Sustainable World

Agency: Isobar | Market: Poland
Client: Novozymes

Our global ecosystem depends on healthy water systems. By 2025, 1.6 billion people will be living in areas of absolute water scarcity, so protecting this precious resource is core to the Sustainable Development agenda. Globally, we produce huge amounts of wastewater that, when treated, can provide a sustainable water supply. Rapid wastewater treatment requires chemicals that can have negative consequences long-term, while gentler approaches can take weeks. Until now.

The digital team at dentsu agency Isobar in Poland, worked with wastewater treatment experts Novozymes to develop Plant Assistant, an app that can accelerate analysis of water samples from weeks to seconds, allowing for natural microbe treatment rather than the use of harsh chemicals.

The app uses image recognition software and artificial intelligence (AI) to revolutionise wastewater analysis. It can examine a water sample image from a microscope, determine the type of bacteria in the water, and suggest the best and most gentle, biological method of treatment.

For environmental professionals working at remote wastewater facilities, the app is like having a laboratory right there in your pocket, enabling the right decisions.

Agency: 360i | Market: USA
Client: Kroger

Of all the food produced in the US, 40% is thrown away; a troubling statistic when many Americans are short of food. We worked with US food retailer Kroger to encourage more sustainable food behaviours among consumers.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, US grocery sales increased 30%, with more Americans cooking at home than ever before. However, our social listening indicated that people need more recipe inspiration as they venture deeper into their larders.

We realised that even experienced cooks can have difficulty using all of their available food, resulting in a combination of leftover ingredients that they don’t know how to use.

We set out to create a customer-friendly, ecommerce-centric solution to reduce food waste. The result was Chefbot, a first-of-itskind AI tool that helps people to make the most of the food ingredients they already have, by finding recipes that use those ingredients.

Consumers take a photo of their available ingredients and tweet it to @KrogerChefbot. The AI tool recognises these items from its database of 2,000+ ingredients and responds with a suitable meal from Kroger’s 20,000+ shoppable recipes.

We supported Chefbot’s launch with a full marketing ecosystem, creating a Chefbot animated character who featured in our howto videos and social content. Our launch also included influencer partnerships with famous foodies, showing how easy Chefbot is to use, and inspiring consumers to reduce their food waste.

By helping to use leftover food, Chefbot can save the average American family an estimated $1,500 and 250lbs of food per year. Chefbot is still going strong, getting smarter and more helpful with every ingredient it sees.

Chefbot has proved to be Kroger’s most successful social campaign ever, generating the most conversation in its 137-year history and engaging customers on sustainable food behaviours.

Agencies: Vizeum UK, Posterscope
Market: UK | Client: E.ON

Air pollution contributes to one in 20 deaths in the UK, yet 63% of people dismiss it as not a serious problem, partly because it’s invisible. Our agencies Vizeum UK and Posterscope helped energy provider E.ON to bring this issue to life.

E.ON has moved to supply 100% renewable energy for all customers. It wanted to engage the public about this and to highlight the importance of clean energy to our everyday world. We identified air quality as an issue that E.ON could educate people around to demonstrate the benefits of clean energy.

With the “Let’s Clear the Air” campaign, we wanted to illustrate the reality of air pollution, using the combined technology of facial detection, live pollution data, geo-localisation and augmented reality (AR).

We identified prime digital poster locations in city centre pedestrian streets across Birmingham and Manchester.

Passers-by that stood in front of the screen saw themselves in a visualisation with realtime live pollution data for their location, showing how this was higher than acceptable levels from the World Health Organization (WHO).

Pollution particles were then shown clouding around the person’s face on-screen and being drawn into their mouth and nose, giving the invisible threat a dramatically visible form.

The AR experience attracted impressive engagement levels. 2,636 people interacted with the screens across the three days that they were live, which drove awareness and education.

As one member of the public told us, “It really gives us a visualisation of what’s currently going on. I don’t think we realise how much pollution we’re breathing day to day.”

We celebrated dentsu X Taiwan’s 21st anniversary with an online campaign to help our people reduce their carbon footprint by adopting a vegan diet. According to research by the University of Oxford, a plant-based diet can reduce a person’s carbon footprint by up to 73%. Avoiding meat products may help combat climate change and its impacts, reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss.

We developed a web app to engage our employees and encouraged them to upload pictures of their vegan meals to share with colleagues over the three weeks of the campaign. Virtual trees were planted within the app, to help visualise the equivalent carbon savings that were being made.

1,730 vegan meals were consumed during the campaign, saving 1,384kg of CO2 emissions, which was equivalent to planting 50,000 trees.

Agency: dentsu X | Market: Thailand
Client: Tourism Authority Thailand

Thailand is a natural paradise, but the growing tourism it attracts can threaten its natural wonders. We worked with Tourism Authority Thailand to encourage positive, sustainable behaviours among tourists.

The natural resource depletion and environmental impacts associated with tourism pose many problems in Thailand, and greater social awareness of the issues is

required. Our goal was to actively discourage unethical activities such as sea fishing, anchoring boats on coral reefs, construction on beaches, or harming wild elephants.

Our campaign, “I’m The One for Nature” was created to enhance awareness and promote environmental preservation while travelling. We encouraged tourists to be social advocates for nature preservation and responsible tourism. We recognised the importance of millennial travellers and their social media behaviour, creating superior content that struck a chord with them, even before they have arrived in Thailand. The initiative instilled environmental consciousness among tourists, by building both an online and offline community spirit. 

We also created a video content series with a top travel vlogger, to discuss responsible tourism issues. A video booth was strategically placed on Thailand’s most visited beach in

Phuket, so tourists could learn about the issues and join the cause. Tourists were also able to make an online commitment to become a Mountain Protector, Beach Saviour or Guardian of the Forest, and share their commitment on social media.

The campaign has achieved over 16 million media impressions and 1.7 million campaign engagements. Over 6,000 people have signed up to support the cause. Additionally, a group of divers, inspired by the campaign, conducted an underwater clean-up and constructed artificial reefs to support marine life.

Agency: dentsumcgarrybowen | Market: North America
Client: Brita

A lack of access to clean water is a major challenge facing much of the developing world. Our dentsumcgarrybowen agency worked with water filter maker Brita, to create a campaign that inspired better consumer product choices by acknowledging global resource scarcity and consumers’ impact on it.

We developed the Brita Walkumentary campaign. This centred on an extraordinary pre-roll ad appearing on YouTube – a four-hour film documenting a real woman’s journey to get clean water for her family.

Instead of skipping the documentary, viewers could ‘End Her Walk’ by clicking through to a page featuring a reusable filtered Brita water bottle, that can provide clean water to a person in Africa for one year.

The campaign successfully encouraged people to play a part in enabling access to water. To date, the programme has provided over 55,400 people in Kenya with clean water.

Agencies: BC&F, OMD | Market: New Zealand
Client: Meridian Energy

The case for renewable electricity is well documented, but the jargon associated with it means little to most people. Meridian Energy, a 100% renewable electricity supplier in New Zealand, found widespread consumer confusion and asked us to help get the message across in a simpler way.

One of New Zealand’s most distinctive qualities is that it is an island nation with ever-changing weather. Talking about the elements gave us a simple context to connect with New Zealanders. We therefore created a campaign showing how Meridian harnesses wind, water and sun.

We launched an integrated campaign with the story of everyday New Zealanders engaging with the elements. Through our media activity and strategic partnerships, we reinforced how Meridian is actively making a difference to the environment and society with its clean electricity.

To connect Meridian in people’s minds with “wind, water and sun”, we started a long-term sponsorship of the national weather forecast in TV and press. We also partnered with a national TV network to develop a three-part series about ‘The Power of Weather’. In a New Zealand market first, we used our proprietary dynamic technology to match the content of

Meridian’s out-of-home advertising displays with current weather conditions. We also partnered with Wellington brewery Garage Project, to create a beer brewed with the help of 100% renewable electricity.

Within three months, Meridian’s “wind, water and sun” message went from zero to 22% national awareness, as did public recognition of Meridian as New Zealand’s largest producer of 100% renewable electricity.