| Title | WWF BLUE SKY APP |
| Brand | WWF |
| Product / Service | WWF |
| Category | A09. Use or Integration of Digital or Social media |
| Entrant | OGILVY BEIJING, CHINA |
| Entrant Company | OGILVY BEIJING, CHINA |
| Contributing Company | OGILVY BEIJING, CHINA |
| Name | Company | Position |
|---|---|---|
| Graham Fink | Ogilvy Beijing | Chief Creative Officer |
| Doug Schiff | Ogilvy Beijing | Executive Creative Director |
| Wang Fei | Ogilvy Beijing | Creative Director |
| Wang Fei/Jason Wee | Ogilvy Beijing | Art Directors |
| Doug Schiff/Bai Yimeng | Ogilvy Beijing | Copywriters |
| Eric Wu/Rita Yang | Ogilvy Beijing | Agency Producers |
| Eric Wu | Ogilvy Beijing | Technologist |
Branded Entertainment is just beginning to become understood in China/HK where this film was shown. There are some strict censorship laws, restricting any kind of entertainment that doesn't follow the guidelines of the state in terms of violence, sexual promiscuity, or events or conduct that would seem detrimental to society. This is, of course, why most of the programming in Asia, branded or otherwise, tends to be more bland than Europe or the States.
2013 broke all records in China for the worst air pollution ever, only to see records again broken the first few months of 2014. With the Beijing government showing little or no sign of doing much to reverse the hazardous trend, WWF China wanted to find a way to have citizens feel inspired to begin to take steps to make a difference. They created the Blue Sky movement to encourage citizen action, starting with an app. It allows users to turn smartphone photos of the inevitable polluted gray skies blue, with a simple finger wipe; then share the before and after images, which thousands did via WeChat. Celebrity Li Bing Bing also used the app's signing function, which allowed peoples' collective signatures to turn gray skies to blue online.
People were drawn to this app and its integration with the website and event through various means. There were key opinion leaders talking about the app, there was WWF promoting it, and there was the Earth Hour event, which is quite a big one in China, all coming together to draw people to it.
The Blue Sky app gained popularity and media recognition due to its purity and simplicity. The coverage included articles in the Wall Street Journal, Huffington Post and countless blogs and online news outlets, as well as news TV news coverage in China. It also created an influx of interest about the WWF with wechat followings rising 9% since the apps launch. Below are some headlines from more internationally known media organizations: "Imagine Beijing with endless blue skies. There's an app for that." -Wall Street Journal "Ingenious . . . they were able to see an opportunity in all that gloom." -Huffington Post