CASE STUDY: THE UN’s most watched speech in history
Image credit: United Nations Development Programme
A lesson FOR PURPOSEFUL LEADERS in focus and reframing
For decades, we’ve known that fossil fuels are killing the planet. We’ve sat through endless summits, nodded along to impassioned speeches from activists and politicians, and watched governments and companies issue vague intangible pledges with the urgency of a sloth.
Meanwhile, we have continued to pump around $423 billion a year into fossil fuel subsidies.
What does that mean exactly? Instead of taxing the thing that’s literally setting the world on fire, we’ve been funding it with our own money.
The UNDP (United Nations Development Programme)—the biggest player in the UN ecosystem by global coverage, and focused primarily on economic solutions to global issues—knew that they had to intervene. They needed to stop confusion, focus on the priority issues, and jolt global COP26 policymakers into action.
So they did. With a dinosaur.
And for two years of my career we designed an intricate behaviour-change campaign centered around Frankie the dinosaur, to reframe, re-focus and grow pressure on politicians at a critical moment in the calendar.
Our theory of change led by Boaz Paldi, Chief Creative Officer at the UNDP, was that we’d do this by mobilising a global audience of everyday people to show that the world really does care about (honestly very boring sounding) fossil fuel subsidies. This is what would force governments to sit up.
Changing PRIORITIES WITHIN the Paris Climate Agreement
The strategy was simple and based on a single insight.
We don’t have a climate problem. We have an addiction problem. Our economies, industries, and entire way of life are built on burning fossil fuels. And like many addicts, we’re in deep denial, and we continue to spend our money fueling our habits.
The UNDP’s campaign message was clear: if we don’t break the cycle, we’re not just screwing over the planet—we’re paving the way to our own extinction.
The numbers were also staggering: global governments were spending more directly and indirectly on fossil fuel subsidies than on education or healthcare. And the worst bit - the poorest people on the planet, the ones who contribute the least to climate change, are the ones who are suffering the most.
The UNDP’s leading economists (the smartest people I’ve ever been in a room with) had created a blueprint for countries to move away from fossil fuels; focusing on removing subsidies and designing a new financial ecosystem that would avoid leaving the poorest behind.
However, of course, economic reports weren’t going to cut through to global leaders by themselves.
To change the COP26 agenda we needed critical mass, or what us marketers love to call “a movement”, and to prove to global leaders that enough people from all over the world cared.
So my team’s work was to galvanise the world’s press and influencers, and make enough meaningful noise around COP26, that individual citizens also joined in the conversation en masse. And in doing this, we believed governments would feel pressured to alter the COP26 summit agenda in response, and point discussion towards fossil fuel tax subsidies.
In effect this would change long-standing priorities within the Paris Climate Agreement, which was unheard of.
Don’t Choose Extinction
Joining with creative geniuses Paco Conde, Beto Fernandez and Jon Carlaw and writer David Litt (one of Obama’s most prolific speech scribes) and a whole host of world class talent, we ignited the “don’t choose extinction” campaign by delivering the most-watched UN speech in history with the help of Frankie the dinosaur. Not a man in a suit. No sugarcoating. No long words. Just a prehistoric truth-bomb and one very important question “At least we had an asteroid. What’s your excuse?”
With Jack Black and Hollywood friends lending their voice to the dinosaur in 58 languages we got the attention of the world. And then we set out to Inspire, Educate and Empower.
From ads placed on local country channels, to an educational platform including social games, interactive zones and a kids book, to physical events hosted all over the world we focussed on one message “don’t choose extinction”.
The activations were designed and deployed by upwards of 500 people across the world, including friends at Ogilvy PR and Wunderman Thompson.
Image credit: United Nations HQ in Geneva
Image credit: UNDP Good Will Ambassador Nikolaj Coster-Waldau briefs all the news channels
Image credit: NASDAQ, New York
Image credit: Full page ads in local printed press
Image credit: March for climate, Scotland, COP26
Image credit: Art partnerships launched at Miami Basel
Image credit: Interactive "education zone" for the public
Image credit: Interactive "education zone" for the public
A global mindpool
The cherry on top was directing people to a global Climate Mindpool. A platform for collective intelligence, sourcing climate solutions from citizens all over the world.
“Collective intelligence is grounded in the notion that we’re smarter and better when we work together. Local knowledge and local solutions are vital, given how climate change affects different communities in unique and specific ways. We can then translate this deeper, broader understanding into lasting change and effective solutions”, said Mik Thobo-Carlsen, CEO & co-founder at Mindpool at the time.
Citizens from 172 countries added their ideas to Climate Mindpool, which was turned into COP26 advisory insight.
From Speech, TO GROWING PUBLIC PRESSURE, TO COLLECTIVE INTELLIGENCE, to Policy Change: The COP26 Impact
We focussed on one single message, “don’t choose extinction,” and mobilised millions of people in order to change the COP26 agenda, starting with the most watched UN speech in history. The film was watched 1.5 billion times worldwide, with zero media budget behind it.
This multi-channel campaign and impact platform was translated and cascaded across 58 languages and over 175+ countries, covered by news outlets in 98 countries.
The campaign hit 19 billion impressions with major pick up in China - a key fossil fuel user.
And in addition 4.2 million actions were taken by global citizens across all our channels including adding their ideas to Climate Mindpool. People didn’t just watch Frankie’s speech; they mobilised.
They flooded digital platforms in different pockets of the world, called on leaders, and demanded action whilst educating themselves on the issues. And it worked.
At COP26 in 2021, the movement played a direct role in influencing unprecedented changes to the Paris Climate Agreement. Policymakers were forced to confront the reality that fossil fuel subsidies aren't just a moral failure - they’re bad economics. And the first domino in climate change that needs to be addressed.
And as a result, in real time, global leaders agreed to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.
HOW DOES THIS APPLY TO YOU?
Whilst a dinosaur in the UN may feel completely daft (insert joke here about the UN itself being a dinosaur) this was a lesson in three important principles:
“Purpose-focussed” work often forgets the power of creativity. You still need a killer idea to cut through. Worthy creative isn’t interesting creative. Don’t be boring.
“Inspire, Educate and Empower” are three steps to behaviour change success. Whether within a campaign or changing internal ways of working. Combined with a big idea, these steps will turn strategy into reality. You can’t just do one of the three and expect great things.
Create a theory of change and within this identify who the real target audience is - Ultimately the UNDP needed governments to listen and act, but they weren’t the primary target audience. Our target was the everyday citizen. The more we could mobilise and grow a movement at grassroots level, the more seriously governments would take on the message.
If anything sparks your interest in this or the following articles, please do email helen@purposefulgrowth.co.
