New campaign pushes human award for Great Barrier Reef
Tourism Tropical North Queensland’s (TTNQ) new ‘Lifetime of Greatness Project’ seeks to convince the United Nations to bestow its highest environmental honour on the planet’s largest living entity, the Great Barrier Reef.
Via a global campaign from Supermassive, TTNQ is calling for the Reef to be recognised as the first non-human recipient of the UNEP’s Lifetime Achievement Award. It has historically been given to living individuals who demonstrate decades of impact in protecting the earth and its inhabitants — including Sir David Attenborough — and TTNQ claims the Great Barrier Reef fits this criteria.
“The Great Barrier Reef — the world’s largest living entity and one of the seven natural wonders — is a leader in sustainability and sets the standard on sustainable reef management for other reefs around the world to aspire to,” Lani Cooper, general manager of marketing at TTNQ, told Mumbrella.
“The Reef holds one of the world’s highest concentrations of eco-certified operators and active conservation programs and initiatives. It’s health and resilience are crucial, not only for its global ecological importance but also for the tourism industry and local communities that rely on it.”
She said it has contributed to the world’s science, education, conservation, culture, and community for almost 10,000 years, and has also been considered a teacher, a healer, and a provider to Indigenous communities for over 60,000 years.
While the campaign is backed by partners including the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority’s Reef Guardian Councils, Great Barrier Reef Foundation, Tourism and Events Queensland, Tourism Australia, Qantas, and Intrepid, Cooper recognised this is a “huge statement” to make, but said that it is a worthy one.
Supermassive’s co-founder and CCO, Jon Austin, agreed, telling Mumbrella: “We needed to reframe how people saw the Great Barrier Reef in order to encourage them to rethink their impact on it, and its impact on them.”
“In order to inspire people and change mindsets and behaviour, we wanted to reframe the Reef as a genuine environmental champion. A living, breathing individual that has helped our planet for millennia, and one that needs our support to carry on their incredible work,” he said.
While the creative may look simple — in that it lets the beauty of the Reef speak for itself — Austin said it was anything but.
“We had this line that Lani and I really loved: ‘The individual that has made the largest impact on the world, is the world’s largest individual’. And we wanted the film to really capture that sentiment,” he told Mumbrella.
“We wrote it as predominantly being this epic one shot, thinking that it was the best, and easiest, way to do it. It wasn’t until we were out on the water that I realised this spot, which I was thinking would be super easy to capture, was actually incredibly technically difficult, and required a masterclass in production craft.”
The drone used was operated by four people — covering flight, camera, focus, and a hand-off from the boat — which needed to be achieved seamlessly. Supermassive worked closely with Chisel directors Jordan Watton and Emily Mays on producing the launch spot and the submission film, respectively.
“They created a film that, under the bonnet, had a million moving parts, but looks effortless and simple and beautiful.”
The global campaign features various media placements and channels to spread the message and galvanise a worldwide audience.
In ANZ, the campaign is supported through media placements with The Daily Aus, Australian Traveller, TVNZ, and Stuff NZ. It is also being rolled out across influencer activity, social media, and PR.
In the UK, there are media partnerships with The Guardian and Good Broadcast. In London, a 21-metre, two-storey tall walk-through tunnel also provides an immersive journey through the Lifetime of Greatness Project.
Among the roll out in the US is a 30-second TVC via National Geographic and Disney, which Supermassive claims will reach 1.17 million viewers over the next month, while a media partnership with Conde Nast Traveller will run until the end of May.
A strategically selected digital OOH billboard has also been positioned at the home of the UNEP Headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya to increase chances of capturing the attention of key decision makers.
Credits:
Client: Tourism Tropical North Queensland
Agency: Supermassive
Production Company: Chisel
Director: Jordan Watton / Emily Mays
Senior Producer: Emma Whitehouse
Photography: Beau Pilgrim
Design: Darren Cole
Social: Swirrl
Digital: Bang Media
Media planning and buying: Dentsu Queensland
PR:
Global strategy: Supermassive in collaboration with:
Australia & New Zealand: PEPR
USA: Imagination Marketing
UK: Rae White Communications
EUR: Global Spot
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