Colenso BBDO

Client: New Zealand Forest & Bird
Product: New Zealand Forest & Bird
Title: Portraits by Predators
Media: Ambient / Print / Guerilla
Country: New Zealand
Date Of Campaign: 01.12.2019-01.03.2020

Background: New Zealand is home to over 200 native bird species. It’s a country defined by its unique birdlife, yet 80% of native birds are currently facing extinction.2019 saw New Zealand’s largest seed mast in over 45 years. Forests produced a record amount of seed and fruit for all native species. Unfortunately, this food also fuelled plagues of rodents, stoats and possums that kill our birdlife when the food runs out. A recent estimate showed that 26.4m native birds, chicks and eggs are eaten by introduced predators every year.

Idea: In partnership with Forest & Bird, we created a series of native bird posters. These posters were printed on the same edible corflute used to detect what predators are prevalent in forest areas. Bird pheromones were applied to the posters to attract predators, and they were left in the New Zealand bush to endure the same attacks our native birds do. The remains were photographed for an arresting OOH campaign.

Results: All media was kindly donated and ran from 01.12.19 – 29.02.20. Media consisted of street posters, digital billboards, adshels, digital banners and multiple print ads across leading newspapers and outdoor lifestyle magazines. The campaign got phenomenal traction leading to a feature story during the 6pm news (Newshub NZ). Radio NZ picked up on the story and the original posters were framed and hung in an extinct bird exhibit at a local Auckland museum.