Episode 88 - Greenpeace Los Santos +3ºC Ad Reviewed by Unilever, HSBC and Huawei
This week’s Advertisers Watching Ads heads into the metaverse, with Greenpeace Brazil’s Los Santos +3ºC ad created by VMLY&R and chosen by Contagious.
Set in Grand Theft Auto’s replica of Los Angeles, this in-game activation is meant to highlight what inaction on climate change will lead to for younger audiences, but is it clear on what they can do about it? Does the campaign, directing viewers to sign a petition and lobby governments, make itself visible enough? And does the ad raise some more intriguing questions about what the metaverse actually is?
Our guests James Channon (Brand Manager for Magnum UK at Unilever), Donata Peksa (Head of Brand Experience at HSBC) and Norman Kuo (Head of Marketing & Strategy, Singapore Ecosystem Development & Operations, at Huawei) only rated this a 3.3 out of 5. Have a look and see what you think!
Transcript
Advertisers Watching Ads Episode 88 - Greenpeace Los Santos +3ºC Ad Reviewed by Unilever, HSBC and Huawei
The following transcript is automatically generated so may not be 100% accurate, but will give you a good idea of what was discussed.
Tom Ollerton 0:00
Hello and welcome to Advertisers Watching Ads, and this is a weekly show where brands watch other brands' ads and discuss what's good and bad about them. My name is Tom Ollerton. We are brought to you this week by our partners, contagious.com. So thanks, guys, for sharing the ads that you chose this week, and please go and check those guys out after the show. So before we get to this week's ad, let's meet this week's guests.
James Channon 0:31
Hi, everyone. I'm James. I'm the Brand Manager for Magnum in the UK, working for Unilever.
Donata Peksa 0:35
Hi, everyone. I'm Donata Peksa, and I look after Brand Experience for HSBC.
Norman Kuo 0:39
Hi, guys. Norman, here. I'm the Head of Marketing and Strategy from Huawei Mobile Ecosystem Team in Singapore.
Tom Ollerton 0:45
Wow! What a mix! What a panel! This is gonna be a brilliant show. Let's see this week's ad.
So, guys, I'm going to get you to vote for how good you thought this activation was. Three, two, one... A four, a three, and a three. OK, brilliant. That's quite the video, but Donata, what are we actually watching here?
Donata Peksa 2:01
What we've just seen is a recent campaign, brand campaign from Greenpeace Brazil that projects the real effects of extreme events in the virtual city of Los Santos. So Los Santos is one of the most important cities in Grand Theft Auto computer game. The Greenpeace, alongside its agency, had a great idea of raising awareness about the climate change among younger audiences by basically creating that immersive city in the, in the metaverse and explaining what the results and repercussions of a three degree increase in temperature would be and how it's going to be submerged due to the climate crisis. And they also developed a whole activation campaign around it for young people to be able to actually engage with the game to understand a bit more what climate change is all about and what dangers of climate change we are all inevitably going to face.
Tom Ollerton 2:58
Did you think this is a good activation? It's a lovely video, but is this actually great marketing here?
Norman Kuo 3:03
I'm not sure about the actual activation, either, because I feel like there is not a clear linkage or call to action about this video in the end, for users to really download the app or try it right after the video. For me, like after watching this video, just like, this is a great piece talking about climate change and immersing myself in the virtual reality world, but I really don't know what's the key messaging behind it in terms of a user audience. What should I do? That's why I'm not so sure. But in terms of activation, it will really work out. But as an awareness kind of stage video campaign, I think it does leave a very good impression.
James Channon 3:39
I have pulled more hours into GTA V quite a few years ago. I've spent hours of my own life, sort of, in those locations, it's something, a place that's so familiar to so many people and gamers, more specifically. Telling people just how this environment will change as a result of the temperature rise, I think is such an interesting way of doing it. As a gamer, being able to ride a speedboat over the streets I used to like drive down would be a genuinely novel and interesting experience. And I would know in my head the reason I'm able to do this is for a terrible reason, and it has landed that awareness. And I'm not going to think for a second, "Oh, climate change is good because it means I can speedboat on a high street." You still land that key message.
Tom Ollerton 4:19
Do you think that showing something in a virtual setting will actually make people think? It was interesting to hear James as a native of Los Santos for many years, which is, which is great. Are people actually going to think, "I'm going to do something differently now."
Donata Peksa 4:33
Because it's in an unreal world and because it looks very realistic, I think maybe the gravity and the importance of the issue may not, you know, come across as strongly as it should. I didn't necessarily know what the call to action for me would be if I were the recipient of it. If you go to the website that is made available by Greenpeace, you can actually sign a petition to pressurize the government, basically, of Brazil and the governments. But again, to Norman's point, you would only realize that you can have that impact if you followed up on the link, which I don't think is actually made available in the clip itself.
Tom Ollerton 5:10
How could have this been better? What would be your builds here?
Norman Kuo 5:13
I do agree, like the overall touch and the tone can resonate with the younger generation. But here comes another question: whether the gamers will be the right target audiences because the whole idea is to encourage and drive the awareness of people's climate change kind of mindset and to encourage and pressure government about this. But will gamers to be the right target audiences? I think there's a big question mark. Let's say if GTA is already a done deal and then they want to have this kind of brand association. First, they can do some more, like, instead of just showing that the GTA kind of font or icon in the very end, right. What happened is maybe they can zoom out a little bit in the very beginning of the video or at the end of the video to show people, "Oh, this is actually happening on a mobile phone or it's actually happening in a VR goggle". So people know, oh, this is actually a game they can actually play. The other thing is the call to action in the end, instead of just showing like the Los Santos three degrees and then a very small URL at the bottom, right, perhaps they can extend the time a little bit longer and then split the Los Santos logo and the URL into different, two different cuts. I believe they can somehow drive the activation in this case.
Tom Ollerton 6:28
Do you think they've gone far enough here?
James Channon 6:29
I would say yes because I think the way that you talk about climate messaging, you don't... Obviously, you don't want it to come across in any way preachy or as if you're telling people things that they don't want to know or that they already know. Tying it in with the world of gaming is so tricky because gamers as an audience are just naturally more skeptical and aware of brands, can be a bit more scathing and sort of critical of when brands try on shoehorn something in. But I think what I like about this is that it doesn't feel shoehorned. It is just genuinely a new way to experience this world in this game. I do, however, though completely agree with the criticisms we've seen on the key message and the call to action at the end of it. I think the video falls victim of being a little bit in between two camps, where the video is neither a clear call for people to download this game pack and play the game, and neither is it a really clear message on, these are the impacts of climate change. It's all somewhere in between about playing a game and learn about it. I think a clearer distinguishing of exactly the role of this piece would have benefited to it.
Tom Ollerton 7:39
Right at the end of the advert, it says, "Come and play this game in the metaverse." Is this a metaverse execution or is this the agency positioning it as a matter of execution or does it even matter?
Donata Peksa 7:51
It's one of those things that everyone is talking about, and everyone wants to do something about it, but not necessarily knowing what it's supposed to be. So I think there are just a number of discussions about what constitutes metaverse. What can brands do in metaverse? There are more questions right now about metaverse than, than answers. Computer games in general, especially the ones that that are so genuine and authentic looking as GTA... Are, you know, metaverse in its own right, aren't they? Because they create a whole universe, virtual universe that's, that exists and there and brands exist in there and people exist in there and equivalent of countries and cities. By just saying that you're, you know, you exist in metaverse, and just partnering with GTA, is that enough to, to lure that audience, is probably a good question to ask.
James Channon 8:41
For me as a consumer on the, on the metaverse point... It almost, in terms of how it made me feel, it almost frustrated me a little, because it kind of, it made me question my own understanding of what the metaverse was. That's all that tagged on, and I was, "I thought the Metaverse was like something on Facebook and also I swear that, that was just GTA. I've been playing GTA for years. That's not the metaverse." And that made me question my understanding of it, which is not a nice feeling to think at the end of an advert. So that I did find it to be something that was, didn't leave me with the best aftertaste. One of confusion and questioning my own understanding of something, maybe it is our duty to build a better understanding. But either way, it's still a... Serious thing when you see an ad and you question. It makes the question exactly why is that? What does that mean? Like, what's the role, etc.?
Tom Ollerton 9:25
Well, there you have it. Thanks so much, guys. Norman, Donata, and James. We'll see you all underwater at some point in Los Santos.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel
Listen to our ‘Shiny New Object’ Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and Soundcloud.