How Dennis Publishing plans to generate awareness for the Heart of England Forest on The Drum’s Do It Day
Dennis Publishing is back for a second year of Do It Day, hoping to build on the forestry success of 2015 with its ‘Hug a tree: Name our forest’ campaign.
Dennis Publishing challenged the industry to plant 10,000 trees in 24 hours as part of its #treesfortrees campaign in 2015, to put the charitable Heart of England Forest on the public radar and overcome the obstacle that according to the NCVO, environmental charities rank 12th in public donations.
The charity was founded by the publisher’s founder Felix Dennis, a strong advocate of combating deforestation in the UK. This year Dennis challenged teams to take the brief one step further, utilising the existing #treesfortrees tag for a bigger cause to establish longevity in the campaign.
This year Dennis will plant 15,000 trees in one day in January, and use Do It Day as a platform to activate a powerful marketing campaign.
The winning Plan It Day pitch focuses on leveraging the existing assets to drive higher social engagement, since Dennis failed to reach its virtual submission target last year. The pitch, ‘Hug a Tree: Name our Forest’, brings a call-to-action to the fore. The idea centres around the premise that it is hard to get people to engage with a cause they don’t care about, so there has to be an incentive.
The public will be encouraged to submit a picture of themselves hugging a tree, and share it via social with their suggestion of the name of the forest that will be planted. Judges commended the “transactional” nature of the campaign, since each person is in with a chance of winning, incentivising them to take part. The ambition is to reach 15,000 uses of the hashtag on Do It Day, to match the 15,000 trees that will be planted on newly dubbed Plant It Day in January. All agreed social would be the crux of the campaign “because it can go global”.
Winning team: Florence de Caires, Tapestry; ReeRee Rockette, the tree; Toba Shahab, Clear Channel, Emma Mercer, Events Executive, The Drum.
Runner up: Phil Mitchelson, marketing and planning director, Big Balls; Aileen Rushton, STV; Daniel Morris, The Drum; Carine Lombard, The Drum.
Other episodes in the series
Episode 1
How IBM will help police forces to find missing people faster at The Drum’s Do It Day
We caught up with IBM’s Julia Glencross to find out how the brand will be changing the world on Do It Day.
Episode 3
How ClientEarth will help combat London deaths from air pollution at The Drum’s Do It Day 2016
ClientEarth will help Londoners avoid life threatening air pollution levels with a new awareness campaign, which will be put into action at The Drum’s Do It Day on 10 November.
Episode 4
How the Eating Better Alliance will encourage men to eat less meat on The Drum’s Do It Day 2016
The Eating Better Alliance will oversee the launch of a new campaign at this year’s Do It Day, encouraging men to cut down on their meat consumption by coining the phrase ‘VegCurious’.
Episode 5
How Digital Futures will find 100 young people work placements at The Drum’s Do It Day 2016
Educational movement Digital Futures will use the idea of ‘blind CVs’ and a double decker branded bus to get young people into digital work placements on Do It Day.
Episode 6
Challenges, brainstorms, pitches: What happened at Plan It Day UK 2016
With just one week to go until Do It Day 2016, take a look back on last month’s Plan It Day to find out how hundreds of marketers came together to devise creative solutions to the real-world challenges set by our sponsors.
Episode 7
How Business In The Community will begin reviving local high streets on The Drum’s Do It Day 2016
Plan It Day challenger Business In The Community selected two campaign ideas as solutions to its set problem: how do we rally companies together to revive the British high street, increase local retail footfall, turn around empty premises and create jobs.
Episode 8
How O2, Greengrass and Bing Ads will get men to tackle gender inequality on The Drum’s Do It Day
O2, Greengrass and Bing Ads asked creatives at Plan It Day to come up with a way to tackle gender inequality in the work place, focusing directly on men.
Episode 9
How Airbnb will empower communities to turn their neighbourhoods into tourist hotspots at The Drum’s Do It Day 2016
Sharing accommodation brand Airbnb will look to implement a new app on Do It Day (10 November) in order to shine a light on off-the-beaten-track locations that could benefit from a tourism boost.
Episode 10
Ads from Amnesty International, ClientEarth and more run in Piccadilly Circus and Times Square for Do It Day
The Drum's Do It Day challenges were presented at Piccadilly Circus this morning (10 November) in order to engage with the London commuters on their way to work.