Why is this work relevant for PR?

‘Teenage Voice 2019’ leverages a global program driven children and young adults – the FridaysforFuture movement for climate-change action – in a public awareness campaign that unites various disparate organizations in a manner that both they and the public at large can readily embrace. Through its campaign, Japanese NGO Kiko Network, a member of the global Climate Action Network, has shown that building consensus among existing groups that are united in purpose but with widely differing approaches is possible if the message, the means of delivery and the spur to action are kept clear and simple.

Background

Kyoto-headquartered Kiko Network was established a year after the 1997 signing of the Kyoto Protocol on preventing global warming. Last year when considering how best to mark its 20th anniversary, Kiko recognized that prominent NGO/NPOs share a common purpose of trying to slow climate change but that each is navigating their own (sometimes conflicting) course to achieve this. Noting the success that the ‘FridaysforFuture’ movement has enjoyed rallying the voice of youth to highlight the environmental dangers of climate change, Kiko launched a global campaign coinciding with Earth Day, April 22, uniting young people in a truly global forum and encouraging those who share the concerns of their peers to sign a petition. Kiko’s aim is to garner enough signatures to inspire adults to act. Adding urgency, however, is President Donald Trump’s intention to withdraw the US from the Paris climate change Agreement in November 2020.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

Climate change is affecting the entire planet and yet the efforts of NGO/NPO groups working to arrest that change are rarely coordinated and rarely elevate children and young adults as drivers. The FridaysforFuture movement – which sprung from protests of a 15-year old Swedish school girl in August 2018 – showed that youth could be successfully mobilized globally if given a platform. Kiko Network decided to select short, sharp messages from young people worldwide expressing their concerns about climate change and the future. These would be reproduced visually in a word mosaic and reproduced – in posters, newspaper ads, and on a newly-created Teenage Voice website – in a form that would resonate with young people and spur them to sign a petition. The project would attract consensus support among mainstream environmental groups by creating a shared platform for children globally to be heard, thereby circumventing the national or organizational

Describe the strategy (30% of vote)

The two-pronged campaign strategy involved firstly assembling the comments and messages of young people for use as the backdrop for the promotional content in posters, print ads and social media. The activities of young environmental activists hold genuine media appeal, and their pronouncements often resonate more than the rhetoric of world leaders. The visuals would be simple and stark to encourage cut through. The topic would be made more relevant to audiences by providing a constant, centralized reminder of the thoughts and concerns young people worldwide. The second task was to create the special website readily accessible by interested parties, plus a clearing house where signed petitions could be collected and sorted. In parallel, a media campaign would be launched, with press releases in English and Japanese disseminated to media organizations to alert them to the campaign and its objectives and to help build excitement ahead of Earth Day.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

Timed to commence ten days before Earth Day (April 22), the initiative included promotional content in key print media, and posters at prominent locations in the US incorporating messages from young global environmental activists. The public were encouraged to support the project by signing a petition via a special website accessed by scanning a barcode on ads and posters using a mobile device. Furthermore, by signing and sending off the slip at the foot of print ads, interested parties were also able to sponsor the project. Besides print media and OOH posters, the message was also transmitted via social media, including tie-ups with environmentally active influencers. And to ensure a united front among mainstream environmental groups, the platform was designed to be easy to support and participate in, with the campaign website also functioning as a centralized location to present the messages gathered and provide updates on activities.

List the results (30% of vote) – must include at least two of the following tiers:

In the first week of its launch, the project elicited 30,000 signatures. External promotion has ended, but the website remains live at https://teenagevoice.net/. Media coverage of the project’s launch, along with social media posts by environmentally active influencers including Mommas Gone City, Jamie Margolin, Jaden Anthony, and Olivia Mae, have reached a combined audience of approximately 90 million. In an interview with US media outlet WNBC, Jaden Anthony, a Teenage Voice representative and leading environmental activist among youths, said he hoped the Teenage Voice project would help rekindle awareness regarding climate change in the US and globally. Teenage activist Jamie Margolin was also interviewed by Axios media. In Japan, young people marched in the cities of Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Nagoya, with 250 demonstrators joining the May marches in Tokyo. Mobilization on this scale, which is rare in Japan, attracted the attention of mainstream media. Meanwhile, and significantly, representatives of Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth gave their approval and said the initiative had broken down barriers, enabling environmental groups to work together – precisely what Kiko Network had set out to achieve. This spirit of cooperation has materialized in plans for a Global Climate Strike to be held this year on September 20, marking the first day of Climate Week and timed to herald the UN’s Climate Action Summit in New York on September 23. The global demonstration is already being backed by 35 global and 86 regional partners in what is an almost unprecedented display of inter-organizational solidarity.