March for Giants

interactive DIGITAL billboards

6 min read

Project: Global Campaign
Charity

Technologies: Digital Billboards
Digital out-of-home
Streaming
Shortcodes
Payment Systems
Unity
Maya

Global interactive billboard campaigns bringing attention to the African elephant crisis. The public donated, the press gave exposure, and celebrities created a buzz online - raising both awareness and money for the cause.

Donators each had their own bespoke elephant as part of a virtual herd marching across digital billboards around the world; from Times Square to London to Hong Kong, and many more major cities. Passers-by could donate on the spot, seeing their personalised creation appear on the giant screen before them as it joined the growing herd.

See how we made and ran the campaigns…

;

1000's

OF ELEPHANTS

Countries

big screens

summit

THE CAUSE

The shocking findings of the Great Elephant Census revealed African elephants were in crisis. In 7 years poachers killed close to 150,000, reducing their population by a third. Most were killed for their tusks. Herds were breaking up into small unsustainable numbers with reduced habitat; these gentle giants were under threat. There was both a lack of awareness for the crisis and funding for groups working to reverse the situation.

THE CAMPAIGNS

March for Giants came as a response to offer help. The desire was to serve as a catalyst for change, with the goal of raising global awareness.

Without a clear strategy campaigns don't generate enough interest to have an impact. To reach as many eyes as possible ours was to be present in prominent public spaces, while celebrating donators across online social - alongside using the press and celebrity voices to gain attention.

M4G was the first of its kind, linking global digital billboards for interactive user-driven content. Billboards were chosen as they're often well positioned in busy public areas. They’re easy to ignore, but if groups gather in-front influencing what's on display with their phones, they become a focal point, an area for collective engagement. Whenever there’s a stimulus there’s a temptation to respond.

Donators created custom colourful 3D elephants, inscribed on the side with their name. Each represented a person or company wanting more done to protect elephants. They all joined the marching virtual herd, receiving photo updates each time their elephant appeared on a billboard in a new city.

The march spread over 5 days, starting in New York, before moving to Hong Kong, London, and across the UK. The people who joined were part of an ongoing movement for change, the following year the 'digital tuskforce' returned on new billboards in Paris, Amsterdam and Melbourne. This march had a more specific goal, building momentum before ending at a summit in Botswana - where African leaders, conservationists and global politicians met to determine steps for ensuring elephants and their habitats are protected.

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CAMPAIGN DESIGN

To contrast the sombre subject we opted for colourful branding conveying an optimistic feel. A low-poly style was used for the logo to reflect the 3D nature of our elephants. All other campaign design served to complement and emphasise these choices.

PHOTO UPDATES

ENCOURAGING ENGAGEMENT

PHOTO UPDATES

ENCOURAGING ENGAGEMENT

Communication was ongoing across campaign days. Donators were sent photos of their elephant front and centre on the latest public screen each time it was 'spotted in the wild'.

The photos were ideal for posting online, helping to elicit our specific share call to actions for the campaign. Not just ideal for generating organic growth, they also aided retention. The campaign stayed in people's minds after donating, over 80% visited the site at least twice more after their initial donation.

The connected systems to do this were complex, especially being over multiple territories, but necessary for the attention and continued engagement the cause needed.

Campaign buzz

ALL-HANDS-ON-DECK

CELEBRITY ENDORSEMENTS

Valued celebrities with a passion for wildlife were approached to help increase the campaign's reach. Ricky Gervais, Liz Hurley, Mark Hamill, Richard Branson, Joanna Lumley & Anna Friel all got behind the cause, helping to spread the message to their followers.

LOCAL & NATIONAL NEWSPAPERS

The media push across newspapers and online articles was over multiple phases, both in the build-up and during the campaign. Peak travellers were targeted via commuter papers, followed by a wider audience with national papers. This was all at no charge with the press giving the campaign exposure for free.

BRANDS ON BOARD

Selected brands joined the campaign, lending support by spreading word through their channels. It was mutually beneficial, for their involvement companies received cause-related marketing, press and online exposure.

SOCIAL & ONLINE

Our live updates were core to the campaign's success. With personalised photos sent to all donators when the herd reached it's next global city, they created a high level of social engagement by encouraging sharing in waves.

Drag to explore

DEVELOPER'S CUT - THE NEVER-ENDING MARCHING HERD

00:47

CAMPAIGN SUCCESS

The campaign came together in all the ways we hoped. Thousands of people across the world joined the march, alongside dozens of brands and big name celebrities. The media and online buzz gave a lot of exposure, countless people engaged with the cause who would've otherwise been unaware. The interactive billboards themselves were very effective as a call to action to join the campaign, they led people to the website with a high conversion rate of 33% donating.

To date over £200,000 has been raised through March for Giants, and it still lives on, making appearances at private fundraising events each year. Donations went to Space for Giants, a conservation charity working across 11 African countries. They train and equip rangers, while strengthening protected areas to stop human-elephant conflict. Each public donation safeguarded an elephant in the wild for a month, with brand donations protecting an elephant from poachers for life.

Space for Giants has reduced poaching by 84% in Kenya. Frontline protection really does work, but it needs financing. Over $6 million commitment was announced at the herd's final public stop in the Botswana summit. Public campaigns for collective voices are an ideal way to help highlight and instigate change.

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1st

of it's kind

£200K

RAISED

33%

CONVERSION RATE

5,000+

DONATIONS

COLLABORATORS & CREDITS

PRODUCTION: Debug

TECHNICAL SYSTEMS: Debug

ONLINE & 3D CONTENT: DEBUG

CONCEPT & DIRECTION: WILL THACKER

CAMPAIGN DESIGN: BENEDICT WEBB

STREAMING: DOOH.COM

BILLBOARDS: OCEAN OUTDOORS

THANKS TO: SPACE FOR GIANTS
EMMA LEDGER
ANDREW BARNARD
JOE GRAY

PRODUCTION: Debug

TECHNICAL SYSTEMS: Debug

GAME DESIGN: DEBUG

ONLINE & 3D CONTENT: DEBUG

CONCEPT & DIRECTION: WILL THACKER

STREAMING: DOOH.COM

THANKS TO: SPACE FOR GIANTS
EMMA LEDGER
ANDREW BARNARD
JOE GRAY

March for Giants

interactive DIGITAL billboards

THE CAUSE

THE CAMPAIGNS

CAMPAIGN DESIGN

PHOTO UPDATES

ENCOURAGING ENGAGEMENT

PHOTO UPDATES

ENCOURAGING ENGAGEMENT

Campaign buzz

ALL-HANDS-ON-DECK

CAMPAIGN SUCCESS

SUPPORT THE CAUSE

COLLABORATORS & CREDITS