For dinosaurs, mass extinction isn’t something new and in the latest campaign of the United Nations Development Programme — the leading UN organization that fights to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change — one dinosaur was delegated to give a speech about this irreversible process and how, by not taking action, humans might go extinct too. Signed by agency Wunderman Thompson Australia, in partnership with Activista, Framestore, and Mindpool, the UNDP launches the “Don’t Choose Extinction” initiative, a call-to-action campaign that prompts the world to work towards a sustainable COVID-19-crisis recovery.
The pandemic has changed the world as we knew it. However, recovering from this health crisis translates to an opportunity for humanity to redefine the future and make it sustainable for all. The campaign marks the UNDP’s largest and boldest global advocacy and behavior change initiative to date and includes a short video led by Actvista and a digital experience developed by Wunderman Thompson.
Created in partnership with Obama’s former speechwriter, the two-and-a-half-minute-long film focuses on a dinosaur addressing the UN General Assembly urging the world’s leaders to not go extinct and act against climate change. The animal walks into the General Assembly Hall at the UN Headquarters in New York and scares the diplomats with its ferocious look, creating a bit of chaos. But as it starts to speak, the diplomats seated in the hall start to understand what’s the real meaning behind this unexpected visit.
Frankie the dinosaur knows “a thing or two about extinction.” It knows it is a really bad thing so it is intrigued by humans’ actions towards our extinction. In fact, this is “the most ridiculous thing” it has ever heard in 70 million years. The prehistoric being mentions asteroids as the cause of its species’ extinction. But what about humans? What excuses can they possibly have for going extinct, the animal wonders? While the audience carefully listens to Frankie’s impactful speech, the climate disaster is brought up. And yet, despite this, governments around the world continue to spend billions of public funds on fossil fuel subsidies. “Imagine if we had spent hundreds of billions per year subsidizing giant meteors,” Frankie adds.
Research revealed as part of the campaign shows that around $423 billion are spent annually to subsidize fossil fuels. This is the equivalent of covering COVID-19 vaccination for every human being in the world. Or three times the annual amount needed to eradicate global extreme poverty. So, wouldn’t this make more sense than “paying for the demise of [our] entire species?” The dinosaur then tells the public that the world should use the pandemic-crisis recovery as an opportunity to do things differently and “stop making excuses and start making changes.”
The film directs viewers to a microsite, where “The World of Excuses” digital experience is hosted, inviting the audience to discover some excuses, each pictured as asteroids threatening to hit the planet. The users are allowed to click on the excuses to find more information and discover what tools they can use to take action. Created by Wunderman Thompson Australia, the tools will be rolled out in phases in the upcoming months and will include the Chrome Plugin Thesaurus Rex, the Alexa skill The Voice of Reason, and a spin on The Birds and The Bees book.
João Braga, Chief Creative Officer at Wunderman Thompson Australia explains: “This behavior change campaign gave us the largest possible target audience anyone could have. With 7 billion people to speak to and a challenge of this caliber, we needed deep creative thinking from every discipline. This digital experience is only just the start of our work with the UNDP to help end the excuses around climate change for good and provide people from all walks of life the understanding and the facts they need to make a difference. We’re even working to take this idea as far as outer-space, by naming real asteroids after these excuses.”
Boaz Paldi, Global Partnership & Engagement Manager for United Nations Development Programme, continues: “With this initiative, we want to spotlight the climate crisis and, at the same time, energize the debate about some of the economic solutions that are out there to get us on a path to de-carbonization. Addressing fossil fuel subsidies is a critical issue in the fight against climate change. The campaign gives hope that despite the trajectory we seem to be on there is still time to act and solutions to fight for. Creativity and technology are two of the necessary tools we need to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 and move towards a green transition. It’s why we needed the best minds in the industry to partner with us in our journey to make these goals a reality.”
Frankie the dinosaur is brought back to life in CGI just in time for the COP26 summit to warn people about the immediate actions that need to be taken in order to tackle the climate crisis. The video is dubbed into 32 languages, with Frankie voiced by Jack Black (for English), Eiza González (Spanish), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Danish), and Aïssa Maïga (French). The dinosaur even has a Twitter account, making sure that more internet users hear about the #DontChooseExtinction campaign.
Credits:
Client: United Nations Development Programme
Director of Advocacy, Marketing and Communications: Anjali Kwatra
Global Engagement & Partnership Manager: Boaz Paldi
Senior Consultant, Creative Strategy: Nick Garrett
Executive Producer: Helen Trickey
Associate Producer, Campaign Advocacy: Rebecca Webb
Associate Producer, Campaign Media: Gabriela Goldman
Agency: Wunderman Thompson Australia
Chief Executive Officer: Lee Leggett
Chief Creative Officer: João Braga
Project Lead/Australian Operations Director: Paulina Embart
Associate Creative Director: Jack Elliott
Associate Creative Director: Lochie Newham
Chief Innovation Officer: Martin Beecroft
UX/UI Director: Travis Weerts
Technical Director: Marcus Collier
UX Design: Isabelle Hooper
UI Design: Chris Hyland
Client Engagement: Anna Parker
Client Engagement: Rose Suys
Integrated Production: Emma Donaldson
Creative Director, Content: Brie Stewart
Social Strategist: Annie House
Content Creator: Rhys Delios Callanan
Senior Designer: James Ayling
Content Writer: Richard Kempsey
Digital Production: Danny Coleman
Digital Production: Joe Guario
Illustrator: Andjela Jankovic
Activista
Executive Creative Director: Paco Conde
Executive Creative Director: Beto Fernandez
Director of Strategy: Jon Carlaw
Writer: David Litt (reference to Obama)
Framestore Pictures
Director: Murray Butler
Managing Director: Jennifer Siegel
Head of Production: Anne Vega
Line Producer: Laura Morris
Director of Photography: Wyatt Garfield
Director of Production: Carla Attanasio
Executive Producer: Pete King
Senior Producer: Chris Harlowe
Associate Producer Jose Alvarado
Creative Director: Marco Marenghi
VFX Supervisor: Karch Coons
Lighting Supervisor: Richard Shallcross
Head of 2D: Woei Lee
Compositor Lead: Mark Casey
Tracking Supervisor: Todd Herman
Editorial Supervisor: Jacob Sadowsky
VFX Editor: Dustin Indrebo
Colorist: Beau Leon
Editorial: Cut+Run
Editor: Jon Grover
Editorial Producer: Eytan Gutman
Asst. Editor: Evan Bahnsen
Audio Post Production: String and Tins
Sound Design and Mix: Jim Stewart
Additional Sound Design: Joe Wilkinson
Foley: The Foley Barn
Audio Producer: Olivia Endersby
Music Coordinator: COOL Music
Music by Rachel Portman
Music Programmer: Luke Richards
Mindpool
Anne Sofie Lind
Mik Thobo-Carlsen
Flemming Rasmussen
Antoni Harbuz