We like to joke that the brief was to ‘save the world’. But it wasn’t far off.

In 2015, 193 world leaders signed up to The Sustainable Development Goals. A list of 17 priorities we need to address by 2030 to ensure we can create a just, sustainable planet and way of life for everyone.

But 6 years in, we haven’t made nearly enough progress.

We were tasked to raise awareness and understanding of the Global Goals in a critical year that needed action and engagement.

We needed an idea that could bring everyone together – citizens, brands and businesses, and world leaders – to create unmatched progress towards the goals.

So we reframed The Sustainable Development Goals as the actionable solution they were made to be. They are The World’s To-Do List.

We reframed The Sustainable Development Goals as the actionable solution they were made to be. They are The World’s To-Do List.

By using sticky notes to translate each Goal into a simple ‘To-Do’, we created a visual language that says we need to – and can – get this done today.

But a To-Do List for the world was no good stuck on a fridge door. We needed to stick it on the world.

So we asked partners, brands and businesses to step up and show the world that the Goals must come first, by sacrificing their media spaces, and allowing us to use their buildings, websites, and social accounts to stick our ‘To-Do list’ on.

Our world is in trouble. But a lot of people don’t realise that we already have the answers. There is a plan for the planet, and it’s a good one: The Sustainable Development Goals.

We needed everyone – the public, activists and businesses – to start holding world leaders to account for the promises they made when they signed up to the Goals in 2015.

It wasn’t enough to remind people and businesses that the Goals existed, we needed them to feel like they could do something about them – that if we work together, saving the world can be as easy as remembering to buy milk.

The campaign launched during Global Goals week.

The launch film opened the UN General Assembly (6m+ viewers) and closed the Global Citizen Festival (streamed across 6 continents to an audience of 500,000+).

30+ businesses including Unilever, Mars, DPD Group, Reckitt and Diageo sacrificed their media spaces by covering their buildings, websites, and social channels with their ‘To-Do’ sticky note to show the world that the Goals must come first.

A flexible toolkit enabled businesses, governments, and activists to push out the campaign simultaneously in multiple cities worldwide.

The work directed back to a microsite, letting business and individuals know the actions they can take today.

At COP26, sticky notes appeared on venues, landmarks, and local shop fronts. The WTDL became an integral part of the conference.

It shaped Global Goals Week at the Dubai Expo and marked other key cultural moments including World Disability Day and International Women’s Day.