Sprung out of a passion to help WWF in their essential work for endangered animals, we approached their team with a simple, timeless and scalable idea.

A short presentation introduced them to the cultural context of the puzzle boom and how powerful it could be to add this symbolism to the pieces. The project was a gift from the agency, fully financed and ready to be carried out by a pro-bono team of animal lovers.

The initiative started spreading, both within the agency and between multiple WWF offices, and is still growing today.

Endangered Pieces is a collection of customised jigsaw puzzles, where each piece represents one animal left in the wild.

With a message of both gravity and hope, the tactile experience lets us feel where the future of these animals lies – in our hands. Released on Panda Day, the puzzles were presented in descending order. The lower the number, the higher the urgency.

All proceeds from Endangered Pieces goes to WWF's vital conservation efforts. For a future where these puzzles hopefully will be harder.

Data gathering:

During a trend-spotting session where we analysed consumer behaviour as a result of the covid-19 pandemic, we found that many manufacturers of jigsaw puzzles had seen an increase in sales at levels of 300-400%.

Target audience:

As an NGO with local offices in each market, there's no global budget to force people to listen. Instead the key is to first engage the passionate supporters of WWF-Canada. Secondary, we aim to reach all those around them.

Approach: A simple yet strong message of both urgency and hope. Spread through the engagement of existing and new supporters.

CTA: Learn more about the urgent situations of endangered species, and support them financially through the puzzle collection or a donation.

The hero of it all is of course the collection of jigsaw puzzles, each with a custom-made mould created for the bespoke printing. The material was FSC-certified and non-bleached, with the jigsaw board made from 35% recycled material and the pieces stored in a bag of biodegradable cellulose:

Giant Panda - 1864 pieces

Sumatran Tiger - 400 pieces

Pygmy Three-Toed Sloth - 79 pieces

Southern Resident Killer Whale - 73 pieces

They were launched on Panda Day (March 16, 2022), in descending order, with the lowest number meaning the highest urgency. Beyond the packaging, each puzzle had a carefully crafted video asset, inviting people to the landing page through WWF-Canada's social channels and newsletters.

Designed to tell the important stories of the animals and drive people to WWF-Canada's web shop, the campaign site endangeredpieces.wwf.ca was built and launched.

The completely organic campaign achieved an estimated reach of 3 millions, being covered in over 30 outlets in at least 8 languages across 4 continents, which makes it WWF-Canada's biggest product launch to date.

The first batch generated 59000 Canadian Dollars in pure revenue, with a waiting list for each puzzle and more "request for information" than any previous campaign.

Not only will WWF-Canada produce more puzzles ahead, but more WWF offices around the planet are working on implementing the idea with their local species.

The most important result however, is the attention and support for the animals in threat of extinction.