The Overview Effect
Sustainability is one of the most important yet most ignored topics in internal comms. Our challenge was to help Mondi garner support from colleague ‘Ambassadors’ to champion the roll out and support for Mondi’s ‘MAP 2030’ sustainability action plan.
This could have looked like any other sustainability campaign: green leaf graphics and tree-planting days (ok, so they do the last bit anyway). So expected, so ignorable.
Instead, we looked in the opposite direction. Space. Not because we’re ready to join the billionaires in colonising other planets, but because astronauts often report a profound shift in their appreciation and understanding of Earth’s finite and delicate resource situation when they look back at the planet from orbit.
This phenomenon is known as ‘The Overview Effect’ and inspired our approach to this comms challenge.
To extend the launch with a series of activations, we proposed sending a weather balloon, holding a Mondi logo visible on a webcam, to the edge of space; Meat-free March, to highlight the impact of meat consumption on a carbon levels (risky with a meat-loving Austria-based audience!); art installations using upcycled cardboard and plastic waste, to highlight why their innovations are so needed in the world.
All the while driving the conversation on what more they can do through to deliver on their 2030 commitments.
A clip from ‘Overview’ that articulated everything we wanted Mondi people to feel.
Champions
We enlisted the help of real-life astronaut, Tim Peake, to help us launch the campaign. And invited colleagues’ families to the live broadcast – sustainability doesn’t just matter at work, it’s the next generation we are thinking of. So we involved everyone.
Attendance to the live launch was over 80%, which is unheard of for a townhall on anything, let alone sustainability.
Applications to become Ambassadors was up over 400% and momentum towards the action plan was
The project was a success because our client was willing to embrace ‘out of this world’ ideas, and appreciate the job is winning eyeballs before getting to hearts and minds.
This project was completed while at McCann Synergy.