From 17 to 19 November 2023, the ANB – Agentschap Natuur en Bos – organised a tree-planting weekend, together with Bosalliantie and Flemish youth movements. The goal? To inspire youngsters to take an active role in fighting climate change, by planting as many trees as possible, across different locations in Flanders.
But how do you get Gen Z excited, when they often feel powerless in the climate battle? They may recycle, reuse or go vegan, but they still believe these individual efforts won’t have any real impact. As a result, they look to governments and big corporations to make a change.
Even though many youngsters feel powerless in fighting climate change, their impact could equal that of Belgium’s biggest corporations, who plant up to 5000 trees each. With over 1.8 million Flemish kids, only 0.3% would have to join forces to reach the same result. An insight that inspired our creative concept, and the name for the event.
BOOMWEEKEND plays on the different interpretations of the word BOOM. It is not only the Dutch word for ‘tree’, but also refers to a ‘significant increase’ and ‘an impressive result’. Three associations that summarise the essence of the planned event. In other words: if youngsters want to make a real impact, they can help increase the number of trees in Flanders, by planting their own.
To draw in our target audience and instil a sense of FOMO, our design language mimicked that of summer festivals. Teasers by email and owned channels, were followed by a PR moment and online advertisements on YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram and in games. Next to this, we developed a set of custom emojis – the treemojis – which youngsters could share on their favourite social media. To add to that sense of community, we set up partnerships with sports clubs, youth organisations, ambassadors and influencers, who were all invited to the weekend.
Our campaign created a BOOM of its own. We reached a variety of audiences – from local authorities and event partners, to youth organisations and individual teenagers. All plant locations across Flanders were fully booked, while the event made the regional and national news in print and radio. The campaign had a reach of 36.1 million, across more than 100 publications and for an earned media value of €610.000. The influencer partners amassed another 416.000 in reach for an earned media value of almost €15.000 across Instagram and TikTok.
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