STAMPS AGAINST ANIMAL TRAFFICKING

TitleSTAMPS AGAINST ANIMAL TRAFFICKING
BrandACRES
Product / ServiceANIMAL CHARITY
CategoryA01. Mailings
EntrantPUBLICIS SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Entrant Company PUBLICIS SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE
Advertising Agency PUBLICIS SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE

Credits

Name Company Position
Getty Images Getty Images Art Buyer
Evan Lim The Rabbit Hole Digital Imaging Artist
Lynn Cheng Publicis Singapore Producer
Dunstan Lee Publicis Singapore Copywriter
Xiulu Chua Publicis Singapore Art Director
Ziwei Tan Publicis Singapore Art Director
Kris Ng Publicis Singapore Associate Creative Director
Ajay Thrivikraman Publicis Singapore Chief Creative Officer
Erik Vervroegen Publicis World Wide World Wide Creative Director

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.