Tiempo BBDO: THINK PRINT

Credits & Description:

Category: Environmental PR

Advertiser: TIEMPO BBDO

Product/Service: PRINT APP

Agency: TIEMPO BBDO

Agency: BURSON-MARSTELLER BARCELONA

Chief Creative Officer: Siscu Molina (Tiempo BBDO)

Creative Director: Marc Caballé (Tiempo BBDO)

Art Director: David Freixanet (Tiempo BBDO)

App Development: Jorge Luna

App Development: Juan Jose Chiw

Flash Development: Miquel Cussó

Flash Development: Daniel Baena

Media placement: Internal Communication - Mail - 26 October 2011

Media placement: Internal Communication - Intranet - 26 October 2011

Media placement: Corporate Communication - Press Release - 26 October 2011

Media placement: Corporate Communication - Blogs And Social Media - 27 October 2011

Media placement: Corporate Communication - Online Media - 27 October 2011



Summary of the Campaign

Every night, when we turn off the lights at Tiempo BBDO Barcelona and go home, there are thousands of sheets of paper left in the printer that nobody has bothered to collect. People print things out, but don’t pick them up. By the end of the year that mounts up to a lot of wasted paper and toner. But however much we’ve told people about this by sending them emails, adding reminders to emails and putting up explicit notices above the printer, they just ignore them. We didn’t want people to stop printing things out: We just wanted them to do it responsibly. So we decided to try to convince them by tackling the issue from the standpoint of responsibility to the environment. To make them aware that every time they print something out irresponsibly, they’re seriously harming the environment. We therefore created an application and installed it in all the agency’s computers. The application is an exact replica of the dialogue box that comes up on the computer screen when you execute the print command, but with the difference that the bar telling you how the printing process is progressing turns into a mechanical saw. As this bar/saw moves forward, it cuts down the trees that have grown in the print box. By the time the print process has finished, none of the trees is left standing. The application has been optimised for both Mac and PC.



The Situation

We needed people at the agency to think twice before printing something out, to understand that by the end of the year this unnecessary waste of paper had an extremely high cost for the company and the planet.

We tried putting deterrent messages on the printer and in our email footers, but to no avail.



The Goal

For the workers at Tiempo BBDO to take responsibility for the paper they use in printing things out



The Strategy

We installed the application during the night, so when the Tiempo BBDO workers arrived in the morning and got ready to print a document, the application took them by surprise.



Execution

We installed the application during the night, so when the Tiempo BBDO workers arrived in the morning and got ready to print a document, the application took them by surprise. Everything worked as we had planned and people reacted extremely well.



Documented Results

The results have been spectacular. People reacted positively and responsibly to the application. Now, when we go home at night, there is very little paper left in the printer out-tray and people instinctively look for the owners of the abandoned paper to reproach them for leaving it there. It has been such a success that we have decided to make the application available free of charge through the internet so that any employer or person who wants to can take advantage of it.