Mascots have the power to resonate with local communities, using emotion, humor and narrative to attract attention. Gigantic created Fred Frog and Izzy Egret to communicate the urban-creek-bay connection through simple, easy to understand narratives.
CHALLENGE
Understanding how urban and suburban communities contribute to stormwater pollution is complicated and often too “scientific” to gather widespread interest. To communicate the importance of watershed health, Clean Water Program had lots of fact sheets, event booths and ads, and provided community grants and school programs; but they wanted to create a promotional campaign that would result in high level understanding of and support for water pollution prevention programs.
SERVICES
- Campaign Design & Implementation
- Concept Development
- Digital & Social Media
- Mascot Development
- Media Buy
- Video Script & Production
APPROACH
Gigantic proposed using mascots to act out the lived experience of pollution impacts by wildlife. After researching and developing concepts, we and client selected two local species: the red-legged frog and snowy egret to create the now iconic puppets. Since 2018, we’ve added new videos to encompass all of the strategic communications goals of the program. Fred & Izzy help Alameda County residents understand impacts of litter, car washing, gardening and surface washing/hosing. They also promote positive actions such as cleanups, purchasing less toxic pesticides, and enjoying nature. To reflect diverse audiences, four of the original videos are now available with Spanish and Chinese scripts, which have been culturally adapted and translated. Each video is promoted, using a mix of social media, digital ads, e-blasts and a County Fair exhibit booth. Vertical formats have garnered new reach to a younger generation with Tik Tok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.
RESULTS
As of August 2022, the videos have been viewed on YouTube over 1.5 million times combined. The social media promotions also provided us with informative feedback from residents, highlighting questions, comments that have helped inform future outreach.
To view the videos, visit the Fred & Izzy Playlists on the YouTube channel.
