San Francisco Department of the Environment: Grandma

Credits & Description:

Headline and copy text: “If we can’t bury grandma in the city, we surely can’t handle your extra coffee cups.” (No cemetary plots are available in San Francisco.) Hashtag: “Composting. It’s the #SFThingToDo”
Advertised brand: San Francisco Department of the Environment
Advert title(s): “Grandma”
Country: United States of America
Advertising Agency: School of Thought, San Francisco, U.S.A.
Agency website: http://schoolofthought.com
Creative Director: Tom Geary
Art Director: Faruk Sagcan
Copywriter: Tom Geary
Published: May, 2015
Short rationale: To reach its goal of “Zero Waste” by 2020, the San Francisco Department of the Environment will run a $.5 million (in-city media) ad campaign, created by San Francisco agency School of Thought, intended to encourage composting. Separating compostables (mainly food scraps and food-soiled paper products) and recyclables from other garbage is already mandatory, but if the city is to stop exporting garbage, more citizens will have to start composting, at home.
It’s a yucky problem. The strategy is to present the messy issue in an urban, “San Francisco” tone of voice. The ads assume some local knowledge. Some are neighborhood-specific.