Powerful Pen — Jereek Espiritu

Earth’s Most Powerful Tool: The Pen
Integrated Campaign • Direct • PR • Activation

Every year, Cannes Lions hosts a competition open to all its attendees called The Brief. For its third iteration, the challenge was to unite the creative industry in driving meaningful action against climate change.

We developed a campaign that empowered creative individuals to rewrite the planet’s future using a simple yet powerful tool—the pen.

This idea won us a spot in the Finals.

We asked ourselves a simple question: What if we put the power to tackle the climate crisis directly into the hands of our audience?

In the lead up to COP28, the world’s largest conference for climate action, we will send a special box to creative and communications agencies worldwide. Addressed to influential creative leaders with a proven commitment to sustainability, this box serves as a call to action.

Inside in the kit however, only one tool will be found: the pen.

We remind these leaders that the pen has the power to change the world. The letter is an ode to communications, as well as an invitation to sign the pledge to join the coalition and help rewrite our planet’s future. A QR code leads them to a landing page where they can learn more and get involved.

Over the following days, we will dominate the event reminding them about the power this pen holds—from installing intriguing emergency climate crisis displays around the venue to sharing unboxing social videos online.

On COP28’s final day, we’ll host an exclusive networking dinner for creative leaders, marking the launch of their involvement with our coalition, EPIC. This is where our mission comes to life, as we invite them to sign the pledge and use the pen to spark meaningful change.

What’s the Lore?
We had about 3 weeks to work on this brief. A fair amount of time because we were doing it remotely and in between work. But what’s funny was we cracked this idea 3 days before the deadline. Look at our happy faces when we cracked it. Talk about clutch. A good example that you really have to go through piles of bad ideas before that aha! moment.

Though we didn’t win, the global jury gave some promising feedback. “Strong presentation, relevant insight.” one jury said. Another one commented, “Empowered audience with one central idea.” Another praised it saying, “It’s executable. Good symbolism. And liked the ‘break in case of emergency’ stunt.”

Made with at Team Natural Selection
Copywriter: Liam Ratliff
Strategy: Elyse Killingback, Hilary Tay

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