Weber Shandwick celebrates European Digital award for Sustainability & Environment campaign with Friends of Glass
Brussels – Weber Shandwick, one of the world’s leading global communications and marketing solutions firms, was awarded first place for the Friends of Glass ‘Checkouts of Thanks campaign in the Sustainability and Environment category at the prestigious 2019 Digital Communication Awards.
The pan-European campaign – run in partnership with the European Container Glass Federation (FEVE) – leveraged strong relationships with retailers and environmental NGOs to promote glass as a positive solution to plastic pollution.
Ahead of World Oceans Day on 8 June, Weber Shandwick and FEVE partnered with retailers in Italy, France, Germany, Spain and Portugal to install bespoke pop-up checkouts that triggered a message of thanks from on-screen dolphins. Whenever unsuspecting shoppers scanned a glass-packaged item at the checkout, they found themselves face-to-face with a pod of dolphins who thanked them for choosing glass.
The videos capturing consumer reactions have notched up almost 13 million views to date. A viewer impact study conducted with Facebook and Instagram revealed that people are more likely to choose glass on their next supermarket trip (a 6.6 percentage point lift in Italy and a 5-point lift in Spain, with both numbers far exceeding the European benchmarks of 1.4 points).
Speaking about the award win, Nora Lawton, Managing Director at Weber Shandwick Brussels said, “This campaign showcases that our everyday consumption choices can make a big difference, not just for the ocean but for our natural environment as a whole. Sustainability issues have never been more visible in society - nowadays we see that climate-centric and discipline-neutral sustainability communications are quickly emerging as a key cornerstone of the work we handle from our office.”
“I am proud of our team for their creative and strategic collaboration in getting this message out to European consumers. Congratulations to our client partners at Friends of Glass and FEVE, as well as to all of the contenders this year on their impactful work,” she continued.
“Glass has unrivalled sustainability credentials, as a food grade packaging material that can be endlessly recycled into new packaging solutions,” said Michael Delle Selve, Senior Communications Manager at the European Container Glass Federation (FEVE). “Sustainable behavioral change can start even with an everyday supermarket visit and we wanted to call consumers to pay attention to what lies beyond the label as packaging material. We are very proud of this well-deserved recognition of how strongly this campaign is resonating with them all over Europe.”
Launched in 2011 by the Quadriga University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, the Digital Communication Awards recognise outstanding online projects and campaigns across Europe. Campaigns are assessed via an online application and live pitch in front of an expert Jury formed of leading practitioners and academics.
The recognition follows on from an earlier High Commendation for Weber Shandwick and FEVE at the 2019 PR Week Global Awards, with the 2018 campaign receiving a high commendation for Best Campaign in Continental Europe. In the same month, Weber Shandwick Brussels was awarded The Holmes Report France/Benelux Consultancy of the Year (2019), as well as being recognised as PRWeek’s Global Agency of the Year for the fourth consecutive year.