ENGINE

Client: Born Free Foundation
Product: Born Free Foundation
Title: Creature Discomforts: Life in Lockdown
Media: Online Video
Country: United Kingdom
Date Of Campaign: 24/07/20

Background: Born Free asked us to raise awareness of the fact that some wild animals are kept in captivity their entire lives. The first lockdown gave us a unique opportunity to tell that story in a way that would resonate with almost the entire UK. But it also meant production would be extra challenging as everyone was working from home. Our goal was to reach as many people as possible.

Idea: For many of us, lockdown was our first experience of being locked up. So we used that experience to make people feel empathy towards wild animals in captivity. In partnership with Aardman, we created Creature Discomforts, which plays on their much-loved Creature Comforts construct and uses real interviews of people’s experiences of temporary lockdown to tell the stories of wild animals forced to live under lock and key forever. Ultimately, our idea gave us the chance to communicate our message - For us, lockdown was temporary. For some animals, it’s for life.

Results: With a budget of just £30k, the film achieved millions of views across all platforms in just days and was shared by BBC News, Ricky Gervais, Gary Lineker, Greta Thunberg and even Tiger King’s Carole Baskin. But most importantly, many people’s perspective on animal captivity changed forever.