Posted on February, 23 2018

The word ‘sustainability’ may bring a lot of adjectives to one’s mind but ‘desirable’ or ‘sexy’ is rarely one of them. Sustainability is not often seen as a ‘must have’ and yet as we use and consume resources as if we had 1.7 earths, there is an urgent need for each of us to rethink how we can feed, fuel and power our society differently.

On 21 February 2018, WWF-New Zealand and WiLD Studios (the short-film division of award winning international documentary filmmakers NHNZ, otherwise called Natural History NZ) launched a global video challenge to encourage the world’s best creative teams to do just that.

Project Extraordinary is an unprecedented competition inviting creative agencies around the globe to develop a short-form video concept that demonstrates how sustainability can be desirable, and sexy. The project aims to harness the full potential of creative genius to give sustainability a mainstream appeal and encourage one billion consumers globally to make more than 50 per cent of their purchases based on sustainability as one of the top three decision triggers by 2020.

WWF-New Zealand CEO, Livia Esterhazy says, “When I worked in the advertising world, it constantly surprised and inspired me how creatives approached a problem and developed ideas to solve them. The degradation of our planet is the single-most pressing problem facing our very existence. This project is a bold idea to harness creative power globally to help build a future where people live in harmony with nature.”

Running from now until 12 April 2018, the competition is open to all registered creative, advertising or communications agencies around the world. Three concepts will be shortlisted as ‘highly commended’ by a distinguished and diverse jury to be subsequently filmed and produced by WiLD Studios in collaboration with the respective agencies. The Winner of The Extraordinary Award will be chosen from the three Highly Commended finished films, by Marco Lambertini, Director General of WWF International and the panel members of the ‘How to Make Sustainability Sexy’ forum taking place in Cannes in June 2018.

Marco Lambertini says, “We know what we need to do; the science is there. The challenge is to make sustainability of our planet desirable. Inspirational. Let’s get personal and real. We need to stop talking in generalities and show every consumer in every corner of the globe exactly how they can be part of the solution.”
With experts estimating only one percent of the materials used to produce consumer goods are still in use six months after sale, there is an urgent need to shift consumer attitudes and make sustainability a priority choice for people everywhere.

WiLD Studios Executive Producer, Carolyn Managh explains, “This is a history-making opportunity for a creative agency. To go beyond the documentary format typically applied to this topic and find a sexy and relevant way to reinvent the way sustainability is pitched to global consumers is clearly no small feat. This is why we’ve opened the challenge up to the best creative minds around the world”.

To learn more and participate in Project Extraordinary, visit www.projectextraordinary.org. The winning film will premiere on Tuesday, 19 June 2018 in the Grand Auditorium Louis Lumière at Cannes Lions Advertising Festival.