Tomorrow’s On Fire: Australian Creatives Rally to Help Combat Bushfires

| | 2 Comments
Tomorrow’s On Fire: Australian Creatives Rally to Help Combat Bushfires

From Oh Yeah Wow’s excoriating animation to fundraising Aussie-themed pollution masks and an Eric Bana-voiced campaign, creatives are using their skills to raise money, writes LBB’s Laura Swinton.

 

As infernos continue to rage across Australia, creatives are doing what they can to help raise money and hold fossil fuel-addicted politicians to account.

Director and animator Darcy Prendergast, of creative collective Oh Yeah Wow, has made a stark animation, criticising ‘lazy, ignorant fossil fuel chumps’ and ‘lazy politicians’ who have been ignored the suffering of people and wildlife. The film is described as ‘a rallying cry for hope, in a country increasingly scarce of it’.

The animation draws its colour palette from the scorched umbers and blazing oranges the world has become familiar with through photos and videos of the bushfires. In a poignant twist, the voice over is performed by a young boy – echoing the film’s title ‘Tomorrow’s On Fire’. According to Darcy, the film’s creation was driven by his need to make sense of the situation.

“Overcome with helplessness, the only real way I could process the Australian bushfires was through the creation of a short animated film,” he said on Twitter.


Oh Yeah Wow, who are represented by Passion Pictures, have requested that donations go to wildlifevictoria.org.au/, to support injured wildlife. An estimated 500 million animals have died in the fires, which have also taken 20 human lives and scorched around 15 million acres of land.

In December, DDB Sydney also used their creativity to help raise funds for the Red Cross by installing a giant burnt Christmas tree (you can donate here https://www.redcross.org.au/campaigns/burnt-christmas-tree).


At Wavemaker and Ogilvy, creatives are raising money for aid efforts by developing and selling their own brand of pollution masks called Smoggys. The team (Bec Drummond and Marco Del Castillo from Wavemaker and Jack Burton and Lucas Fowler from Ogilvy) raised over Aus$10,000 and will be selling the masks – which are decorated with native wildlife, barbeques, and ‘thongs’ – for Aus$20. All profits will go to the Rural Fire Service. Pre-order them and find out more.

Tomorrow’s On Fire: Australian Creatives Rally to Help Combat Bushfires

“We wanted to protect Aussies against their ‘pack-a-day’ smoke haze while also helping the RFS fight against the fires that cause it. Let’s kill two problems with one mask, protecting both our lungs and our land,” say the team behind it.

As detailed in Mumbrella, the industry also rallied together this weekend to create a quick turnaround campaign to raise money for the Gippsland Emergency Relief Fund. Led by TBWA Melbourne CEO Kimberlee Wells and Mark Coad, who recently left PHD to head up IPG Mediabrands, the industry and their clients and suppliers have collaborated to blast out the campaign. TBWA made 70 pieces of creative to go on social media, as well as a TV ad voiced by Eric Bana. Media owners, including digital OOH companies, radio stations and TV networks have helped share the campaign. Donate to GERF here.