Winner: Timberland and Cone Communications – Timberland’s 2011 Arbor Day Campaign
The issue of deforestation is important to Timberland—the footwear company’s logo is a tree, after all. In recent years, Timberland has tapped the interactive power of social media to engage consumers via a Facebook app that lets users plant virtual trees to trigger the planting of actual trees by the company. In 2011, Timberland tapped Cone Communications for a campaign that took advantage of a holiday that is relevant to the importance of trees: Arbor Day. The campaign produced “Person on the Street”-style videos that humorously poked fun at people’s lack of knowledge about the holiday and other tree facts. A quiz that enabled consumers to discover their tree personality also directed them to the Virtual Forest app. To inspire consumers even more, Timberland adjusted its ratio and agreed to plant one real tree for every virtual tree. Aside from grabbing 91 million media impressions, 6,430 virtual (and real) trees were planted the week of Arbor Day, and over 19,000 total in April 2011. —SP
Honorable Mentions:
Avon Products Inc. and Fenton – Green Buildings Campaign – Hello Green Tomorrow: On Sept. 13 and 14, Avon hosted several media members to preview its new green-certified U.S. headquarters, which also gave the company the opportunity to provide a recap of its successes in building green- certified facilities across the world.
Hershey Company – Hershey’s Chocolate World Attraction Solar Panel: Hershey’s flagship retail store and corporate visitors’ center feature 1,092 solar panels that eliminate hundreds of metric tons of greenhouse gasses each year. Green Kiosks, which dispense information on Hershey’s green initiatives, have received more than 21,000 visitors.
PepsiCo and Ruder Finn – Dream Machine Recycling Initiative Supports Dreams for Local Communities and Disabled U.S. Veterans: Dream Machine kiosks allow consumers to earn points for recycling beverage containers and then redeem the points for prizes. The initiative also offers an emotional reward—PepsiCo provides support to Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities. The multi-year campaign generated more than 3.33 billion media impressions from Nov. 2010 to Nov. 2011.