Plastic Free July
We empowered positive change to tackle the world's greatest environmental challenge
Challenge: Inspire global citizens to choose to refuse single-use plastic
Plastic is having a devastating impact on the environment – every piece ever manufactured still exists in some form today. The Plastic Free July Foundation identified that despite increased global awareness about the problem, concern has not converted into personal action. In fact, the magnitude of negative media coverage and shocking images of marine animals entangled and threatened by plastic waste has actually disillusioned and disempowered many people from taking action. The problem feels too big for an individual to make an impact.
SOlution: Hero the 'entry level' actions people can take to reduce their waste
We needed to galvanise the grassroots movement that Plastic Free July campaign developed over the last 7 years and increase their positive influence from the environmentally sympathetic audience into the mainstream. To do this we created a campaign narrative that was simple to understand, built an emotional connection and that aimed to educate and empower the general public to make small daily changes that will reduce their impact on the environment.
Championing the founder of the movement and waste management expert, Rebecca Prince-Ruiz, we conducted extensive media outreach in Australia, as well as UK, US and Europe to provide easy tips and tricks for consumer’s and a commentary on topical issues. The campaign also involved stakeholder and influencer engagement both on social media and offline to grow the PFJ community and encourage people to share solutions with each other.
Impact: We helped millions of people reduce their single-use plastic footprint
WE Buchan provided pro bono support for 3 months which resulted in*:
- Instagram followers grew from 18.9k to 52.6k
- Twitter followers grew from 4.5k to 7k
- Over 200 pieces of coverage with a reach of 300+ million
The campaign became a truly global movement, with a significant 75% YoY increase in uptake in the challenge - from 2 million participants in 2017 to 3.4 million participants across 177 countries.
* between 6 June 2018 to 29 August 2018
