OLIVER – the only company in the world to exclusively design, build and run in-house agencies and ecosystems for brands – launches its creative campaign to entice Britain’s youth into connecting with nature.
The campaign launches in response to a creative brief set by the first-of-its-kind 'Agency for Nature', developed by climate and creativity non-profits Glimpse and Purpose Disruptors.
Research shows Britain ranks bottom for nature connectedness in Europe, and UK Citizens measured lowest for their feeling of ‘oneness with the natural world’. And yet a recent poll from the Agency for Nature conducted by YouGov shows 77% of people ages 18-35 would like to be more connected to nature, while a further YouGov poll showed our disconnection to nature is a root cause of our spiralling mental health crisis and eco-anxiety amongst young people.
To tackle this, five top UK creative agencies seconded rising talent to the Agency for Nature – Weiden+Kennedy, The&Partnership, Amplify, Leo Burnett and OLIVER. They were tasked with ‘creating hype for a nature-connected lifestyle’, as part of a provocative brief where ‘Nature’ is the client.
OLIVER produced a hypnotic psychedelic billboard and social campaign, bringing to life the transformative, meditative and awe-inspiring benefits of nature - our ultimate medicine.
The creative duo behind the campaign – OLIVER’s Mark Betteridge, Creative Design Director, and Susie Cornelius, Senior Copywriter – explain their creative process for the campaign:
What was the brief?
Get: younger, nature-curious people in the UK (but not exactly Greta)
Who: feel listless and anxious, and somehow that modern life isn’t working for them
To: feel that a deeper relationship with nature is the path to re-enchantment.
By: creating hype for the slower, nature-connected lifestyle.
How did the initial pitch/brainstorming phase go?
The briefing experience with Purpose Disruptors and Glimpse was so immersive – it was at an inner-city nature reserve, so we had inspiration all around us. We immediately had loads of ideas, so initially it was all about getting everything out of our heads and onto an online collaboration board. We did this project outside of our day-to-day client work, but talked as often as we could.
We looked at different routes in - medicine, drag queens, scrolling on phones, fashion… But the mental health benefits of connecting with nature stood out the most to us. So, we dove into researching that.
What was the process behind ideating the concept?
The idea that Nature can be a drug came during the briefing day itself. There are so many studies proving how effective the outdoors is for boosting our mental wellbeing, and we hadn’t seen any advertising to promote that idea in a clear and simple way.
The difference was our initial idea leaned more into pharmaceuticals rather than psychedelics, packaging Nature up in a pill box. The issue was pharma doesn’t have a positive and wondrous visual connection to people, so we needed to think of a different angle.
When we investigated more naturally made drugs like cannabis and mushrooms, we then moved into fractals to visually bring to life that world. This prompted us to research natural fractal shapes. 60% of people feel less stressed when looking at a natural fractal. And children from the age of 3 are less stressed in nature than indoors.
This became the building blocks of our idea. To show the wondrous fractal world of nature, as if it was a mind-altering drug (which it is).
What was the production process like?
We had A LOT of concepts. We were constantly tweaking and updating the fractals, the colours, the expressions of the models’ faces, the copy lines – we wanted each graphic in the set to have its own unique story. One in awe of their surroundings, one at peace taking it all in, and one confident and strong.
The bulk of the work was between us, and Rob our ECD would drop in and say some incredibly wise and helpful advice to keep us on the straight and narrow. When it came to actually illustrating the individual headlines, we knew it shouldn’t be just one person creating them, so we leant on some talented creatives in the OLIVER network to work up these lines in their own unique way. This tied the whole idea together. The fact this was a graphic project meant we didn’t need a shoot, just hours of craft behind a laptop (taking breaks in nature to recharge).
What was the biggest challenge during production? How did you overcome it?
Mainly time. This was a pro-bono job. We had our own accounts 9-5 to work on, so every bit of extra time we had was spent making this project work. The driver was the fact this was such an amazing brief. We felt it was a disservice to Nature if we didn’t give it all we had to make it great.
What kit/tools/software were used to create the project?
Apart from the usual Adobe suite to bring everything together, it was the first time we used a GenAI tool to bring our natural fractal images to life in DOOH.
We ran through multiple different fractal images, using very simple prompts; ‘move naturally’ or ‘bloom’ or ‘make it trippy.’ We had some interesting results, but settled on one that became the DOOH in Waterloo.
What is one funny or notable thing that happened during production?
Apart from killing the initial idea halfway through the project? (That was probably more nervous laughter at the time).
What’s the main message of this project and why does it matter?
The UK ranks lowest of 14 European countries for ‘nature connectedness’ and wellbeing. Meanwhile, 8.6 million people in the UK are on antidepressant medication and that number is rising year on year.
Nature provides so many mental and physical health benefits. There are no nasty side effects, no wait, and it’s free. We hope people will see nature as a way to help their wellbeing and learn that a lot of what we feel we’re missing from grind culture, mass consumerism, and modern technology hasn’t been lost, it’s just been overlooked.
How long did it take from inception to delivery?
It was about 3 months from briefing to seeing our work out in the world.
What do you hope it achieves for the brand?
We really do hope that it encourages young people – in fact, people of any age – to find a way to connect with nature that not only benefits their mental and physical health, but the planet’s health too.
Credit list for the work?
Concept/Direction
Susie Cornelius
Mark Betteridge
Rob Kavanagh
Production
Mel Constantinou
Illustrators
Luis Brito
Ali Hill
Leilani Hayward
Extra thank you to:
Brian Eagle
Sam Lau
Tugce Acikgoz
Stephen Vaughan
Brittany Houston
Sustainability team and project management
Lucy Usher
Rebecca Owen
PR
Nuala Doyle
Purpose Disruptors
Ceri Jones
Ally Kingston
Lisa Merrick-Lawless
Aimee Brewerton
Glimpse
Ruth Newton
James Turner
