Wavemaker and Ogilvy create Smoggys, a brand of P2 masks, to raise money for RFS
In the midst of devastating bushfires and smoke pollution, WPP agencies Wavemaker and Ogilvy have created a Go Fund Me page, in the hope of raising enough money to produce and sell Smoggys, a brand of P2 pollution masks.
The masks were created by Wavemaker’s Bec Drummond and Marco Del Castillo, and Ogilvy’s Jack Burton and Lucas Fowler, who aim to raise $10,000 through the crowdsourcing site, with all proceeds to be donated to the Rural Fire Service.
The P2 masks, which help to limit exposure to toxic smoke and particles, are adorned with distinctly Australian patterns including koalas, lamingtons, bin chickens (also known as ibises) and pluggers (thongs).
The agencies said that, with 90 fires burning in NSW alone, half of which are uncontained, 2.9m hectares burning throughout NSW and QLD, 680 homes, six lives and 2,000 koalas lost, their team members decided that ‘thoughts and prayers’ weren’t enough.
“The Rural Fire Service have been working around the clock to contain and downgrade bushfires across the country, to keep the rest of us safe. But the fires are out of control, the weather conditions aren’t easing up, the smoke is carrying across the nation and we’ve only just started summer,” Drummond, Wavemaker’s joint strategy director, said.
“Rather than continue to feel powerless, we decided to do something that could help ordinary Australians deal with this new reality as well as help raise valuable funds for our firies on the front line.”
If their goal of $10,000 isn’t met to begin production, any money raised will be donated in its entirety to the RFS.
“Wearing P2 masks isn’t something Aussies are used to. But then again, we aren’t used to having our air quality that is up to 11 times hazardous levels,” explained Burton, Ogilvy’s art director.
“Our idea is to help Aussies through the smoke haze and help the RFS fight against the smoke. A solution to protect both our lungs, and our land.”
Ok I’ll go first.
Just to be clear, they’ve created a clever fundraiser and an interesting PR idea. Good for them. Not sure we need a fashion range of P2 masks as much as a solution to the smog. If this turns out to be an exploitation of the fires for awards entries, imma get very, very angry.
#cleverbuoy #amytherobot
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Seemingly cool idea. Seems to lack a bit of detail though.
For instance, if 10K gets met, how many masks are they projected to produce, and at what margin can they sell to guarantee there’s a healthy multiplier that goes through to RFS?
Also, it’d be kinda ironic if these masks were produced in some Chinese factory that left a huge carbon footprint. Devil would seem to be in the detail (but right now there is very little).
More info before you scoop my donation folks.
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The two people above are an example of whats wrong with our industry, and a clear manifestation of tall poppy syndrome. Scepticism over progression will never serve you well. These people came up with a good idea that they are clearly passionate about, and your first reaction is to question their motive and make insinuations about the execution. Jealousy is an ugly look, try refraining from immediate judgment for once and embrace the positivity.
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@AD – Assuming that the first two posters’ cynicism comes from jealousy is a bit rich.
I’m sure the original person who came up with the idea did so with the best of intentions. It’s the 35 other people involved after that who make the whole thing (and other ‘big ideas’ like it) feel a bit sour.
Watch a small, charitable, kind of clever idea get blown up by PR (everyone needs to know that an ad agency did this!!!), watch the industry back patting about ‘creative for good’, then, most damningly, watch this get submitted to every award show under the sun next season – complete with tear jerking case study video and questionably meaningful statistics as a ‘result’ (we got nearly FORTY TEN BILLION dollars in free media coverage).
Here’s a case study idea for ad agencies: Work out the total cost of PR, case study production, awards submissions, etc… and just donate that to the RFS. I guarantee it’ll make more than 10k.
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