2021 Winner
BronzeBest Disruption
Amazon Rainforest Conservancy
"The Rainforest Fire Channel"
Zulu Alpha Kilo & UM
"The Rainforest Fire Channel"
Zulu Alpha Kilo & UM
To put it mildly, 2019 was a bad year in terms of ecological disasters. Yet even in a year of terrible events, one stood out from the rest: in late-August, reports emerged that massive tracts of the
Amazon were on fire.
The Amazon rainforest, one of earth’s most ecologically significant environments, was burning at an alarming rate. The fires dominated headlines, but only for a while. Eventually the world’s attention moved on, even though the fires continued to blaze.
Enter the Amazon Rainforest Conservancy (ARC), with a mission to protect one of the planet’s most vital ecosystems. The challenge was to reignite alarm and raise funds to fight the Amazon fire and the complacency that had settled in around it. When the news cycle moved on and the story disappeared from view, people assumed the fires had burned out. Astonishingly, months later, they hadn’t, a reality that was hard to absorb.
Clearly, the fact that this global disaster raged on as 2019 drew to a close wasn’t enough to maintain attention. The agency’s strategy was to connect the issue to a timely trigger as the holiday season approached. By subverting a long-standing holiday symbol and tapping into a trope that typically uses fire as a happy image, they could make an unmissable point about the ongoing destruction
of the Amazon.
To bring the crisis back into newsfeeds, they created the Amazon Rainforest Fire Channel, an ironic version of the classic Yule Log TV channel, that substituted holiday hearth imagery with footage of the Amazon blaze. They targeted a niche but highly engaged audience anticipating they would further spread the campaign.
The idea was inspired by the traditional looped yule log crackling on television during the holiday season. A live stream with real footage of the Amazon burning played across social channels to demonstrate that, every second, the Amazon still burns.
The campaign launched with RainforestFireChannel.com as the central point hosting the live stream. The site included a short PSA video featuring a warm, crackling fireplace that slowly transitions into a blazing Amazon fire, juxtaposing the yule log with footage of the Amazon burning. The core message: this holiday, there’s one fire we should all be watching closely. Their yule log channel was supported through social, online video, cinema, TV, and digital OOH.
With a provocative message to share but limited dollars to amplify it, the campaign used a grassroots media strategy. To meet their goal of getting the issue back into newsfeeds and raise funds, they needed to be smart with their owned channels and seek out earned media.
In social channels, assets were tailored to each platform, and an influencer outreach strategy targeted environmental enthusiasts with a large following. Knowing environmentally-oriented individuals are highly engaged and naturally spread the word among their community, they reached out to journalists who had previously reported on similar subjects and were likely to pick up the story. Media outlets such as Astral Media and Corus Media donated their inventory space to run in digital OOH and on TV (with a value of $214,000). Cineplex theatres across the country aired the PSA, driving people to the Amazon Rainforest Fire Channel online.
The ARC campaign used established digital tools to create a fresh and compelling viewer experience. Interestingly, as a campaign dedicated to an environmental issue, they were determined to be environmentally friendly in every aspect. The key campaign component – the web stream that ran on RainforestFireChannel.com and was hosted on YouTube, Facebook, and Periscope – was deliberately not run from a desktop platform. Instead, it ran (and is still running today) on laptops. That choice was deliberate, as laptops require less energy and their environmental footprint is,
therefore, less damaging.
Fighting fire with fire proved to be a catalyst for galvanizing the social awareness and donations that the Amazon desperately needs.
The media-selling community genuinely rallied in support of the cause. The industry’s donation of over $214,000 in media value added significant momentum to the campaign. Their digital OOH gained over 159 million impressions, and social sentiment had engagement rates more than double industry standards at 7.6%. Donations year over year increased by an astonishing 875%, with the total number of unique donations up 313%. All donations were used by ARC to purchase and
protect land in the Amazon.
Amazon were on fire.
The Amazon rainforest, one of earth’s most ecologically significant environments, was burning at an alarming rate. The fires dominated headlines, but only for a while. Eventually the world’s attention moved on, even though the fires continued to blaze.
Enter the Amazon Rainforest Conservancy (ARC), with a mission to protect one of the planet’s most vital ecosystems. The challenge was to reignite alarm and raise funds to fight the Amazon fire and the complacency that had settled in around it. When the news cycle moved on and the story disappeared from view, people assumed the fires had burned out. Astonishingly, months later, they hadn’t, a reality that was hard to absorb.
Clearly, the fact that this global disaster raged on as 2019 drew to a close wasn’t enough to maintain attention. The agency’s strategy was to connect the issue to a timely trigger as the holiday season approached. By subverting a long-standing holiday symbol and tapping into a trope that typically uses fire as a happy image, they could make an unmissable point about the ongoing destruction
of the Amazon.
To bring the crisis back into newsfeeds, they created the Amazon Rainforest Fire Channel, an ironic version of the classic Yule Log TV channel, that substituted holiday hearth imagery with footage of the Amazon blaze. They targeted a niche but highly engaged audience anticipating they would further spread the campaign.
The idea was inspired by the traditional looped yule log crackling on television during the holiday season. A live stream with real footage of the Amazon burning played across social channels to demonstrate that, every second, the Amazon still burns.
The campaign launched with RainforestFireChannel.com as the central point hosting the live stream. The site included a short PSA video featuring a warm, crackling fireplace that slowly transitions into a blazing Amazon fire, juxtaposing the yule log with footage of the Amazon burning. The core message: this holiday, there’s one fire we should all be watching closely. Their yule log channel was supported through social, online video, cinema, TV, and digital OOH.
With a provocative message to share but limited dollars to amplify it, the campaign used a grassroots media strategy. To meet their goal of getting the issue back into newsfeeds and raise funds, they needed to be smart with their owned channels and seek out earned media.
In social channels, assets were tailored to each platform, and an influencer outreach strategy targeted environmental enthusiasts with a large following. Knowing environmentally-oriented individuals are highly engaged and naturally spread the word among their community, they reached out to journalists who had previously reported on similar subjects and were likely to pick up the story. Media outlets such as Astral Media and Corus Media donated their inventory space to run in digital OOH and on TV (with a value of $214,000). Cineplex theatres across the country aired the PSA, driving people to the Amazon Rainforest Fire Channel online.
The ARC campaign used established digital tools to create a fresh and compelling viewer experience. Interestingly, as a campaign dedicated to an environmental issue, they were determined to be environmentally friendly in every aspect. The key campaign component – the web stream that ran on RainforestFireChannel.com and was hosted on YouTube, Facebook, and Periscope – was deliberately not run from a desktop platform. Instead, it ran (and is still running today) on laptops. That choice was deliberate, as laptops require less energy and their environmental footprint is,
therefore, less damaging.
Fighting fire with fire proved to be a catalyst for galvanizing the social awareness and donations that the Amazon desperately needs.
The media-selling community genuinely rallied in support of the cause. The industry’s donation of over $214,000 in media value added significant momentum to the campaign. Their digital OOH gained over 159 million impressions, and social sentiment had engagement rates more than double industry standards at 7.6%. Donations year over year increased by an astonishing 875%, with the total number of unique donations up 313%. All donations were used by ARC to purchase and
protect land in the Amazon.
Credits
Agency: Zulu Alpha KiloCreative Director: Zak Mroueh
Art Director: Michael Romaniuk
Writer: Jackson Kemp
Designer: Vince Rozas
Account Team: Rob Feightner, Eric Kormos, Haley Holm
Planning Team: Stephanie Gyles
Client: Amazon Rainforest Conservancy
Clients: Jana Bell
Media Agency: UM
Media Team: Kate Mateer
Producer: Marko Stevelic
Production House: Zulubot
Editor: Ashlee Mitchell
Audio Engineer: Stephen Stepanic
Interactive Developer: Jake Edwards