2025 Winner

CASE SUMMARY

In June 2022, the University of Canterbury in NZ published the world’s first study confirming that fresh Antarctic snow was polluted with microplastics.

This alarming discovery prompted Agenda Antártica, an NGO dedicated to environmental preservation in the Antarctica continent and the Southern Ocean, with the aim of mobilizing worldwide support for a robust Global Plastics Treaty.

With rising climate fatigue, our approach to gaining support for this treaty couldn’t be ‘just another petition’. They needed to do something that turned this issue from conceptual to tangible in the eyes of each and every global citizen – creating a sense of urgency and driving action.

Microplastics are invisible to the human eye, which creates a real barrier to understanding and urgency. People are more likely to act when the problem itself
is tangible, so they set out to make the invisible, visible.

To do this, the agency leaned into the power of design. They chose to leverage the visual symbolism of Antarctica’s flag as a tool for showcasing the severity
of the problem.

Only then could they ignite a global conversation about the environmental responsibilities and compel action.

Graham Bartram, a renowned vexillologist, created the original Antarctica flag in 1996: a pure white image of the continent set against a bright blue background. A celebration of its pristine beauty. They commissioned him to reimagine his original design in a way that would illustrate the impact of microplastics on the environment.

Instead of a single, contained shape, a pointillism-like technique was introduced; maintaining the continent’s outline but breaking its body up with the use of the distinct colours, shapes and sizes of the microplastics identified in the original findings – weighted to the frequency at which they were found. The new, colourful flag now highlighted the devastating impurities in the pristine snow.

They launched the new flag and campaign at the high profile COP28 to get the attention of decision makers who would later take part in plastics treaty negotiations.

Simultaneously, a dedicated website was developed to serve as the backbone of the campaign, providing in-depth information about the microplastic crisis. All was accompanied by an urgent global call to sign a petition for the passing of a new Global Plastics Treaty.

Then, they delivered the petition – with more than 220,000 signatures – at INC in Ottawa, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee Conference for the development of an international legally binding agreement on plastic pollution.

The campaign was highly successful, helping to gather 220,000 signatures from 170 countries for the Global Plastics Treaty. The redesigned Antarctica flag became a beacon of hope, symbolizing our collective responsibility towards our planet.

Political figures and influential environmentalists, such as Brazil's Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Marina Silva and established environmentalist Linda Cruise endorsed the campaign.

And, most importantly, the agency achieved what they set out to do: a first-of-its-kind plastic reduction and ban commitment was passed.

Credits

Vini Dalvi, Chief Creative Officer -
Victor Yves, Head of Art -
Andre Bittar, Copywriter Papoco, Creative
Joanna Monteiro, Chief Creative Officer-
 
Pam Portsmouth: VP, Head of Production -
Cherie Rudy, Director of Print Production Services -
 
The Pub Toronto Editorial: 
Karen Huybers, Executive Producer -
Scott Edwards, Editor
Neal McAuley, Editor
 
Music: Magma Music Agency 
Music Supervision: Michael Bertoldini, Andrea Morelli 
Music Production: Seppl Kretz, Marvin Losch
 
Director: Yan Cucco
Director Assistant: Linda Djelailia

Deanna Natalizio - Senior Account Manager, North Strategic
Sage Chislett, Account Executive, North Strategic
Jessica Savage, Executive Sponsor, North Strategic 
Sophie Prefol, PR Lead, Publicis Groupe Canada