What We Do
WHAT: Print ad
WHO: Living Oceans Society
WHY: Once you know about the pesticides, colorants, and other chemicals in farmed salmon, you kind of lose your appetite. Which led us to a simple ad strategy for this campaign: just the facts (okay, maybe with a touch of sarcasm). These ads grabbed the attention of the targeted retailer, and informed consumers that farmed salmon isn’t the wonder food it’s made out to be.
WHAT ELSE: Media planning
WHAT: Magazine campaign
WHO: Rainforest Action Network (RAN)
WHY: Most people don’t know an old-growth tree from their elbow, so our challenge in this campaign was to bring the strong-yet-vulnerable nature of these trees into focus. We were first hired to do a single ad, but we quickly hit on a campaign theme that reminded people that their buying habits were part of the choice between stumps and trunks. The campaign had a strong logo, a branded look, and a compelling call to action to help RAN get average consumers involved in saving these majestic trees.
WHAT ELSE: Campaign logo, brochures and media planning
WHO: No Dirty Gold campaign (Oxfam America and EARTHWORKS)
WHAT: trade magazine ad
WHY: The more you know about where gold jewelry comes from, the less romantic it seems. So, when the No Dirty Gold campaign folks called us to do an ad exposing gold mining’s ugly underbelly we were happy to dig in. The ad reminded jewelry retailers that human rights abuses and poisoned water systems are no way to sell love. And jewelers listened. The campaign has convinced many top retailers to call on the mining industry to clean up its act.
WHAT ELSE: web landing page, and New York Times ad
WHAT: Newspaper ad
WHO: Oxfam America
WHY: Ethiopian coffee farmers grow some of the most sought after coffee in the world. And what do they get for their hard labor? About three cents a cup when their beans end up at Starbucks.
This ad was used as part of Oxfam’s ongoing “Make Trade Fair” campaign, which highlights the economic disparities in the international coffee trade and exposes Starbucks’ unsavory practices. The ad ran in the Seattle Times and the New York Times, targeting Starbucks locally and nationally.
One part corporate shame, and one part fair trade activism, the ad informed coffee drinkers and kept Starbucks at the bargaining table.
WHAT ELSE: Online ads, media planning
WHAT: Newspaper ad
WHO: Rainforest Action Network
WHY: Most folks don’t know them by name, but several U.S. agricultural corporations are sure having a big impact around the world. These companies claim to be growing America’s energy solutions, but clear-cutting tropical rainforests for fuel doesn’t sound like progress to us.
So, when Rainforest Action Network launched their corporate agribusiness campaign, they called us to help them fire the first shot. We placed this ad in the Chicago Tribune, so the most unresponsive companies—who trade commodities in Chicago—could real all about it in the morning paper.
WHAT: Print ad
WHO: Earthjustice
WHY: What’s a Coho salmon to do when dams and polluted water threaten its survival? How can a grizzly bear contend with mining and logging operations encroaching on its habitat? With these ads, we helped Earthjustice get the word out about its legal work to keep our environment safe for all of us—even those with gills and claws.
WHAT ELSE: Communications plan, mission statement, logo update, tagline, regional office brochures, newsletter, TV ad, radio ads, conference banners
WHO: Oceana
WHAT: newspaper ad
WHY: This ad exposing cruise ships’ dirty little secret appeared in the Miami Herald during the cruise industry’s annual convention. With this strategically placed ad, Oceana grabbed the attention of industry leaders, who found it hard to ignore our client’s cleanup requests.
WHAT: Print ad
WHO: International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW)
WHY: Some countries claim to be whaling for purely “scientific” purposes, but their leviathan test subjects can later be found on Japan’s grocery shelves. Our job with this ad was to convince whaling countries that the whales are worth far more to them as a tourist attraction than as lunch meat. While some countries still slaughter these majestic mammals, the tide is definitely turning toward shooting whales with cameras and not harpoons.
WHAT: Magazine ads
WHO: Drug Policy Alliance (DPA)
WHY: The war on drugs hasn’t advanced very far from the “Just Say No” days of the Reagan era, but it’s cost U.S. taxpayers millions of dollars all the same. And there’s nothing like a colossal waste of money backed by an inefficient federal policy to get us moving.
DPA came to us wanting an ad campaign that highlighted the connection between our overcrowded prisons and our misappropriated drug war dollars. Using a cup of urine, a bag of pot, and a pair of handcuffs, we produced these ads for Rolling Stone magazine to help drive folks to a drug policy conference and dramatize yet another wasteful war waged by us—the American taxpayers.
WHAT ELSE: Logo, stationary system and organizational brochure
