MTV SWITCHES ON TO THE AUSSIE AND KIWI CREATIVES AT 180 AMSTERDAM
TheMTV Green song was created by 180 Amsterdam’s antipodean contingent,Rosita Rawnsley-Mason, Stacey Lee and Hal Kirkland (pictured). Thetrans-Tasman threesome were given the brief as part of the MTV Switchinitiative. An annual campaign that asks a handful of agencies tocreate an environmentally focused ad that answers the brief ofswitching on. In this instance, to environmental awareness.
Rositaand Stacey arrived at 180 from Saatchi & Saatchi Auckland followinga string of successes at Cannes, Clios, AWARD and Young Guns.Ex-M&C Saatchi Sydney creative Hal began at 180 shortly after. Eventhough the agency has over 30 different nationalities he couldn’t helpbut appreciate the opportunity to “team up with some Kiwis in OldZealand.”
Since the launch of the Green Song two weeks ago, muchattention has been raised about the issue on both blogs and mediawebsites. It has attracted praise from credible environmental websiteslike Treehugger.com and by non-industry related press like The UK’sGuardian Newspaper.
See Green Song HERE
SaysHal Kirkland: “We did quite a bit of research and it was pretty eyeopening what we uncovered. Once we were introduced to the concept ofgreen-washing, it didn’t take long to see pages and pages of fairlydamning information about what’s really happening out there. The factthat some companies are putting more money into pretending they aregreen than into projects that legitimately help the environment waspretty astounding. Especially when you saw exactly how much they werespending.
“Prior to writing the Green Song we had just finished acampaign that involved the use of candles. We really liked it and wethought we had a pretty interesting perspective until a little researchrevealed that most candles aren’t actually green at all. The waythey’re made, what they’re made from and how they’re distributed madelight bulbs seem comparatively organic. While we were disappointed thatwe had to shelve our campaign it showed us that it doesn’t take toomuch effort to research the products we use from day-to-day. If we havethe best intentions when we buy products, we may as well make sure theproduct actually holds up environmentally, otherwise what’s the point.
“Hearingour song being sung by someone else i.e. someone who could actuallysing was pretty amazing Bertolf Lentink was singing and playing thebanjo when we recorded it. The song is already pretty hectic but hemanaged to cruise through the lyrics without any hiccups. It only tooka few takes. We were pretty mesmerized.”
Says Stacey Lee: “Duringthe production process we worked intensively with the director, MichaelReissinger. Together we brainstormed characters, developed scenes,edited, rewrote and shoot background material collaboratively. Thenwhen the project was finished 6 months later, we realised that we hadnever even meet each other. The whole project was completed start tofinish over the phone or email. This is no mean feat given that theconversations were riddled with a medley of Aussie, English, American,German and Kiwi accents.”