2020 Gold Charity

16 Dec 2020

Agency: Different Kettle

Client: World Animal Protection

Campaign Name: Don't be fooled by a smile

Campaign Overview

Don't be fooled by a smile

Dolphins are among the most intelligent animals in the world but many suffer due to travel and leisure operations. The mission was to build a movement of people whose outrage would end the suffering.

Strategy

Travel industry giants such as Expedia promote dolphin entertainment - a $5.5bn industry - as innocent family fun. To make their job easier, dolphins even look like they’re smiling. But the reality is something far darker. To end the cruelty, the charity had to expose the truth behind the smile.

Four key audiences were identified:

Dolphinaria visitors/potential visitors
Families and past visitors (who now regret it)
Animal welfare supporters
The travel industry

The goal was to motivate the first three groups to campaign against the fourth. The campaign was arranged in four stages: earned and social channels highlighting “lies” about dolphin entertainment; a petition promoted through paid and organic social, email and online display; the awards and call for supporters to contact Expedia; and a fundraising initiative contacting people who had bought into the cause to support it financially.

Creativity

The core creative idea, “Don't be fooled by a smile”, ensured the message quickly spread. Different Kettle then launched the “Cruelty Behind the Smile Awards” and called on the campaign’s fast-growing community to nominate Expedia.

The campaign took one of the most iconic features of the dolphin - its “smile" - and turned it upside down. By transforming it into a look of sadness, the audience was invited to imagine the dolphin’s suffering.

A strategic toolkit and full creative assets were distributed to marketing teams in eight countries.

Results

The campaign generated more than 300,000 signatures. Expedia’s CEO received over 40,000 emails and Tweets from the movement’s supporters, along with over 2,500 physical campaign cards.

Supporters even took “Don’t Be Fooled By A Smile” message on to the streets in protests outside Expedia offices around the world. Expedia agreed to stop promoting 20 dolphin entertainment venues in February 2020, with other major travel companies following suit.

Although fundraising was not a prime objective, the initiative raised $195,000.

The Team

"Different Kettle - Nick Holmes, Creative Director - Nicola Lapsley, Client Strategy - Rob Brookes, Senior Art Director - Mark Tomkins, Head of Copy - Pauline Maugeuret, Account Manager - Tom Paice, Studio Manager
World Animal Protection - Nick Stewart, Global Head of Campaign - Tania Carrigan, Global Head of Communications - Sarah Sherry, Global Communications Lead"

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2020 Gold Charity