Title	WASHED AWAY
Brand	ACTIONAID UK
Product/Service	TBC
Category	B07. Events & Stunts
Entrant	WEBER SHANDWICK London, UNITED KINGDOM
Idea Creation	WEBER SHANDWICK London, UNITED KINGDOM
PR	WEBER SHANDWICK London, UNITED KINGDOM

Name	Company	Position
James Nester	Weber Shandwick	Executive Creative Director
Luke Walker	Weber Shandwick	Creative Head
Tabitha Winter	Weber Shandwick	Head of Studio
Scott Jackson	Weber Shandwick	Video Lead and Director of Photography
Victoria Tomlin	Weber Shandwick	Account Director
Laura Tapper	Weber Shandwick	Senior Account Director
Marta Suez	Weber Shandwick	Account Director
Olivia McCulla	Weber Shandwick	Account Manager
Sophie Longley	Weber Shandwick	Account Executive
Philippa Dillon	ActionAid UK	Brand Engagement Manager
Michelle Lowery	ActionAid UK	PR Manager
Cora Bauer	ActionAid UK	Senior Media Officer
Himaya Quasem	ActionAid UK	Editorial and Stories Officer
Jessica Holland	ActionAid UK	Head of Brand Marketing and PR
Rose Laird	Clear Channel UK	Digital Delivery Specialist
Antonio Olmos	Antonio Olmos Photography	Photographer

The Campaign

Busy Londoners get wrapped up in the here and now: train delays; work deadlines; bad weather. Our idea was to use powerful images to show them that, while they were moaning about the drizzle on their commute, rain was having altogether more serious consequences in Bangladesh. Another campaign featuring pictures of people on rafts or flood-damaged communities wasn't going to cut it. People have grown immune to images of people in need, however hard-hitting. To get Londoners to not only notice, but care enough to leave their warm homes on a cold winter day to join a climate march, we needed symbolic imagery that would imply heart-breaking stories; all the more powerful in the imagination. We identified a renowned humanitarian and environmental photojournalist to capture the images. His work in war-torn and weather-ravaged countries meant that he has seen first-hand the devastating effects of climate change and flooding.

Execution

We worked with renowned environmental and humanitarian photojournalist Antonio Olmos to create the campaign images. Based on first-hand experiences in Bangladesh, he painstakingly recreated powerful images of children’s toys washed up in the aftermath of a flood, using authentic toys, silt, foliage and debris. Using the images, we created a weather-activated advert for a digital billboard in London’s iconic Piccadilly Circus – the most iconic advertising space in Europe, with weekly footfall of 2million. An algorithm was custom-coded to analyse real-time local data from a nearby electromagnetic sensor operated by the Met Office, the government weather forecaster. For one week, running up to the march, rainfall in London triggered the ad, disrupting the schedule. Owned/paid Facebook and Twitter posts featured the campaign. We pitched YouGov survey results, showing 38% of Brits were more worried about climate change than five years ago, especially the impact on developing countries, to the media.

The stunt resulted in the largest ActionAid presence at a public demonstration since 2005. We’d moved Londoners not just to share or donate, but to contribute their time. Over 300 people marched with ActionAid at the People’s Climate March. On the back of the campaign, ActionAid spokesperson Himaya Quasem gave the opening speech at the march to more than 50,000 people. As the world’s leaders converged on Paris for COP21, we gave ActionAid a credible voice in the climate change debate: Knowledge/consideration: 282 pieces of coverage, including the Daily Mail and interviews on BBC Asian Network and London Live. Most featured the YouGov poll and ActionAid messages. Rain triggered the advertisement six times during the week, with run time of 2hrs. Outputs/business results: • Facebook reach: 30,965 • Twitter impressions: 1,111,922 • Total engagement: 12,835 • Blogs: 1,100 views • Landing page: 2,563 views • Total reach: 343million (400,000 target).

The Situation

Londoners like to grumble about the rain. So we showed them the devastating effects of real rain, not just London drizzle, on children in Bangladesh. In a week-long stunt, we created the first rain-triggered billboard. Every time it rained, emotional images of flood-damaged toys disrupted the advertising schedule in London’s Piccadilly Circus. Londoners responded by joining ActionAid at the People’s Climate Change March: it was the charity’s biggest presence at a public demonstration for a decade. The campaign also captured the attention of media: we gave ActionAid a voice in the climate change debate, with a reach of 343 million.

The Strategy

We’d use the heart-wrenching images to create a charity advertising campaign with a difference, fusing outdoor technology and local data in a brand new way. The strategy was to create the first rain-activated billboard, using live, local weather data to disrupt the schedule in a prime advertising spot in London, every time it rained, in a week-long event. This would stop our audience of London commuters and tourists in their tracks, and communicate the message: “Help stop childhoods being washed away. Join us on the Climate March”. It would also give us a highly visual media hook to generate coverage alongside awareness. We’d support the ad with paid, earned and owned activities, including tweets using #washed away, Facebook ads and real-life stories, a survey, a landing page on the ActionAid website, a blog post on Huffington Post by actress and ActionAid ambassador Lindsey Coulson, and post-campaign contributions to COP21 coverage.