Sam Carder and Mollie Skeffington, co-founders of Root Creative Global, share their approach to ‘Unleashing the power of music in service of the planet’; a new campaign for co-founder Brian Eno’s music charity EarthPercent.

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An introduction

Having already partnered with EarthPercent (EP), to pledge a donation on each project Root Creative Global create and both being aligned in ambitions to spearhead a mindset shift within our respective industries, we naturally began conversations regarding EP’s visual language and campaign creation. As a new company we were delighted to be trusted with such an important campaign: ‘Unleashing the power of music in service of the planet‘, informs how we can all be a part of the solution when supporting musicians globally and motivates the music industry to act now.

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The production process

At Root, we embark on every new creative project armed with a determination to maximise efficiency and minimise waste from the very inception. So, when storyboarding EP’s first motion campaign, we found ourselves pondering a transformative question: Why not extend the principles of reusability, as exemplified by our solutions like Slow Styling and Slow Set, to still imagery and motion campaigns.

To build a global representation of music, nature and portrait imagery within the campaign would otherwise require a vast amount of national and international travel. By harnessing the power of reusing visuals, we eliminate the need for newness. No new photoshoot or film set: no unnecessary environmental toll. What’s more, a staggering 4.7 billion images are shared around the world daily; reusing imagery grants us access to a global library of images that would be impossible to capture within the confines of a singular shoot day and budget.  

We pulled together 50+ creatives from around the world, totalling 121 images from 21 countries. Additionally, we reused music from Brian Eno’s extensive catalogue, chose to work from a base that uses green energy, logged all our video calls, emails and data storage to accurately and transparently show how we made this campaign physically and digitally.  

After collaborating with AdGreen for more than a year and gaining firsthand insight into the profound effects of transport and energy consumption on production, the calculator has become an integral part of our decision-making process. That’s why for this project with EP we recognised that opting for our initial creative approach, which involved reusing imagery and avoiding a new shoot was the most effective strategy to achieve an impactful campaign with as little impact to the climate as possible. Utilising the AdGreen calculator, we totalled a minimal 0.19t C02e; an impressive 96% saving on carbon emissions based on the AdGreen annual review 2022 mean average statistic of 4.7t CO2e. This is a carbon saving similar to the weight of 30 baby elephants or flying economy from London to New York 4 times.

In the process of quantifying the minimal carbon emissions associated with the campaign, Root went the extra mile to source certified statistics from industry experts for their digital carbon footprint. This included calculating the carbon cost of all emails sent, hours spent on video calls, hours spent using laptops, all image uploads/downloads and cloud storage. This totalled 0.37t CO2e, bringing the full campaign total to 0.57t CO2e.

On behalf of this project, Root has offset 5.2 tonnes of carbon with Ecologi, 8 times more than the total produced (when combining both production and digital footprints – 0.57t CO2e). Full breakdown of digital carbon footprint available on request.

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Working with the client

Throughout every phase, EP consistently demonstrated a keen awareness of the significant reduction in carbon footprint achievable by abstaining from a new shoot. We actively engage our clients in every aspect of the creative and production processes, providing transparent insights into our collective efforts to craft campaigns responsibly. This collaborative approach is integral to the development of all our campaigns, requiring unanimous agreement on all fronts to minimise carbon emissions and waste at every stage.

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Looking ahead

At Root Creative we have developed 17 solutions (and counting) each representing dynamic strategies aimed at maintaining environmental and social responsibility in our projects. Alongside this campaign, we proudly introduce our 18th solution: the integration of reused imagery and motion. Where necessary, we will incorporate this approach into our future planning, ensuring that we consistently provide our clients with the most green, effective strategies during the initial storyboarding of creative concepts for upcoming campaigns and productions.

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