The Brief

Every summer, tens of thousands of people flock to Sydney’s most popular beaches. Masses of people, leads to masses of rubbish left on the sand and surrounding areas. Often more than the councils responsible for the beaches can cope with. Our objective was to change Sydney beachgoers behaviour over the summer months, so that they dispose of their rubbish themselves, rather than leaving it on the beach. Our strategy was to reward them for disposing their rubbish, rather than using traditional negative drivers.

Describe how the promotion developed from concept to implementation

We developed an activation idea, rewarding beachgoers who did the right thing and threw away their rubbish. We constructed Junk Jukeboxes – specially designed giant rubbish bins that housed popular Australian musicians like Ash Grunwald, Leisure Bandits and Night Owl – and that stood on each beach from Bondi to Coogee over summer. Sensors in each of the bin openings caused the Junk Jukebox to come alive when someone threw some rubbish in, rotating the platform on which the band stood and cueing them to play. Each Junk Jukebox represented an instant barometer for response rate, based on how much it played.

Describe the success of the promotion with both client and consumer including some quantifiable results

Waverley and Randwick Councils run detailed diagnostics on the amount of litter collected over the summer period. The response of the 50,000 people that visit each of these beaches during summer was instantly visible through their frequent interaction with the campaign. Resulting in an additional 3.6 tons of rubbish collected and a social message that quickly spread across facebook, twitter and local press. The result: noticeably cleaner surf and sand over summer.

Explain why the method of promotion was most relevant to the product or service

Waverley and Randwick Councils are synonymous with the famous beaches they look after. Our creative execution was therefore relevant to their main challenge of keeping the beaches clean. It’s strength was in the original way it approached changing beachgoers behavior. Rather than using guilt or penalties as a motivator, they provided an engaging and immediate incentive for them to throw their trash away rather than leave it on the sand.