From bottled beer to Burgundy to baby food, Owens-Illinois makes over half of the world’s glass packaging. The problem is that the world is using less and less glass each year, and more cans, paper cartons and especially plastic. So how can O-I reverse the category’s global decline? How can O-I motivate an audience of Brand Managers in Peru, at the same time as those in Perugia, to choose glass again for their products? We needed to change the way the world thinks about glass packaging. We needed to create a global movement for glass, a tide of demand, and impress on Brand Managers that glass is a critical and additive part of their brand experience. Our campaign, 'Glass Is Life', elevated a 3,000 year old substance to something not just beloved, but to a brand imbued with life itself.

Glass Is Life launched globally against 3 audiences. For the trade audience, large format print ads and rich media digital display kicked off the campaign, dominating the industry’s trade magazines and websites. These ads, along with search marketing, drove to a new microsite GlassIsLife.com. The microsite held video stories about glass — from a world renowned chef, a famous industrial designer, CEOs, entrepreneurs and ocean advocate, Celine Cousteau. Events and speaking engagements followed. For the consumer audience, we launched Glass Is Life on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, and seeded videos through these channels. We aggregated the many different conversations about glass into a new community, and actively led that community with content and outreach. Print ads toward consumer thought leaders ran in Fortune and Wired. For company employees, we launched Glass Is Life in offices and manufacturing plants around the world, with banners, posters, video installations and employee merchandise.

Glass Is Life immediately became a rallying cry for company employees who long craved a sense of importance and pride; employee feedback showed significant improvements in morale and enthusiasm. Among consumers, a formerly fragmented movement began to coalesce; video views reached 250,000, community participation in social media increased, and sentiment toward glass began to change. Among the key trade audience, awareness for the benefits of glass increased. The industry stood up and listened: glass was no longer a silent, old substance. GlassIsLife.com received 300,000 visitors. Hundreds of new business leads emerged. Brands from Coke in Brazil to Frugo in Poland have asked to join the movement. O-I has already closed deals, worth tens of millions of dollars. Glass Is Life is alive and growing.