The Brief

This year, WWF wanted to focus their efforts for Earth Hour on fighting the smog. China experienced the worst smog it has ever had in 52 years, with the Air Quality Index (AQI) some days soaring 40 times the WHO health limit. As smoggy days were becoming as frequent as regular ones, Chinese citizens were besieged with helplessness and “pollution fatigue”. Momentum to act on the problem was starting to wane. How do we remind them that the fight against the smog isn’t over. How do we push them into action? We invaded the last place in China with clean air – their digital space.

Creative Execution

Air Pollution is a National Problem. Smog can literally be seen everywhere. According to the annual sessions of the NPC and CPPCC 2014, 空气污染是最大民生问题/Air pollution is the greatest issues in China today. Not only is awareness of the problem high. The associated health risks have also been well documented. Whilst awareness of the problem and the associated health risks are high, apathy persists. The insight was simple and insidious: consumers can easily hide from the problem by staying indoors on their computers. We therefore decided to take the smog to the last place in China with clean air – The Digital Space.

Describe the creative solution to the brief/objective.

We partnered with many of the major digital platforms in China When netizens went to these sites there page would become clouded with smog. By tracking IP addresses, the smog on screen directly reflected actual smog outdoors at their current time and location. The live AQI was then displayed - followed by a sobering message: “If you won’t accept this digital web experience, why would you accept this in real life?”

Results

Over 8 million people had their web experience hijacked by smog. The idea contributed to a 230% increase in traffic to the WWF website. We ultimately reached over 50 million people via social sharing.