Why is this work relevant for Media?

An eco-friendly outdoor brand, NEPA, wanted to create an intuitive experience of what using less plastic meant for the environment, and change people’s perception on the use of plastic bags. NEPA made a reusable umbrella bag by upcycling leftover waterproof fabric and designed a tree-shaped bag hanger, Rain Tree, to make people feel as if they were “growing” a tree, as they re-turned the leaf-print bags to the “tree”. Anywhere a Rain Tree stood immediately transformed into a media channel. By witnessing the tree growing into a fuller tree, people realized what using less plastic bags meant for the environment.

Background

In South Korea, more than 200 million pieces of disposable plastic umbrella bags being wasted every year. Whenever it’s raining out, there’s a plastic umbrella bag dispenser in front of every building, free for use. The reason why plastic umbrella bags are being so widely used is because people do not realize how their mindless behavior directly impacts the environment. Also, even for those who are aware of its environmental consequences, it is still difficult to stop using them be-cause of its convenience. In an effort to reduce plastic waste, NEPA, an eco-friendly outdoor cloth-ing brand, made reusable waterproof umbrella bags out of leftover fabric and printed green leaves on them. They were provided at building entrances, along with a tree-shaped hanger for drying them on their way out.

Describe the creative idea/insights (30% of vote)

Inspired by their own waterproof outdoor products, NEPA created reusable waterproof umbrella bags with leftover waterproof fabrics that were thrown away during production. Instead of dis-posable plastic bags, reusable umbrella bags were provided on stands on a rainy day, and a spe-cially designed tree-shaped bag hanger stood for the reusable bags to be hung to dry after use. Be-cause of its intuitive design, people immediately perceived that they were helping the environment through a simple act of using and returning the recycled “leaf” to the “tree”. Anywhere a Rain Tree stood immediately transformed into a media channel. By witnessing the tree growing into a fuller tree, people realized what using less disposable plastid bags meant for the environment.

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

NEPA replaced the existing plastic umbrella bags with leaf-printed reusable umbrella one at the usual places where plastic umbrella bags used to be provided, at museums, cafes, book stores and book stores. NEPA wanted to create an intuitive experience of what using less plastic products does for the environment, and also to change the public behavior of over-using disposable plastic umbrella bags in the future.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

NEPA made reusable umbrella bags from leftover waterproof fabrics and designed a special tree-shaped bag hanger, Rain Tree for the wet bags to be hung to dry after use. On 26 June 2018, the first Rain Tree was placed in NEPA’s retail store. In less than a month, it became a nationwide success with museums, cafes, books stores and even public institutions taking part in the campaign. The Rain Tree is still being used whenever it rains, contributing to less plastic wastes.

List the results (30% of vote)

The Rain Tree campaign started in NEPA’s retail stores, but soon became a nationwide success with museums, cafes, book stores and other public institutions also taking part in the campaign. People were more than happy to use the reusable bags over the plastic ones since there was noth-ing different on their part yet it still made a huge difference to the environment. After the Rain Tree experience, people preferred recycled bags over the existing disposable plastic bags and some even asked if they could take it home with them. The campaign had positive impact on strengthening NEPA’s brand image as an eco-friendly brand, while effortlessly showing off NEPA’s high-quality waterproof products. The campaign gained 1,080,860 accumulated video views, 230 PR news and 1,226,297 social buzz. Search vol-ume for NEPA grew by 30% even in the off season and sales of NEPA’s waterproof products also increased by 15%.

Please tell us about the social behaviour and/or cultural insights that inspired your campaign

In South Korea, the availability of plastic umbrella bags is almost taken for granted with more than 200 million pieces of disposable plastic umbrella bags being wasted every year. The rea-son why plastic umbrella bags are being so widely used is because people do not realize how their mindless behavior directly impacts the environment. Also, even for those who are aware of its environmental consequences, it is still difficult to stop using them because of its conven-ience.