cbcra - recycle everywhere: cool/never cool

Whenever I’m briefed on a project, the first thought that typically runs through my head is: nobody cares about advertising. Now, I think a lot of people might consider that pessimistic, but hear me out.

I make it my job to be the person to make people care about advertising. It’s virtually impossible. But with a different approach from the normal stuff polluting the airwaves and aerials, I humbly believe I can help turn heads and – even if it’s just for a moment – care.

The problem Recycle Everywhere asked us to solve was to stop people from both littering and placing the wrong thing in their blue bins. This means we needed to avoid pointing fingers and sounding too bossy, because – again – who’s really going to take crap from an ad.

So, we took a casual, almost anti-advertising approach. Instead of an easily-ignorable directive headline, our headlines were 100 percent fluid, meaning we could use any idea to hook our audience into the main message: Being abducted by aliens? Living in a fairy tale? Getting a mocha at Starbucks? Doesn’t matter – never litter and never put the wrong thing in a blue bin.

The campaign helped bring CBCRA’s recycling recovery rate from 68% to 70% by the end of its year-long run, a significant jump. I helped to develop the concept and was the primary copywriter throughout its duration.

The medium should always be used to your advantage. We interacted with our audiences with fun social media polls and brought real-life, real-time messaging into play with our transit shelter takeovers and bus ads. Disclaimer: no distracted drivers were harmed in the making of this campaign.