The Award-Winning Campaigns Highlighting Sustainable Practices
Ads can help us create a better world. When it comes to climate change, brands and corporations have a responsibility to be leaders in the fight to reduce harmful emissions and other production methods that are outdated and unsustainable. Through creative informative messaging and reducing harmful practices, real progress can be made.
The 2022 Multicultural Excellence Awards showcase and highlight campaigns that do just this. Below are some award-winning campaigns that shine a light on sustainability practices.
Corona
Corona reported that 14 million tons of plastic end up in the ocean every year. This insight caused them to take a stand and help clean the ocean. As explained in the ANA case study, "Corona invited anglers from all over the world (China, Brazil, Mexico, Israel, South Africa, and Colombia) to the first plastic fishing tournament. A global-scale initiative where anglers were rewarded for fishing plastic waste from the sea. The more plastic they caught, the more money they made, and the cleaner the ocean became."
Otrivin
Otrivin, a nasal decongestion brand, wanted to reduce the impact of air pollution by "providing easy-to-adopt actions that enable people to take control," as explained in the ANA case study. The brand reported that air pollution will become a cause of premature mortality by 2050; it already causes 7 million deaths per year. The company illustrated ways people could take action now through daily routines within the messaging.
Banco Santander
Banco Santander, a Spanish multinational financial services company, wanted to create more sustainable practices; to do so, the company partnered with GSIC (powered by Microsoft) to launch a global contest to "reward tech ideas and solutions that make the soccer world better."
The company reported that there is a tremendous amount of energy waste in soccer, as "a European soccer team's stadium consumes an average of eight million kilowatts/hour per year, which is equivalent to the annual electric expenditure of 2,500 households."
National Grid
National Grid, an electricity and gas utility company, created an informative campaign to promote energy efficiency among its commercial clients.
ABB
ABB was inspired by nature and created videos to explain how its end-to-end solution can help streamline gas and oil projects. The videos focused on educating engineers and project managers by using documentary videos using nature themes with solutions; for instance, attendees at a virtual global event for the brand were "guided through the interactive ABB Adaptive Execution Lab, a virtual 'zoo-quarium' featuring the top attributes of the solution, presented within the habitat of the animals/adaptations that inspired those attributes," as the ANA case study explained.
Some of the animals that inspired the brand included "a chameleon in its jungle habitat for vision; dolphins in an aquarium to represent effectiveness; an underground ant colony to reflect collaboration; hummingbirds around a big flowering bush to symbolize agility; [and] a massive honeycomb wall abuzz with bees for efficiency."
BMO
BMO created a sustainability podcast to create engagement and education. The ANA case study stated that "the efforts saw new engagement with the BMO brand, vindicating its belief that, as an increasing number of business leaders across North America turned to BMO for expertise and best practices in sustainability, so too would its brand recognition."
Ingredion
Ingredion's PureCircle brand, a stevia sweetener, wanted to differentiate itself in a crowded industry by providing transparency "from seed to table" as a way to move toward a "zero-waste proposition." The campaign targeted R&D specialists, food technicians, and procurement specialists at U.S. food brands.
Bloom Energy
Bloom Energy, a hydrogen-based energy provider, created a high-efficiency electrolyzer. However, the company wanted to raise awareness among investors, industry influencers, and companies that would buy and implement Bloom's electrolyzer to produce hydrogen.
Göteborg Energi
Göteborg Energi, an energy company owned and operated by the city of Gothenburg, is helping reduce its fossil emissions by 70 percent by 2030 for the city. The campaign sought to educate consumers about energy waste, with the ANA case study explaining that "electrification is necessary for the climate. Dirty fossil fuels must be replaced with clean energy. But the electrical network is not sufficiently developed, so electricity will not reach the people of Gothenburg in an amount that corresponds to their needs."
EsPlásticos
EsPlásticos created "The Plastic Museum" as a way to educate people on the benefits of plastic materials. A museum was constructed "entirely of recyclable materials and then dismantled the building one week later, turning the materials into recycled souvenirs that were used to shed light on how plastic can be a positive for the environment when properly recycled."
Sorgenia S.P.A.
Sorgenia, an energy company, created a campaign, Greeners, as a loyalty project aimed at building a community for the company. This community would link the business with its consumers while also educating them on environmental sustainability.
Part of this included creating the MySorgenia app, which informs the user of "the weight of their ecological footprint. The entire gamification strategy aims to help Greeners improve its ecological impact on the planet over time. The loyalty project is data-driven and the gamification strategy guides the Sorgenia customer through the different missions that help him or her reach various levels in the program and obtain increasing personalized benefits," as explained in the ANA case study.
Ramboll
Ramboll, a Danish global engineering, architecture, and consultancy company, created the "Happy Commuter," campaign, which focused on air pollution. The campaign allowed people to find biking and walking paths with the cleanest air quality.
To browse the full library of Multicultural Excellence case studies, click here.
Joanna Fragopoulos is a director of editorial and content development at ANA.
The views and opinions expressed in Industry Insights are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the ANA or imply endorsement from the ANA.