Marketing Hotline: It's time to touch grass

When was the last time you appreciated the great outdoors? I’m not talking about when you HAD to go outdoors to walk the dog, crack out that 5km, or went on a hot girl walk to the station. I mean really listened to the birds, sniffed the frosty air, maybe smelled a rose?

Look, I’m not saying I’m doing this regularly. As I kid I couldn’t think of anything worse than being forced outside to play. Even now, I’d much rather be indoors… which is a problem since I have a high-energy dog that needs minimum two hours of exercise, sometimes more as he goes through his ‘I might eat the sofa if you ditch the morning walk’ teen phase.

These days, finding the time to truly connect with nature is tough. We’re all chronically online and tethered to our devices, with to-do lists longer than War and Peace. Worse if you’re a woman in winter and you can’t face the idea out heading out after 5pm because it’s pitch black.

At the same time our social media feeds are awash with the concept of self-care, but it’s seriously over-commercialised. Putting yourself first online means candles, face masks, a ten-step skincare routine. What if it could be as easy as, as the kids say, touching grass? That’s why WWF’s Prescription for Nature is simple and beautiful.

There are so many ways brands can get mental health wrong.

Take Blue Monday, a social media moment that has been disproven time and time again as a capitalist stunt to get people to buy things. In fact, many mental health charities are pointing to research that says actually, if you’re already struggling at this time of year, this constant obsession with the ‘most depressing day of the year’ is likely to make you feel worse.

Every year, I find myself sitting in meetings arguing against any sort of profiteering moment around it, because no matter how well-intentioned, you’re probably going to get it wrong and isolate a lot of people who genuinely suffer during one of the darkest (literally) times of year.

WWF’s gorgeous campaign, launched in October last year and timed to land on World Mental Health Day, is a masterclass in taking a serious subject matter and finding a way to spark joy.

It centred around encouraging people to get their ‘daily dose of nature’, using their iconic brand (who doesn’t recognise that tiny panda? 🐼) to spread a vital message around wellbeing, as well as protecting and appreciating the great outdoors.

What WWF did right was grounding this campaign in bonafide research and partnering with the right people. According to WWF’s Evidence Base:

“In the UK, we are witnessing a mental health crisis. For example, one in six people in England report experiencing a common mental health problem (such as anxiety or depression) in any given week.

There is a strong body of evidence that engaging with nature supports good mental health. Benefits of accessing and engaging with natural environments include reduced stress, reduced anxiety, psychological restoration, improved mood and life satisfaction, improved self esteem and confidence, and improved emotional regulation. Yet, Britons are not getting the full benefit of this opportunity.”

They were able to secure funding from ITV’s Head First Award, an advertiser-facing industry initiative which aims to shine a spotlight on mental wellbeing and inspire positive action, which led to a 60-second ad spot during primetime TV featuring This Morning’s own GP, Dr Sara Kayat.

In the ad embedded below, we hear the sounds of Dr Kayat’s bustling GP office gently give way to nature’s symphony: a gentle breeze rustling through the forest, crispy leaves crunching, and distant birds twittering. The camera gently pans from the sterile lighting of a medical setting to a gorgeous golden hour hue filtering through the canopy of leaves. It’s enough to make you want to run outside, right?

For this campaign, it’s the strength of the creative that makes it truly memorable. Juxtaposing clinical settings and prescription imagery against tranquil shots of nature and gently swaying greenery is a powerful way to underscore the campaign’s core message: sometimes that silly little walk for your silly little mental health can be life-changing, giving you a whole new perspective on your life.

With mass attention secured on-screen, WWF continued to tap into every possible opportunity. Working with Uncommon Creative Studio, they brought the great outdoors to a great number of out-of-home spots with their ‘20 minutes to be taken every day’ messaging popping up on the London Underground, bus stops, and other dynamic placements across the UK.

This campaign represents a positive step forward for the WWF brand. It brings their conservation message into real-life scenarios to show the benefit of protecting and enjoying our natural spaces. Given the ongoing conversations about climate change and the overwhelm people feel in tackling huge issues like this, it demonstrates WWF’s innate understanding of the general consumer mood and takes the time to showcase how the little things add up.

Speaking of, while of course WWF have got the show-stopping, PR-driving, out-of-home elements that made this campaign unmissable… for me, it’s the little things that truly add up here too. Particularly in digital environments. Let me name just a few.

First of all, WWF’s ‘Your Daily Dose of Nature’ YouTube playlist, designed to support wellbeing with bite-size video content. While there are brand new videos to support the new campaign, the playlist also features several years’ worth of nature videos for you to immerse yourself in. An excellent way of repurposing existing content to give it a new lease of life in a brand-new context, saving time and budget.

They’ve also been thoughtful about how to integrate the wealth of content being produced by the brand, but also for the brand, into a vibrant social media campaign that can live on beyond the physical elements of the marketing campaign. Embedded in the Prescription for Nature online hub, WWF have cleverly tapped into user-generated content (UGC) popping up onlione, with an embedded Instagram feed showing how everyday people are getting their daily dose of nature.

Last but most certainly not least, I particularly love their situation-specific prescriptions - hosted on the Prescription for Nature online hub - that aim to make spending more time in nature truly accessible no matter where you live, such as getting your daily dose at work, connecting with nature on your doorstep, and even free wellbeing packs delivered right to your door.

Lisa Lee, executive director of brand, campaigns and communications at WWF, said:

"At WWF our job is to restore nature, but through this campaign, we want to remind people that nature can help restore us too. Whether looking at a rainbow, listening to birdsong, or jumping in a puddle and getting your trainers muddy, nature can make you feel good - proven to help reduce anxiety and improve mood."

P.S. It’s been a little while since your last Marketing Hotline, but next time we’ll be deep-diving into TV marketing campaigns. That iconic Netflix / Apple TV / HBO marketing campaign you’ve been thinking about? Get ready for a behind-the-scenes deep dive into what got people talking.

Plus I’m busy working on a short series of articles about how word-of-mouth creates fiction bestsellers - based on my MA research conducted with real case study interviews - AND I’ll be chatting to a brilliant marketing colleague about the Butter campaign we collaborated on. Make sure to subscribe if you haven’t already!

Until next time,

Rach x