The Earth Hour is a WWF’s annual and global movement to entice people to switch off their lights for 1 hour to show to raise awareness for the planet. This year’s slogan is “Use Your Power” and relies on superheroes of the every day.

The agency wanted to promote one unusual superhero. They relied on the figure of a lighthouse keeper to portrait a watchman of the seas, a hero that although fundamentally involved with the concept of awareness could never turn off the lights himself.

In Brazil, humoristic calls to action work and the lighthouse keeper needed to be portrayed in between a comic character and an engaging spokesperson, friendly yet obsessed, fun and convincing. In this naïve campaign, our hermit character asks others to cover for him and participate in the movement because he surely can’t switch off the lights of his house because he lives in a lighthouse.

The campaign encompassed 4 commercials with the same creative argument but slightly different approach to be screened on broadcast, cable, cinema, and Internet.

A trustworthy institution, a noble cause, the budget of a nonprofit and an inspiring idea were the foundation stones of this campaign/adventure. The agency and WWF challenged our production team to tell the tale of a lighthouse keeper. The script was naïve and we could have gone to a studio. Yet, we wanted to portrait reality and decided to shoot at the inhabitable and inaccessible island of Escalvada, off the Brazilian coast by about 6 miles.

The director developed a personality to the main character and invested all efforts in casting the right person within 4 days and putting together a small crew of 7 people that would jump on a 15-hour trip to reach the closest shore to the island and then another hour on fishing boats to reach the cliff where they would hike up to reach the lighthouse. Art direction had 5 days to develop a lighthouse-obsessed environment. Producers rushed to get permit from the reluctant Navy because non-military people never accessed the island before. Logistically, all equipment had to be isolated from water on rudimentary solutions like storage containers.

Within 18-hours the director was able to set up his structure on the island, dress the set, rehearse and shoot with the 64 year-old actor to deliver a pristine project that required only very few color correction adjustments. The only barrier not overcome by production was that we decided to shoot the sheep on the mainland to prevent any harm on the animal.