Title	READ A TREE
Brand	ELEFANT.RO
Product/Service	ONLINE BOOK SELLER
Category	C01. Use of Digital in a PR campaign
Entrant Company	GEOMETRY GLOBAL Bucharest, ROMANIA
Advertising Agency	GEOMETRY GLOBAL Bucharest, ROMANIA

Name	Company	Position
Mihai Fetcu	Geometry Global Romania	Creative Director
Stefan Vasilachi	Geometry Global Romania	Head Of Art
Matei Vasiliu	Geometry Global Romania	Head Of Digital Creative
Rares Dumitrel	Geometry Global Romania	Senior Copywriter
Mihaela Bourceanu	Geometry Global Romania	Client Service Director
Patricia Arbanas	Geometry Global Romania	Account Director
Mina Ionescu	Geometry Global Romania	Junior Digital Account Manager
Madalina Gogu	Geometry Global Romania	Account Executive
Ionut Iacobache	Geometry Global Romania	Production Manager
Dorina Sandu	Geometry Global Romania	Dtp
Mihaela Zaharia	Geometry Global Romania	Pr Specialist
Adrian Dinu	Elefant.ro	Executive Director
Alen Todorov	Elefant.ro	Headof Marketing

The Campaign

Deforestation is one of the hot topics in Romania. In May 2015 was scheduled the biggest manifestation yet against abusive tree cutting. Elefant.ro, Romania’s biggest online book seller, decided to take a stand in the fight against deforestation. In April 2015, it launched the first digital revolution led by the trees themselves - the Read a Tree app. Using your smartphone, you can scan any tree in the world and receive a free e-book in return. No QR codes, no fancy markers are needed. Read a Tree quickly became a trending app both on Play Store and App Store with an average of 200 downloads per day in the first month. Media and bloggers promote it even further, generating earned media to the value of 1.6 million EUR.

The Brief

From offline book stores Romanians buy on average 1 book per year. At the same time, online orders reach 10 books per year. The online competition is fierce for Elefant.ro, one of the oldest online book sellers. Today, there is a growing demand for e-books, as readers will choose environment friendly formats, especially during a time when deforestation has become a national issue. Elefant needed to secure its perception as the most important online book store and play a role in the movement against deforestation. Without the budget of big brands, a smart PR campaign was the way to go.

Execution

The trees were the primary launch medium. During one week at the beginning of April 2015, trees were covered in a message that asked people not to cut them, but instead to scan them using the app. Using image recognition algorithms, the app is able to detect if a tree appears in the photo or not. It could be any of the 100,000 species in the world. If a tree is detected, the app would give a free e-book. All this without QR codes or fancy markers. Right after the scan, the tree could be shared on Facebook, compelling friends to install the app and do the same. Bloggers were invited to test the app. Everyone who tried it had a reason to share it. Media coverage soon followed, making Read a Tree a trending app on App Store and Play Store.

In the first week, the app was downloaded over 5,000 times. During the first month, 200 books were downloaded each day. 50,000 trees were scanned and counting. Read a Tree quickly became a trending app on Play Store and App Store, as more and more people were curious to see if it really worked. Online and media coverage soon followed, generating earned media to the value of 1.6 million EUR. With a single, clever app, Elefant secured its leadership in the e-book market while promoting the fight against deforestation.

The Strategy

Trees are cut down to serve a purpose. More than a third of them have been destroyed to make paper. To save the remaining trees, they had to fulfil a purpose without being cut down. What if a tree could give you a book and still be alive? The simple, but clever way to do this was to develop an app. Targeting book enthusiasts and environmental supporters, the app would let anyone scan a tree and receive a free e-book in return. No need to cut them! Using the app would promote the fight against deforestation, but also endorse Elefant’s brand point of view. No one would resist to try and see if the app really works, making it a topic of conversation on social media. And, as more people would download and use the app, TV stations and online news sites would also join the conversation.