ENVision campaign‘s ‘hard truth’ could make you think twice

Singapore might run out of space for trash by 2035 and more.

Technology, energy and business news have been filling today’s Singapore’s top stories, but are Singaporeans taking time to discuss environmental issues?

As part of its ‘ENVision’ initiative, Singapore Environment Council (SEC) launched a series of ads and videos in October and November 2014 to drive the message home about individual responsibility in ensuring the sustainability of Singapore’s future environment.

The 4-part video series on Singapore’s environmental challenges was aimed at sharing the importance and urgency of addressing environmental issues identified during several dialogue sessions from February to April. Meanwhile, to draw readers’ attention to the real environmental problems affecting Singapore today, the print ads focused on three images - a bird in a hazy snow globe, a rat in a bottle buried in a sea of trash, and a goldfish swimming in an hourglass-like tank.

The campaign used the set of key values of Care, Ownership and Responsibility co-created by participants of the dialogue sessions as their guiding approach on propagating ENVision’s message.

‘ENVision’ aims to engage participants from schools and community at large, to provide their feedback and vision for SSB (Singapore Sustainable Blueprint) through dialogue sessions. After the sessions, participants came up with the following top concerns - food waste, waste management, air pollution and water conservation.

Based on the facts and figures from SEC, Singaporeans wasted almost 800,000 tonnes of food in 2013 that can supply a meal a day for every person in the city for an entire year. At the rate Singapore is throwing things away, SEC predicts that the city will run out of space for trash by 2035. Moreover, at the rate by which Singaporeans use water today, a 50m pool can be emptied in less than 5 minutes. Lastly, while tiny solid and liquid particles make up the haze, vehicles produce 50% of these locally emitted particles.

According to Lynda Hong, communications manager from SEC, the four videos take on a bolder and in-your-face yet humorous slant so that Singaporeans from all walks of life can relate to and remember the message. “The SEC wants people to know the hard truth that their individual actions such as wasteful and inconsiderate behaviour are detrimental to our environment,” said Lynda.

The ENVision videos were released on the SEC’s social media platforms and screened on local networks such as Starhub, VV Drama and Discovery Fox, and they have had more than 70,000 views on Facebook and 17,406 YouTube views.

According to Lynda, SEC hopes that more than just entertainment, the videos will help convey the message that everyone can do their part in ensuring environmental sustainability through simple individual actions – such as wasting less food, using less water and switching off vehicle engines when the car is parked – which collectively can make a significant positive impact on Singapore’s environmental future

Credits:
Production House – Project Peanut
Master Creative – Equus Design Consultants
Ad designs – Thinking Designs
SEC team –
Jose Raymond
Damon Yong
Ngeow Yin Teen
Prakash Raja
Lynda Hong
Sheer Angullia
Kavickumar Muruganathan

Call for powerful social ads: Do you have interesting social ads which caught the emotions of many Singaporeans? Send details of your projects to Lee Anne Babierra at research@charltonmediamail.com