Turtles get a boost from their brand namesake in their fight for survival
Created by JWT, men's lifestyle brand Turtle rolled out the month-long #SaveLittleShelly campaign to help conserve the endangered species of turtles
BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | June 1, 2015
Click on the image to watch the TVC.
Men's lifestyle brand Turtle has rolled out the #SaveLittleShelly campaign to support its on-going efforts to conserve the endangered species of turtles. This year, Turtle has taken the campaign to new heights by not just celebrating World Turtle Day, but an entire month, announcing the World Turtle Month initiative and introducing little Shelly, the animated character, through their newly-launched #SaveLittleShelly campaign. The campaign has been created by J. Walter Thompson.
#SaveLittleShelly has been launched as a hashtag in social media as the story of Shelly, a baby turtle with a cute shell, making her journey from the nest to the sea, braving all dangers that come in the way. A unique animated social initiative, it is a two-minute YouTube film broken down into four stages. At the end of each stage, viewers are asked to help Shelly complete the next leg of her journey by likes. Each new stage of the film was released only after a certain number of likes at the end of the previous stage. Finally, on World Turtle Day, people were able to see the entire film and take pride in helping Shelly find her way and live on.
Commenting on the campaign, Arjun Mukherjee, Creative Art Director, JWT, said, “The entire idea was to raise awareness of the plight of the turtles, who are facing extinction, in an interesting an engaging manner. So, we wanted to give the people at large a hands-on opportunity to save a turtle. The month-long initiative saw the creation of a cute virtual turtle, who can move a step forward towards survival only when one donates. While the actual donations went towards the conservation of turtles and their environment, thousands of people logged in everyday to watch the journey of Shelly the Turtle and helped spread the word.”
World Turtle Day, which is observed on May 23, is dedicated to the salvation of these marvellous creatures who have inhabited this planet for the last 200 million years. As they play a very crucial role in maintaining the ecological balance, we need to nurture them since the time the eggs are hatched till the turtles find their way to the sea.
To build buzz around #SaveLittleShelly campaign, social media was flooded with interesting posts, ads and every Turtle shop in the country was speckled with posters that talked about the drive and the cause. Store merchandise were designed around Shelly and distributed to customers, who spread the word and drove the initiative both on social media platform and on the personal front.
From a press advertisement to a 360-degree engaging campaign, from a small message to a big-hearted donation drive and from World Turtle Day to the 'World Turtle Month', this campaign shows how a simple idea can spread through word of mouth and create maximum impact. Shelly, an imaginary baby turtle, can save the lives of millions of her kind who actually need help.
Commenting on this initiative, Shitanshu Jhunjhunwala, Director, Turtle Limited, said, “Turtles have been around for 200 million years, yet they are rapidly disappearing as a result of smuggling, the exotic food industry, habitat destruction, global warming and the cruel pet trade. Keeping in mind this sad state of turtle globally, we thought of launching a month-long campaign instead of celebrating a single day to raise awareness to save turtles.”
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