Viral anti-duck hunting video created in-house by rights group with no marketing team
Australia’s most viral ad of this year was created in-house at the end of a work day by an organisation with no dedicated marketing team.
Animals Australia created the video, which has been watched 89 million times across the world in 10 days, by putting together a series of clips of people helping ducks with the aim of bypassing the usual style of showcasing the impact of human cruelty to animals.
Speaking to Mumbrella on the video’s success the group’s creative director Karen Nilsen said: “It was off the back of a joint campaign we ran with RSPCA Victoria and 54 other organisations to try and send a message to the Victorian Labor party to remind them that Victorians want an end to duck shooting.
“Duck shooting is a heavy, distressing topic and the reason its banned in three states is because of cruelty and we could have gone out and reminded everyone about how cruel and brutal this so-called sport is. But instead we thought well what if we turn that around and instead remind people that its in our nature to inherently be kind and the way people respond to seeing acts of kindness really exemplifies that.”
Uploaded to Facebook on November 17, Nilsen said “In the first few days it was gaining about a million viewers every hour which was insane.”
“That’s tapered off now,” she laughed. “We’re approaching 90 million at the moment.”
On producing the video, Nilsen said staff members stayed behind at the end of a work day to source the clips.
“One evening at the end of our workday a few people in our office did some googling and found some beautiful examples of people rescuing ducks from precarious situations.”
The video had the aim of reminding Victorian Labor that animals should be treated with compassion and kindness, Nilsen explained.
“We put together a series of these beautiful clips with a kind message at the end, if you’re smiling its because this is the way we should be treating animals and it’s time to step up and treat them all that way.”
The video is shaping up to be Australia’s most viral ad since Dumb Ways to Die, which garnered 2.3m views in just 48 hours, and has since had 92 million views on its official channel, and millions more on other channels.
Miranda Ward
Linkedin
By the looks of things, a road education program for ducks may have been more appropriate.
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I love this video & I love the fact that they didn’t pay millions of dollars to create a message that is so straight forward, simple & effective. Well done Animals Australia!!
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Congrats to Animals Australia. It also goes to prove that people are more likely to receive and respond to these types of messages when they are positive and uplifting. Footage of animal abuse and cruelty are old school shock tactics that are no longer effective. Sadly, we’re over them. More of this direction please.
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Low budget = 88 million views….I know campaigns where millions we’re spent and received less than a half a million views. Kind of puts things in perspective.
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Wonderful.
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Just Brilliant! Enough said.
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I wonder how many people stuck in that traffic had Peking Duck for dinner?
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Fantastic!! Congratulations Animals Australia.
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Sure, but you don’t own any of the footage. I’m sure an agency could do this too, if they didn’t care about just taking other people’s IP.
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Made my day!
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I understand why the group Animals Australia has taken the trouble to edit this footage together and make a statement. I do not agree with them entirely, but their view is an honest one.
It was made without a production team or any great expense, we are told, and this shows in both the quality and the through story of the video. It looks like a home made video with cobbled bits and pieces, which I suppose is almost exactly what it is.
Babies are generally cute, but duck hunters do not shoot babies, they go for mature ducks in the prescribed season.
An anti war video would more than likely show young men and women going to war, not baby humans at play or walking out with Mummy. The sight of many plump mature ducks, would probably remind one of orange sauce and a good Bordeaux, which is not the association needed.
Baby dear and baby pigs, are also cute, though perhaps not so cute as ducklings, and like dear or pigs, not all ducklings are native to Australia.
Baby foxes are cute, but they prey upon baby lambs which are cuter. In spite of baby foxes being cute, lambs are more important than foxes, in spite of their equal non native status, and of course, they taste so good with mint sauce, new potatoes and peas. Forget the fact that lambs are fed at great expense, and Foxes, which have no way or knowing the difference between farmed and wild prey, must exist in the wild, native or not.
Baby bunny rabbits are also very cute …….. but ducklings and fur seals probably have the edge.
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