Going Green and Winning Gold! Campaigns That Saved the Earth

We know what you’re thinking … big brands engaging in social awareness campaigns about global issues just to get recognition from the media and award festivals. TRUE, because brands HAVE to keep up their positive recognition to the world. FALSE, because they have the wits, the power, the creativity, and the leeway to highlight these important issues — global warming, deforestation, poverty, gender equality — and stimulate the general public to learn and take action.

For that reason, Glass Lions was introduced at the Cannes Lions Festival as a means of giving global attention to campaigns that tackle specifically gender inequality, injustice, and imbalance around the world.

These proactive agencies have decided to highlight these global issues. It is an authentic category that gives recognition to companies that have generated insightful campaigns that were solution oriented and well strategized.

While gender equality has been positively reinforced throughout the years with great campaigns, we realized that there are other important issues such as global warming, deforestation, ecology, and waste recycling. Which made us think … could a GREEN Lion be in the works at Cannes Lions Festival?

If not anytime soon, then we are pleased to nominate our very own Green Lion winners — who also received many awards in different categories at Cannes Lions in the past year — for their amazing work on global/environmental campaigns, and we hope that more campaigns like these will be in the works in the future.

1. Budweiser — Powered by the Wind — Superbowl Campaign

With climate change being a crucial issue that cannot be ignored, humankind has to be aware of the danger we cause to the environment by utilizing unnatural elements that harm the earth. Budweiser decided to address this problem, at least as a start, by creating their very own wind-powered brewery at their Oklahoma farm. The beautiful angle of that campaign was that they created wind-powered outdoor ads. Can you imagine? It’s simply a flag-like visual with the words “powered by the wind.” The campaign made a great impact during the Superbowl (during which they helped power up the arena as well) and was awarded at Cannes Lions. This is a great example of how a simple solution that does not require too much digging is more than enough to make an impact and highlight an important environmental issue.

2. Palau Pledge — Palau Legacy Project

As tourists in a small, noncommercial country, we forget sometimes that we are trespassing on the territory of locals, who try their best to preserve their land, and we tend to take things for granted by enjoying our leisure time and ignoring the local ecology. Imagine if that country was talking back to us and telling us to help preserve the land while we enjoy our stay and also called us out on the dangers we might cause if we don’t help protect the land. This was the case with Palau, a small nation with a tourist population higher than the local one. Teaming up with Host Havas and Palau’s First Lady, Debbie Remengesau, a beautiful narrative was created in which an animated giant represents the invader — or tourist — to Palau. As he enters the land, the local children teach him how to take care of Palau’s preserves while he enjoys his stay as an outsider on this island. The beauty of the campaign is the prime definition of an indigenous narrative presented within a global campaign. The impact didn’t stop there, though. Palau’s government changed the design and layout of their visa stamps as a “signing agreement” of helping the land’s environment, which calls on every person entering the country to abide by rules to preserve the country’s ecology.

3. I am Trash — Etat Libre d’Orange

Have you ever had trashy perfume?

Let us rephrase that … have you ever had perfume made out of trash?

This concept that may sound very odd to you because nobody would want to wear “trashy” perfume; we assume it would be dirty and filthy. Talking about filth, throwing waste and hazardous objects out that cause a lot of damage to the earth is a bad habit of many people. Countering that habit, waste management and waste recycling have evolved to help the environment by not letting artificial objects go to waste. It doesn’t wittier as this: Ogilvy Paris and French perfume Brand Etat Libre d’Orange teamed up to create perfume products made purely out of waste left over from producing other products in the industry. The main objective of this campaign was to tell people that waste recycling is a beautiful thing. A perfume made with trash is a form of showing care and appreciation to the earth, it’s as beautiful as a glamourous perfume bottle itself. This was a daring approach for a perfume brand that wants to break the norms of the “beauty” industry by tackling an environmental cause.

4. An Unrepeatable Photograph? — Trapa Chocolates

Speaking of being bold and daring, ad agencies and CPG brands that go head-to-head with government officials create battles worth recognizing. You would assume brands would want to play it safe when it comes to facing the government. But when government officials ignore environmental harm completely, it’s impossible to stay silent. A piece of rainforest in Borneo, Indonesia, has been destroyed due to demand for palm oil. Many major chocolate brands have been responsible for this. While the government ignored this fact, Trapa Chocolate and FCB&Fire agency — both Spanish-based entities — decided to take a photograph for a print ad at a specific location in that rainforest with a message: “Could this photograph be repeated?” Meaning, “Will this forest stay the same?” They had to make the palm oil industry believe that it was a harmless fashion shoot, but they were marking the land they wanted to protect, and they published it in a worldwide campaign. Naturally, governmental forces in Indonesia banned them and did not want them to expose the truth. The agency and Trapa Chocolate did not give up. By leaving their mark on that land and hiring a satellite service that showed the mark being left clean while the rest of the rainforest was destroyed, the two organizations set off major discussions throughout the media.

With global warming, waste recycling, deforestation, and wind energy being hot topics today, let’s hope to see more Green categories in award shows in the coming years and empower action in activism.