CHALLENGE

OPEN magazine decided to take the country on a tree plantation drive. Mainly because as an offline paper magazine, it had a huge responsibility to give back what it had taken from the environment.

IDEA

A wacky viral titled 'Trees can’t do' it was released on 5th june 2012, World Environment Day followed by a print campaign and loads of on-ground activity across various colleges, offices and parks. The viral showed the trees ‘doing it’ and the female tree getting pregnant and delivering a baby tree with a message in the end saying “Trees can’t do it. You can help”. Plant a tree today.

RESULT

Almost 400,000 views were recorded on youtube. Top social networking sites were set abuzz with comments, discussions and debates. And most importantly more than 5,000 trees were distributed and planted at various colleges, offices and parks. People from all walks of life joined the cause. Even the RJs couldn’t stop talking about the campaign. More than 7000 people joined OPEN’s effort on Facebook. And in just 30 days, the subscription for OPEN went up by 50%.

From the beginning the goal was clear. It aimed at targeting the youth of India and plant at least 5000 trees across various colleges, schools and offices. The objective was to make everyone aware that trees can’t pro-create on their own and therefore they need our helping hand. After days of research, OPEN magazine found out that there are millions of trees cut everyday for making products that are primarily used by the younger members of the society. So, OPEN decided to raise the issue in front of the youth and make them participate in a mega plantation drive.

output/ awareness - More than 400,000 views were recorded on Youtube. The video was widely talked about. No one could imagine trees making out/ a female tree getting pregnant and delivering a sapling. The youth got talking about it. More than 5000 trees were planted and the activity was concluded on 16th September - the World Ozone day. And the fact this entire initiative was brought about by OPEN magazine was appreciated.

knowledge/ consideration - Trees The Top networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and the likes were set a buzz with discussions and debates.

More than 400 tweets were recorded by 1383 followers.

On Facebook , more than 7000 people joined the cause.

Action/business impact - The initiative helped the OPEN magazine significantly. The subscription numbers went up by 50% in the month of June. This was more than the most popular magazine in the segment called the - outlook.

On 5th June 2012, World Environment day, the wacky video went viral. It showed the trees ‘doing it’ in provocative postures and the female tree getting pregnant and delivering a baby tree in the maternity ward with a message saying “Trees can’t do it. You can help”. Within no time people from all walks of life started joining the cause. All the tools and tactics including the viral video, tree plantation drive and tree sampling went exactly according to the plan. Even the mention from famous RJs on various radio channels helped us spread this PR initiative. The PR plan was scheduled and executed to perfection. OPEN magazine was pleasantly surprised with the level of participation that it witnessed throughout the activity. We all know that any PR activity is good only when it’s executed perfectly and garners great word of mouth for the cause and the brand.

OPEN, the weekly current affairs and features magazine, is the flagship brand of Open Media Network. OPEN is aimed primarily at the progressive, globally minded Indian as its target reader, and tries to stay faithful to its promise of not dishing up regurgitated news or majoritarian opinion. The PR campaign, 'Trees Can’t do it' was aimed at making young India aware of the situation in their hands. We are losing trees everyday, and OPEN as a paper magazine and as a concerned member to the cause, decided to give back what it had taken from the environment.

Just like any good PR strategy, OPEN magazine decided to keep it simple. The company knew that the best way to start this PR activity would be a wacky viral, that’ll engage the youngsters in a manner they like the most. When the viral became the talk of the town, OPEN then followed up by reaching New Delhi’s top colleges, offices and parks and distributing free saplings to people from all walks of life. We spoke to different people around market areas where OPEN sold its magazines. Everyone found the PR activity not just impactful but also engaging. It was the perfect amalgamation of strong communication and on-ground presence that made this activity such a spouting success.