The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has launched what it's calling its largest climate advocacy campaign.
Created by Activista, Framestore, Wunderman Thompson Australia and Mindpool, 'Don’t Choose Extinction' takes aim at the hundreds of billions of dollars governments spend on fossil-fuel subsidies each year. As a special guest tells the UN in the film that kicks off the campaign, that means the public is literally financing its own doom.
A former speechwriter for president Barack Obama collaborated with Activista on the film, which is just the beginning of a multifaceted campaign focused on behaviour change.
On the campaign website, people can explore various excuses for doing nothing about climate change—represented by asteroids hurtling toward the earth—along with links to actions that could neutralise each threat to humanity.
Various tools for direct action will be rolled out in phases in the coming months, according to the agency. They include a Chrome plugin called Thesaurus Rex, designed to help people navigate the terms around fossil fuels online, an Alexa skill called 'The Voice of Reason', that "disarmingly rebuts every climate change myth or excuse", and an ebook that "gives children the arguments they need to convince their parents and peers".
The "digital ecosystem" surrounding the campaign, led by Wunderman Thompson, also includes the Global Mindpool, described as "a collective intelligence platform" that helps people make their voices heard, with the aim of mobilising data to tackle the climate and inequality crisis and influence policy change.
UNDP offices across the world in 170 countries will activate the campaign.
Boaz Paldi, global partnership and engagement manager, UNDP:
With this initiative, we want to spotlight the climate crisis and at the same time energize the debate about some of the economic solutions that are out there to get us on a path to de-carbonization. Addressing fossil fuel subsidies is a critical issue in the fight against climate change. The campaign gives hope that despite the trajectory we seem to be on there is still time to act and solutions to fight for. Creativity and technology are two of the necessary tools we need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and move towards a green transition. It’s why we needed the best minds in the industry to partner with us in our journey to make these goals a reality.
João Braga, chief creative officer, Wunderman Thompson Australia:
This behaviour change campaign gave us the largest possible target audience anyone could have. With 7 billion people to speak to and a challenge of this calibre, we needed deep creative thinking from every discipline. This digital experience is only just the start of our work with the UNDP to help end the excuses around climate change for good and provide people from all walks of life the understanding and the facts they need to make a difference. We’re even working to take this idea as far as outer-space, by naming real asteroids after these excuses.
CREDITS
United Nations Development Programme
Director of Advocacy, Marketing and Communications: Anjali Kwatra
Global Engagement & Partnership Manager: Boaz Paldi
Senior Consultant, Creative Strategy: Nick Garrett
Executive Producer: Helen Trickey
Associate Producer, Campaign Advocacy: Rebecca Webb
Associate Producer, Campaign Media: Gabriela Goldman
Activista
Executive Creative Director: Paco Conde
Executive Creative Director: Beto Fernandez
Director of Strategy: Jon Carlaw
Writer: David Litt (reference to Obama)
Wunderman Thompson
Chief Executive Officer: Lee Leggett
Chief Creative Officer: João Braga
Project Lead/Australian Operations Director: Paulina Embart
Associate Creative Director: Jack Elliott
Associate Creative Director: Lochie Newham
Chief Innovation Officer: Martin Beecroft
UX/UI Director: Travis Weerts
Technical Director: Marcus Collier
UX Design: Isabelle Hooper
UI Design: Chris Hyland
Client Engagement: Anna Parker
Client Engagement: Rose Suys
Integrated Production: Emma Donaldson
Creative Director, Content: Brie Stewart
Social Strategist: Annie House
Content Creator: Rhys Delios Callanan
Senior Designer: James Ayling
Content Writer: Richard Kempsey
Digital Production: Danny Coleman
Digital Production: Joe Guario
Illustrator: Andjela Jankovic
Framestore Pictures
Director: Murray Butler
Managing Director: Jennifer Siegel
Head of Production: Anne Vega
Line Producer: Laura Morris
Director of Photography: Wyatt Garfield
Director of Production: Carla Attanasio
Executive Producer: Pete King
Senior Producer: Chris Harlowe
Associate Producer Jose Alvarado
Creative Director: Marco Marenghi
VFX Supervisor: Karch Coons
Lighting Supervisor: Richard Shallcross
Head of 2D: Woei Lee
Compositor Lead: Mark Casey
Tracking Supervisor: Todd Herman
Editorial Supervisor: Jacob Sadowsky
VFX Editor: Dustin Indrebo
Colorist: Beau Leon
Editorial: Cut+Run
Editor: Jon Grover
Editorial Producer: Eytan Gutman
Asst. Editor: Evan Bahnsen
Audio Post Production: String and Tins
Sound Design and Mix: Jim Stewart
Additional Sound Design: Joe Wilkinson
Foley: The Foley Barn
Audio Producer: Olivia Endersby
Music Coordinator: COOL Music
Music by Rachel Portman
Music Programmer: Luke Richards
Mindpool
Anne Sofie Lind
Mik Thobo-Carlsen
Flemming Rasmussen
Antoni Harbuz
Editor's note: This article was edited after initial publication to correct an issue with the credit given to the various agencies.
.png&h=268&w=401&q=100&v=20170226&c=1)
.png&h=268&w=401&q=100&v=20170226&c=1)