When W Communications wanted to raise the profile of a ‘green’ campaign from eco-friendly cleaning company Seventh Generation and plant conservation experts PlantLife with a unique activation – they turned to Sketch Events.

Sketch has proven experience delivering creative campaigns and activatins for environmental and ‘green’ clients. The brands were looking to raise awareness of their petition to put plants higher up the climate change agenda, by calling on the government to deliver on its promise to create or restore 500,000 hectares of wildlife rich habitat by 2043. Achieving this target could absorb the emissions of every registered vehicle in the UK.

Eye-catching replica

Sketch designed and built a giant “Plant Pavilion”, a replica of Brighton’s famous Pavilion, to publicise the launch, raise awareness and increase engagement. Brighton was chosen by Seventh Generation as the city with the highest sustainability credentials in the UK.

Sketch’s in-house props team worked with Tomoko O’Reilly, a local plant and horticultural expert, to build the structure, measuring a whopping 7.5m x 4.5m, in the heart of the city’s famous Lanes.

Increased engagement

The eye-catching activation attracted considerable interest from passers-by all day, and they were encouraged to sign the petition in return for a plant from the installation.

Sketch also designed and printed seed paper leaflets to hand out to the public. The leaflets contained cornflower seeds to germinate and grow at home – another way to maintain engagement after the event.

The Plant Pavilion was constructed from over 1,800 plants native to Sussex, which have now been donated to local charities, community schemes and schools in and around the Brighton area.

Plant power

Seventh Generation’s brand manager, Mathieu Desbrandes, said: “We know that plants have the power to help fight climate change and protect the future of generations to come, and we are fighting to give them a place on the government’s agenda.”

Seventh Generation commissioned a report from Mark Maslin, professor of earth system science at University College London. It said that planting on just 2% of the UK’s land mass would absorb the emissions of every vehicle in the UK and would have the same impact as 75% of the population switching to a vegan diet for a year.

You can watch a time-lapse video of the build of the activation here: Time-lapse-video