Minderoo Foundation unveils alarming new weather metric ‘The Plastic Forecast’ in Paris in new campaign via M&C Saatchi Australia
A disturbing new weather forecast has been created by Minderoo Foundation and M&C Saatchi to make fossil-fuel plastics history.
Plastic production is devastating our planet, and is set to triple by 2060. So, Minderoo Foundation and M&C Saatchi Australia have measured plastic in rain to create a new weather metric informing the public how much plastic will fall from the sky on any given day, launching it in Paris ahead of next week’s second session of negotiations (INC-2) of the UN’s Plastic Treaty at UNESCO headquarters.
The Plastic Forecast, developed with the help of scientists at Minderoo Foundation, combines research on atmospheric plastic with daily weather forecasts to estimate the daily ‘plastic fall’ in an easy-to-understand weather report for Paris. The science was brought to life by supporting partner, Collider, which created a suite of 3D plastic clouds that react to the live weather data.
Dr Tony Worby, director of the Planet Portfolio at Minderoo Foundation, describes The Plastic Forecast as a lightbulb moment for every individual who cares about human and environmental health: “Because many plastic particles are so tiny, you cannot always see the plastic waste and pollution that plague this planet. The Plastic Forecast highlights this fact and will undoubtedly strike a chord with the general public. We believe this will be a powerful tool moving forward to generate widespread public support for an ambitious plastics treaty that puts a stop to unsustainable plastic production.
“This is our once in a lifetime chance to change the Plastic Forecast. We need to reduce virgin fossil fuel plastic production, and the UN Plastic Treaty can do that.”
In the lead up to INC-2, The Plastic Forecast will be hitting the streets of Paris, showing up next to weather reports, across social media and in the news – directing viewers to plasticforecast.com. The site will provide live updates on the weight of plastic falling on them that day, with weekly, monthly and yearly figures available.
Says Emma Robbins, executive creative director, M&C Saatchi: “Working with Minderoo on an idea that could help change how much plastic the world produces has been an amazing moment for everyone who’s helped shape it. If it sparks a reaction, fuels a conversation and ultimately influences the treaty then we’ve not just created an idea in the world, we’ve created some hope in the world too. And that’s the kind of work you want to get up every day and do.”
The Plastic Forecast is rolling out across Paris now, with more major cities to come.
Minderoo
Tony Worby – Director, Planet Portfolio
Marcus Gover- Director, Plastics Initiative
David Ohana – Global Head of Marketing, Brand and Campaigns
Angus Ingham – Marketing, Brand and Campaigns Lead
Louisa Miller – Social Campaign Specialist
Stephen Gaisford – Communications Lead
Christina Zimmer – Communications Lead
Alex Massey – Media Lead
Michael Best – Head of Media
Emma Silver – Head of Public Affairs and Advocacy, Plastics
Lizzie Fuller – Principal, Global Plastics Treaty, Plastics
Axel Darut – Associate, Public Affairs, Plastics
Sarah Dunlop – Head of Plastics and Human Health
Christos Symeonides – Specialist, Clinical and Research, Plastics
Yannick Mulders – Research Analyst, Plastics
M&C Saatchi
Cam Blackley – Chief Creative Officer
Emma Robbins – National Executive Creative Director
Chris Cheeseman – Creative Director
Russel Fox – Creative Director
Daniel Borghesi – Senior Copywriter
Michael McEwan – CEO
Nick Jacobs – Head of Strategy
Amy Kousis – Strategy Director
Clement Simon -Social Strategy Director
Am Lall – Group Account Director
Adelaide Hinton – Senior Account Director
Gemma Heyes – Executive Integrated Producer
Zoe Rixon – Senior Producer
Collider
Andrew van der Westhuyzen – Founder / Creative Director
Dave Sujono – 3D Designer
Hoss Ghonouie – Head of Studio Production
Production
Activation Production – ResX
Activation Producer – Jeffrey Jaffers
Event Management – UNXPCTD
Post-production – Resolution Design
Audio Production – Bang Bang Studios
Music Composition – Sam Hopgood
Senior UX Designer – Alexander Beech
Design Director / UI Designer – James Jamias
Tech Director / Developer – Donald Martinez
Media
Jellyfish
Louis Herbier Account Director
25 Comments
What a campaign! Amazing work and idea!
2 years late to the plastic case study convention.
It looks great and you found a new vehicle to get into the conversation. But it’s lacking impact and feels late to the party after amazing versions of similar purpose.
https://youtu.be/kCxZ7IAaB50
It’s a bit different and we all feel your sadness. The difference here is bringing home the unbearable fact that we are bombarded by plastics beyond the ocean. It’s in the rain. It’s in the ocean. The food chain. It’s in you. And mate whose being a bit of a twat (let’s be honest)… it’s in your body. It is. So it’s not about you, it’s about your kids. And their kids and how we lobby right now to change it.
Nicely done Cam and team. This is brilliant work.
Agree with the comment above. This is a nice creative wrapping. But it’s not doing anything. It feels like a waste of money which a juror will call out as lacking results especially for the categories you’d enter it in.
https://youtu.be/iswaHOYJSQU
Nice work, Cheese!
Ah the old – we raised awareness of the problem with a marketing stunt- strategy.
Unfortunately everyone knows plastic creation and consumption is a huge issue and one many brands and governments have been trying to correct for a decade.
What solution does this project offer?
Yes, everyone knows plastic is a problem. Does everyone know that micro plastics fall in rain? I think not. At the very least this campaign raises awareness of a new subset of the overall plastic problem. The solution? The launch coincides with the UN Plastic Treaty in Paris and aims to provoke conversation at that event. It’s not that complicated and it’s a valid strategy.
Jurors aside I wish I’d made it
The problem is real, but it should be accompanied with a real solution.
Why not create a movement to support a specific piece of legislation?
Something real to rally behind. [That’s kind of what The Voice has done].
The problem is not the issue – we know how bad it is.
What’s needed is the solution to end the problem.
It’s not an easy task, but that’s the real communications challenge this
well-intentioned and excellently produced campaign fails to address.
I think if you read the article you’d find that it was supporting legislation change through a treaty?
Well done M&C, advertising that will clearly make a difference and create awareness. Fantastic idea and execution!
Amazing work all involved, bringing to light an issue this huge and kicking off the convo at the treaty sparking real change. Smart
So simple and such a clever reframe of data – really changes the way I think about plastic. Powerful.
What a clever way to remind us all on a DAILY basis about a real world problem that needs immediate action. Hopefully this will spark conversation for change.
Seems superficial and stinks of trying to greenwash their way to awards. What was the budget from Minderoo? Even if this went viral (which it won’t) what is the tangible people can do with it? It’s not going to make any sort of change
What woke does
So let’s imagine for a second that this is a legitimate solution to something. How does it work?
It’s not an app, so once a day you’re asking me to bypass my seamless weather app built into my phone and go to a website that tells me there’s between 100 and 300kg of plastic falling today? Seems like the wrong execution from the insight to me
well crafted, well done.
Probably a bigger threat to life on the planet than climate change… and such a graphic and horrifying way to bring it to life.
Hats off to Twiggy and Nicola (amazing people, frankly) and all at M&C.
The whole point of this is to raise awareness and pressure delegates at the Paris meeting.
That it “doesn’t solve the entire problem all on its own” is an asinine take.
A micro plastic harvesting umbrella? BOOM!!
If this was based on any science, anything real, then great. But it’s just totally made up.
Also microplastic waste is well known, what does this do change the agenda, or do anything positive? More awareness isn’t helpful. More made up measures aren’t useful.
CSIRO and the UN Climate Goals alignment would have been better. This screams of spammy hollow awards.
Take a moment. Read the article.
It is directly aligned to the UN and action.
There’s a pretty significant meeting taking place in Paris this week to agree a treaty to ban plastic production.
There are representatives from countries all over the world. They have to agree a framework to ban plastic. There’s a lot riding on it. Making the science applicable and raising awareness is important.
You’ll also be happy to hear, it’s not made up. It’s backed by the science community.
The key client from Minderoo Foundation who is
leading the charge for change is Tony Worby.
He was previously Director of Oceans and Atmosphere as lead scientist at the CSIRO. He’s in Paris with the delegation
This idea is to support Minderoo Foundation’s stated objective to ban plastic production.
that’s a good hard take grandpa
‘…..stated objective to ban plastic production’.
Sorry,not gonna happen.