A barometer for a healthy environment, frogs in Australia are dying at an alarming rate. Tracking frog movements and monitoring their health was a daunting undertaking for the scientists at the Australian Museum, given the hundreds of different species involved, as well as the vastness of the Australian landscape. Frog calls were a viable way to determine their status. But, staff at the museum couldn’t have ears everywhere.

Our brief was to mobilise the public in the endeavour of helping the Australian Museums scientists track and monitor frog populations across Australia, using sound. The more people downloaded and used our FROG ID app to record frog calls, the more accurately scientists at the Australian Museum could observe frog movements and health.

Our objective was for the public to become intrigued by the many diverse sounds frogs make and download our FROG ID app to help in the conservation effort.

Our creative idea was to leverage the many diverse sounds frogs make in the Australian wild. Teasing the public with a classic movie-trailer shared through social and that, unbeknown to viewers, used real frog calls as its only soundtrack, despite the fact that it depicted scenes from everyday human life, without a frog in sight. The idea was to challenge the publics ability to discern which sounds they thought were made by a frog, ultimately surprising them with the revelation that it was all of them and inspiring them to continue the game with the help of our FROG ID app. All in the endeavour of mobilising the public behind monitoring frog populations and assisting the Australian Museums frog conservation efforts.

As a society, we are increasingly aware of our environment. But, it’s hard to know how we can contribute to preserving it, as individuals. The sheer scale of environmental problems creates ‘inaction paralysis’. Exacerbated by the fact that we often can’t ‘see’ the impact of our actions.

The strategy behind the FrogID initiative, aimed to empower individuals to make a difference in a meaningful way. While scientists struggled to map the vast number of frog species around Australia, today every frog call logged by the public with Frog ID, contributes to Australia’s largest ‘Frog Census’ – helping scientists identify new species, locate missing/endangered species, conserve them and even track Australia’s environmental changes.

It was our job to convince people all over Australia – from wildlife warriors & backyard explorers, families and school kids – that one simple action could benefit the Museums research, the nation and the planet.

Australia Museum briefed mid-2019 with intention to launch in time for the ‘FrogID Week’ at the start of November.

The Frog ID online trailer employed ‘spatial sound design’, matching frog calls with the situations being depicted, exploiting the similarity between them and the man-made sounds we hear every day. Driving viewers to the FROG ID app as a way for them to continue monitoring frog calls and helping scientists at the Australian Museum.

Online:

News Corp – Run of network

Pilsta – Run of network

Xaxis – Run of network

Regional radio:

Central & Far North QLD - REBEL FM

Central & Far North QLD - BREEZE FM

Social:

Videos sent to Australia’s Museum social accounts, Frog ID social accounts and FrogID partners for cross-posting.

Customer comms:

Australia Museum’s ‘What’s On’ EDM going to 60K subscribers and FrogID EDM to 20K subscribers

Paid media budget for campaign was just AUD$36,000

10,662 APP DOWNLOADS IN THE FIRST WEEK

212,472 FROG CALLS SUBMITTED

345,586 VERIFIED FROGS

199 SPECIES FOUND & IDENTIFIED