Inside the Campaign: Wildlife Conservation Film Festival

AGENCY: DDB New York

CAMPAIGN BACKGROUND:

To generate buzz and attract attention for the Wildlife Conservation Film Festival’s flagship event, DDB New York created a stop-motion animation video entitled “Dream.” The moving video captures the plight of four distinct animals that are suffering at the hands of humans.

Set to a newly recorded version of the classic song “I Dreamed a Dream,” the emotional portrayal begins with animals in their natural habitats singing when their life was good.  As the song shifts in tone, the animals continue to sing as their lives and environment are threatened by man-made threats. DDB New York worked with animation production company Zombie Studio, and music and sound partner Mophonics to bring this song to life.

Vocals from Natalie Bergman, Ryan Merchant, Keenan O’Meara and Tal Altman bring the animated animals to life.

Since launching in October, “Dream” has been very successful and generated a lot of buzz. It was a smash hit, garnering 1.5 million collated views across all postings with zero paid media in just 2 weeks.

In addition to the viewership, “Dream” spread virally across the globe and was picked up in leading media from 14 countries including Brazil, France, Germany, and Vietnam.

Along with the outpouring of support for the Dream video, the number of partnerships with the WCFF has increased this year and now includes NatGeoWild, New York City Department of Parks & Recreation, Natural Areas Conservancy, SCI Foundation and Roaring Earth to the roster. The number of international film producers and scientists participating in the festival also increased.

WCFF creates public awareness programs that inform, engage, and inspire audiences about the need for, and importance of global biodiversity protection. In addition to running during WCFF events, the pro-bono video can be seen online at WCFF.org, on WCFF’s social platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Vimeo).

CREDITS:

CLIENT

Wildlife Conservation Film Festival (WCFF)

Christopher J. Gervais, F.R.G.S. – Founder & CEO

CREATIVE AGENCY

Agency – DDB New York

Chief Creative Officer – Icaro Doria

Creative Director – Thiago Carvalho

Head of Art / Creative Director – Bruno Oppido

ACD (Art Director) – Guilherme Rácz

ACD (Copywriter) – Lucas Casão

Head of Production – Ed Zazzera

Senior Producer – Amanda Van Caneghem

Senior Account Executive – Matthew Leach

Music/Talent Manager – Linda Bree

MUSIC & SOUND DESIGN

“I Dreamed A Dream” by Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schonberg, Jean-Marc Natel and Herbert Kretzmer

Music, Sound Design and Final Mix by Mophonics

ANIMATION PRODUCTION

Directed By

Zombie Studio

Executive Producer: Natália Gouvea