2020/2021 Winners & Shortlists

Why is this work relevant for Direct?

Instead of another environmental awareness campaign stating figures and facts, a direct translation of environmental damage was translated within the walls of people’s most comfortable setting; home. A controlled territory that individuals choose to treat with care, it is often forgotten that the beyond the walls of our own, the world is the home of other natural and living species. To directly reach the audience with relevance, ‘home’ literally became the outside environment, showcasing what life would be, surrounded by the impact of their choices. With direct relevance, every home saw the perspective, impacting immediate national change, surpassing all KPIs.

Background

Saudi Arabia, home to 65% of the GCC’s population, is the largest country in the Middle-East. With limited natural resources and inability to sustain production of food and industrial goods for a growing population, the country continues to suffer from agricultural and overconsumption of such resources by the nationals. Wood, being primary natural resource, is overused inefficiently across the nation, while over-hunting and fishing continues to threaten the endangered marine and wildlife due to cultural customs of hunting and fishing. The Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture’s mission is increasing awareness of the impact of environmental-damage, aiming to change the behavior embedded within the culture. Our brief was to find an exceptional idea, inspired by relevance to the community, aimed to directly hit an human-emotional chord, not only to raise awareness, but to drive a national necessity of behavioral change and redirecting efforts for immediate action.

Describe the creative idea (30% of vote)

Given the existing common knowledge of the environmental concerns across the Kingdom, we needed to find a way to relativize the experience of directly living in a negatively impacted environment, without needing to leave the walls of your own home. Our insight derived from the commonalty of two Arabic words that sound almost identical, differentiated by a single letter, which translate to ‘home’ and ‘environment.’ To create an emotional experience, we decided to use idea our target’s most comfortable environment, their homes, while integrating the living conditions that result from their common yet abusive actions towards the environment. We created three short films that literally previewed our average life at home, yet layered it with the the conditions we force our environment & species to live in when we harm them, bringing ‘home’ the ‘environment’ that they would naturally never consider once they enter their walls of comfort.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Embedded cultural norms, paralleled with the population growth, Saudi Arabia’s environmental concerns continue to grow due to the rise of overhunting, overfishing and improper waste dispensing. Aware of the endangerment of forests, seawater, marine and wildlife, lifestyle, behavior did not change, as the nation continues to ignore the impact. Instead of launching another awareness campaign, we wanted to connect with people on a human level, driving an actual change in behavior. Celebrating KSA’s Environmental Week, the Ministry of Environment focused on three simple messages communicated through a nationwide campaign; ‘no to overhunting,’ ‘no to pollution,’and ‘no to deforestation.’ Building on the emotional discomfort of literally facing the consequences of our actions, we would insinuate the feeling of what it would be like living amidst the damages we cause as humans, leaving the nation with one clear message, ‘What you don’t accept inside of your home, do not inflict on your

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

March 21st, marked the first day of KSA’s Environmental Week. Our campaign ran for seven days, launched with three films that emotionally distressed a nation. With an internet penetration of 95%, social and digital platforms were core mediums used to launch the campaign. Accompanied by a full-network OOH campaign, unprecedented social engagement and organic PR coverage paved the way for viral online conversations. Consequently, by the third day, we overload the opportunity by creating informative content and motion graphic films that initiated ideas on how to be an agent of change. Using Snapchat, KSA’s largest SM platform, we launched two filters that promoted engaging in environment friendly missions, leading the nation’s youth to organically become active ambassadors of MEWA’s cause for change. By day five, radio stations, NGOs and other entities started redirecting resources and reach to help spread the message, turning a government campaign to a nationwide movement.

List the results (30% of vote)

The one-week campaign exceeded all imagined KPIs, which initially aimed to create engaging conversations and initiation of recruiting at least 5% of the nation, to showcase a change of behavior. Within hours of the campaign’s launch online, the Arabic hashtag of #YourEnvironmentIsYourHome was trending for almost 24 hours organically. Aside from the astounding 527,443 visitors that appeared at information points to actively participate, a groundbreaking total of 12,000,000 impressions were recorded digitally. 846 government and private entities engaged, helping the community to launch 322 tree-growing initiatives, with 230,615 plantations occurring that week alone. Almost 1665 schools actively participated by helping to launch 173 recycling and cleaning initiatives, and planting an approximate of 1400 kilos of seeds across the nation. Hundreds of organic on-ground seminars took place to continue sharing knowledge of the movement, leading to 190 NGOs to actively engage and help grow MEWA’s nationwide cause.