2021 Winner

When the small mining town of Asbestos, Québec announced it would hold a public vote on a new name to shed the stigma it had been carrying for years, Greenpeace saw an opportunity to raise the profile of the town’s local biodiversity, which had suffered under the area’s industrial development.

Working with Rethink, it identified six endangered species – including the Apalone, a species of turtle – and submitted their names to the local council for consideration. It then made electoral campaign-style content available for download and hijacked the renaming process by inviting Greenpeace members to push for one of its name suggestions in video and social content.

Ultimately, the city did not choose “Apalone” as its new name. But the campaign generated record searches for the species online, attracting 55% more visitors to Greenpeace’s website, as well as 36% more donations and 11% more
newsletter subscribers.

Credits

CCO: Aaron Starkman
ECD: Mike Dubrick
Creative Directors : Xavier Blais, Maxime Sauté
Art Director : Edouard Coune
Writers : Raph Côté, Jon Mandell
Account Director : Mélanie Châteauneuf
Strategist: Pascal Routhier
Producer : Marie-Pière Poulin
Production Coordinator : Katia Dupuy
Editor : Stephen Parker
Director of Digital Production : Todd Harrison