Title	SEASTARS
Brand	WWF THE NETHERLANDS
Product/Service	DONATIONS FOR OCEANS
Category	A01. FICTION: SERIES OR FILM
Entrant Company	OGILVY & MATHER AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Contributing Company	OGILVY & MATHER AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Media Agency	MEC Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production Company	NOT TO SCALE AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Production Company 2	MEDIA MONKS BV PA Hilversum, THE NETHERLANDS

Name	Company	Position
Darre Van Dijk	Ogilvy And Mather Amsterdam	Chief Creative Officer
Rob Voortman	Ogilvy And Mather Amsterdam	Copywriter
Bas Derks	Ogilvy And Mather Amsterdam	Digital Art Director
Heleen Hidskes	Ogilvy And Mather Amsterdam	Strategy Consultant
Esther De Kok	Ogilvy And Mather Amsterdam	Account Manager
Jolly Banerjee	Ogilvy And Mather Amsterdam	Digital Producer
Yorick Wolf	Ogilvy And Mather Amsterdam	Digital Delivery Director
Pierre/Bertrand	Not To Scale/Amsterdam	Directors
Wyke Van Weelden	Wyke Van Weelden	Singer/Songwriter
Hendrik Jan De Harder	Media Monks	Digital Production
Sam Fairbairn	Media Monks	Digital Production
Sylvia Van Der Leen	Media Monks	Digital Production
Guido Van Dieteren	Guido's Orchestra	Conductor
Patrick Stemelen	Pat	Sound Design
Darre Van Dijk	Ogilvy And Mather Amsterdam	Music
Juriaan Van Berkel	Ogilvy And Mather Amsterdam	Video Producer
Colin Tossijn	Ogilvy And Mather Amsterdam	Designer

The Campaign

The usage of branded entertainment in the Netherlands is still relatively minimal in comparison with other countries like the United States and England. Although a respectable range in traditional customer magazines is currently available, much branded content for digital - and traditional media hasn’t been produced. This is however rapidly changing. We see a growth in the usage of branded content, as we see how the consumer is more commercially affected by fun and inspiring content, than by an in-your-face advert. Hence we chose to convey a complex and non-engaging problem, through an emotionally engaging way; an animated film, accompanied by specially composed music.

Results

WWF asked us to find a compelling way to launch their 2014 Ocean’s campaign. A campaign that addressed many of the immense problems oceans are currently facing. As this was an opportunity to tell a story that the people should hear, it was also challenging to try and convey this complex matter. In order to convey this story, we chose to show the war that goes on below sea level through an animated film. The movie highlights the complex matter in an emotionally engaging way without having people turn their heads in repulsion. We see our heroes, the sea stars, battle all evil that is destroying their under water world. After the good guys reign victorious, they start the rebuilding of their reef. At the end of the film the viewer is asked to make a donation and become a star for the sea too, and help rebuild reefs around the world. We launched the campaign with the animation. From the film, people were directed directly to the campaign website, where they could donate. This website was designed in the same style as the animation and gave more in-depth information about the campaign by literally taking the visitor down deeper. The song ‘World of Blue’ was especially created for the film and gave the narrative even more intensity and emotion. To generate more donations through downloads, we released an extended version as the movie’s soundtrack. Together with a music video on YouTube, the song itself also lead viewers to our campaign website. By using the intriguing animation, combining it with a pop song, interactive platform and a music video, our campaign became part of the country’s popular culture and generated a lot of awareness and donations to rebuild our reefs around the world.

The film was shown on TV, in cinemas, online on various social media and pushed through relevant blogs. After the release people started sharing and positively commenting on the film, which created a lot of earned media attention. Banners and pre-rolls directed people to the campaign website, where they could watch the full-length film as well.

The film and soundtrack became part of the country’s popular culture, through people positively sharing and commenting on it. The campaign generated 1.4 million PR impressions. The animation became WWF’s most viewed ad in history, which lead to WWF coming in third as the brand with best use of social. The movie’s soundtrack reached #4 position on iTunes download top 100, hit the pop charts, and was performed live numerous times on national radio. Radio stations were legally obligated to play the song at least once a day because of its pop chart ranking. Which meant a lot of free 3:20 radio adverts. The DJ’s would often discuss the campaign, which created even more free publicity for our cause. All this attention created a lot of awareness for the problems our oceans are currently facing. But people also acted to help solve the problems. The campaign has topped its financial goals with 26%. So thanks to all the stars for the sea, we’ve been able to start the rebuilding of our first reef in Belize.