Every turtle was taken to someone’s home at the end of the day, thus helping the message spread out to beyond the reach of the event itself.
There was extensive PR coverage all for a very modest spend.
Our Thoughts
Excuse my lack of knowledge about the British holiday-maker, but why Bournemouth? I understand that you’ve got to do this somewhere but does Bournemouth have a higher proportion of people who travel to these bad countries than other parts of Britain? As it is patently a one-off piece, I would have oushed the art direction and the line on the underside of the turtle.
To be blunt, I wouldn’t have included this in Directory 12 but Patrick liked it. Opinions will always differ in this business and that’s what makes awards juries such fun.