The Brief

Illegal cross-border wildlife trafficking remains a serious issue worldwide, fuelled by rising affluence and demand for animal parts and exotic pets. A part of the cruel trafficking process is transportation, when smugglers brutally cramp them into small, dark spaces to avoid detection. Up to 60% of these animals die in the cruel process of trafficking. ACRES (Animal Concerns Research & Education Society) wanted to draw attention to this trafficking problem. Our target audience had little or no knowledge about this problem. So the strategy was to find a simple, surprising way to convey their suffering. We decided to highlight the cruel transportation method. The idea is to show this on stamps – a media that also traversed borders.

Creative Execution

We often see beautiful wildlife animals for stamp designs. Hence this execution provides a perfect twist that helps the stamps stand out.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

To dramatise the suffering of the animals, we needed a space that was cramped. A stamp was the solution. Furthermore, stamps travel across countries–, just like animals which are trafficked, –making it the perfect media space to reinforce our message. We used digital imaging to make the animals look really uncomfortable and in pain, to the point their body parts feel almost distorted. This represents how they feel when they are constrained in a tight space.

Results

The stamps were very well-received by recipients, with requests for additional copies. People who received the stamps, whether through ACRES or by mail, wanted to find out more about the trafficking issue. Traffic to the website also increased during the campaign period.