22.02.2010 | New Work
The Fairtrade Foundation is launching its annual Fairtrade Fortnight (22nd February – 7th March) and this year, they are hoping to persuade the nation to join them in The Big Swap www.thebigswap.org.uk. For two weeks The Fairtrade Foundation will be asking the public to swap their usual products for Fairtrade products: from basics such as tea, coffee, bananas, rice and sugar to fruit juices, cosmetics, nuts, cotton, wine and ice-cream. The aim is for one million and one swaps to be made – each one proving that the UK wants developing world producers to get a better deal. There is a ‘swap-o-meter’ on the website, ‘the hub for all swapping needs’ where consumers can get information on how to get involved, what their swaps could be, and how to register them.
Wieden + Kennedy London has created a campaign to support the initiative: to make Fairtrade Fortnight as widely known and understood in the UK as possible. Communications, created by Dan Norris and Ray Shaughnessy, include a film ‘The Big Swap’, the website www.thebigswap.org.uk, radio spots which are airing on Spotify, a window installation, and a range of in-store promotional materials such as free coasters in Starbucks, ‘table-talkers’ in John Lewis cafes and 1.4 million Fairtrade stickers that will appear on banana bags in supermarkets all around the country.
In addition, in partnership with Channel 4, The Fairtrade Foundation is supporting the world’s first ever purely Fairtrade ad break at 8.15pm on Thursday 25th February during ‘My Dream Farm’. The commercial break, which will be introduced by Channel 4 with the announcement ‘Its Fairtrade Fortnight, and now on 4, a special commercial break, helping dream farms everywhere’…. will be made up of spots devoted exclusively to Fairtrade products. These include Cadbury, Starbucks, The Co-Op and a 30” version of the ‘The Big Swap’.
The interactive window installation (which will be situated in the large shop window at Wieden + Kennedy on Hanbury Street, E1) has been created to celebrate the idea of swapping ordinary products for Fairtrade products. Passers-by will be encouraged to enter the ‘swap their usual head’ for a ‘Fairtrade chocolate head’ competition by standing in front of the window and having their photograph taken. They will then be given a number which they will text in to the competition together with their details. 3 winners will then be selected at random - who will ultimately have their heads cast in Divine Fairtrade chocolate by Parisian chocolatiers Véronique Lorne and Sophie Offerstein when the competition closes on 5th March.
Creative Directors Dan Norris and Ray Shaughnessy said, ‘Fairtrade is a brilliant organisation – we’re very proud to be working with such a passionate bunch of people. Our job has been to make Fairtrade feel less niche. By asking people to swap their usual stuff for Fairtrade stuff, we’ve made it super-easy for companies and individuals to get involved with Fairtrade’.
Richard Stobart, Head of Consumer Marketing at the Fairtrade Foundation said, ‘This year is the biggest Fairtrade Fortnight we’ve ever run. It’s the first time on television and we’ve had more Fairtrade brands and retailers than ever joining in with the campaign this year. A million and one swaps will be a great indication of the UK’s enthusiasm to support producers in developing countries and ensure that they get a decent price for the work they do’.
The Fairtrade Foundation is the independent non-profit organisation that licenses use of the FAIRTRADE Mark on products in the UK in accordance with internationally agreed Fairtrade standards. Their vision is of a world in which justice and sustainable development are at the heart of trade structures and practices so that everyone, through their work, can maintain a decent and dignified livelihood and develop their full potential.
18.02.2010 | New Work
The Observer is re-launching this Sunday 21st February. Its new incarnation is a result of rigorous discussions on the role of Sunday newspapers in today's environment. In an age where readers are beset by a blizzard of news on a daily basis, there is now more than ever, a need for greater reflection, discursiveness and analysis.
Wieden + Kennedy London has created a TV and print campaign to support the re-launch. The print work is testament to the wealth of popular support that surrounds the much-needed liberal, independent voice that is the Observer. The TV spot, directed by BAFTA award-winning David C Kerr (who also directed sketch show That Mitchell & Webb Look) and starring Justin Edwards (who plays Ben Swain in BBC2’s political comedy The Thick Of It) takes on the point about the pace and freneticism of today’s news world while reminding readers to pause, review and reflect with the Observer.
Ben Terrett Creative Director Wieden + Kennedy said, ‘The world moves at an increasingly relentless pace, and to paraphrase Bueller, "if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it." The Observer is the one media outlet offering us the chance to pause and reflect’.
05.02.2010 | New Work
The DCSF (Department for Children, Schools & Families) last month launched its first advertising campaign that aims to influence the attitudes and behaviour of children, young people and their parents and carers about alcohol. The purpose of the DCSF is to make England the best place in the world for children and young people to grow up, and their aim as set out in the Youth Action Plan is for all young people in England to grow up to have a safe and sensible relationship with alcohol. This campaign complements existing Department of Health and Home Office alcohol campaigns.
The work, created by Wieden + Kennedy, broke with two TV spots which aimed to highlight the fact that many parents don’t proactively speak to their children about the dangers of alcohol.
The next phase of the campaign breaks across the UK on Friday 5th February, with a cinema advert aimed at young teenagers. Similarly to adults, some teenagers don’t see alcohol as a big risk to them – they see drink around them and as a consequence it is ‘normalised’, something accessible and every day. Like the TVCs, the cinema film highlights the risk you can place yourself in by dangerous alcohol consumption but in a far more hard-hitting way – getting across the message that if drink rather than you, is calling the shots – the things you’re normally wary of, are more likely to occur.
Paul Jordan and Angus Macadam, Creative Directors, W+K said, ‘Children as young as 13 are often already drinking at parties and facing some pretty grown-up decisions. This campaign is a reminder that good decisions are harder to make when you’ve been drinking.’
For further information, go to: www.direct.gov.uk/whyletdrinkdecide
03.02.2010 | New Work
Honda (UK) is launching a series of TV advertising idents to support its sponsorship of all Channel 4 documentaries for the coming year. The first phase of short films, created by Wieden + Kennedy London, break on More 4 on Tuesday, 2 February and on Channel 4 on Thursday, 4 February.
Channel 4 Documentaries have a reputation for being innovative and pushing boundaries to tell compelling stories in order to show the world in a new light. They often look at things differently to other documentary makers and produce for those who are curious and want to know more.
Innovation, taking an alternative approach and thinking differently are part of Honda’s philosophy and its short films will tell interesting stories about how it is different. The first features Honda apprentices and technicians learning their trade at its training facility, the Honda Institute, and carry the line ‘Curiosity Is Everywhere’.
Ian Armstrong, Honda’s Manager of Communications said: “It’s great for us to be associated with this strand of programming as it encourages the viewer to think about issues and topics in a way that can change perceptions. This is a great facet of Honda philosophy and something we always try to do in our communications. It will also help people understand the range of cars that we are currently making at Swindon supporting our 3,400 employed in the factory”
Shay Reading, Creative Director Wieden + Kennedy said: “People are naturally fascinated by how things are made and work. Over the next year we’ll be exploring the unseen Honda to capture the ingeniousness, precision and positivity that runs throughout the company.”
