We paid for an insert, but the whole magazine (the entire medium) became part of the BlueMotion message. Although currently just in one region, with early reports suggesting a roughly 9% response rate so far (nearly double the 5% expected), we’re in discussions to expand The BlueMotion Label to other regions of the country. Ironically, the smallest Volkswagen print ad we’ve ever made may have the largest potential to make a real difference.

By asking an unusual question, we arrived at an unusual solution. Not an ordinary print ad, but a small insert that could actually be used to recycle the whole magazine.

No longer needing photography, we put the production budget into buying prepaid postage. So all that people would have to do is peel off the label’s backing, stick it on the front cover, and drop it into their nearest post box – which are commonplace in South Africa, unlike formal recycle binsJust by making use the existing infrastructure in a different way, a small print insert turned ordinary post boxes into a network of makeshift recycle bins.A little print ad was helping save the entire magazine from becoming trash.

The objective was to create a new print campaign for Volkswagen BlueMotion – the more eco-conscious arm of VW. Every BlueMotion car contains a number of small, considered changes that reduce the vehicle’s impact on the environment.But the insight we had was that magazines clutter up people’s homes, and then eventually end up in landfills, meaning that all the print advertising inside them (including our own) contributes to paper wastage.

So we asked ourselves a simple question: can a print ad help save paper, not waste it?