2015 Winners & Shortlists

The Campaign

Fundraising for social causes is already difficult. So raising money for Cedar conservation had to be approached in a different way. The Cedar is part of Lebanon's national identity, but the Lebanese youth are a generation too preoccupied with life in one of the Middle East's most vibrant party cities. So we needed to connect with them in a way that would resonate with them. We turned to the thing that goes hand in hand with night life. Music. All trees have a natural rhythm. So with the help of bioactoustic engineers we extracted the high-frequency sounds of the Lebanese Cedar and collaborated with Beirut's top DJs to create a unique House music track with the sound of the cedars at its core. The result was "3000 years ft Marlene Jaber" which we launched in April at 5 nightclubs in Beirut. In the first weekend of its release, the track reached sounds of young Lebanese. The track received free radio airplay and found its way onto the top stations' playlists, reaching a total listenership of 1.2 million. We made the track available for download on iTunes, Beatport, Soundcloud, Amazon and many other music sites with all proceeds going to Cedar Conservation. The story was shared, liked, tweeted about and covered in the local media. And the plight of 3000 year old trees became a current and important trending topic of conversation throughout Lebanon.

The Brief

Our goal was to raise $100,000 for Cedar Conservation. It was also to make a 3000 year old Lebanese symbol connect with today's youth and get them to act. We looked at the things young Lebanon is preoccupied with and nightlife ranked very high on that list. So we began to research how we could make the two worlds collide. The answer was music. Music would allow us to spread our conservation message in a language Lebanese youth could understand. Through a medium they love. By saving the music they would be saving the cedars.

Results

Our track now lives online and is available for download on many music sites. Every download contributes to cedar conservation. Till date we have had over 10,000 downloads and raised over $38,000 for the Cedar of Lebanon. Our call for donations video got over 17,000 views and drove channels subscriptions. The video was shared, liked and talked about on social media with a 26.0% engagement rate. The project received over 60,000 media impressions, with an overall PR value of $214,500. Many DJs expressed an interest in the project. We have shared the raw cedar sounds with them and are now collaborating on an album. This will allow us to reach even more people as the Album will go beyond a single house track and embrace different genres of music, all with the sound of the cedar at its core. The new Album will be released in Q2 of 2015.

Execution

We launched the track at 5 of Beirut's most prominent nightclubs, reaching thousands of people within the first weekend. The track received free radio airplay and found its way onto the top stations' playlists, reaching a total listenership of 1.2 million. Aside from paying the minimum amount for the track, you could donate more money if you wish. We launched in April with the live event at night clubs. The following week the 3 min track was played on radio stations. You could download it directly using Shazam or SoundHound. The track was then made available for download on iTunes, Beatport, Amazon, SoundCloud and many other sites, and we used a call for downloads video and radio spot to drive people to download the track. The Lebanese media picked up the story and this gave the cedars more airplay, more downloads and more funds.

The Situation

Conservation is usually something that is left to the "greenies" of any society. But in Lebanon, the Cedar is not just a tree. It's a huge source of national pride, and identity, and sits proudly in the centre of the Lebanese flag. So it should be a concern to everyone that the harmful effects of pollution, are driving them to extinction. Well it isn't. And certainly not to the younger generation. So how could we PR the plight of the Lebanese Cedar to a generation that is too busy partying and get them to talk, think, and play their part in helping save the Cedars?

The Strategy

We extracted high-frequency rhythms from inside a cedar tree with the help of bioacoustic engineers and gave them to Beirut's top DJs to remix. The result was House track called "3000 years ft Marlene Jaber" (a Lebanese singer who collaborated with us) that could be downloaded to generate funds for cedar conservation. The track was and is still available on iTunes, Beatport, Soundcloud, Amazon and other music sites. For the first time ever, the Lebanese cedar's voice could be heard by the public. And the fact that we were able to create a unique House track through it, meant our conservation message became more relevant to the Lebanese youth than it had ever previously been. Once we created the track, we used PR, Social Media, On-ground activations, Radio and Word of Mouth to get people talking, sharing, downloading and raising money for Cedar conservation.