We want our audience to quickly understand the visual, but we also need them to make a deeper emotional connection with it on second glance. Our idea uses two key visual elements. The first being euro coins stacked on top of each other. This symbolises the monetary value and the financial return on investment. The second element is the rings of a tree. The rings are used to tell the age of a tree; the more rings a tree has, the older that tree is. Therefore, as the tree grows out from the one-cent coin, it becomes more valuable, similar to an investment growing over time. Together, these two visual elements form a powerful visual idea to execute our insight. In summary, we entice the audience with a familiar but unusual visual, and we tie it all together with carefully crafted copy.

We discovered an insight that solves our two creative challenges. Our insight is that ‘not only is nature our greatest asset, but it’s the only asset that’s guaranteed to grow every year’. There is a double message in this insight, in that when the tree grows naturally every year the financial return is growing too. It is a positive and emotional insight while also being true to EcoTree’s unique offer. We believe it is a perfect combination of what EcoTree does, which is addressing climate change and providing a financial gain.

But most importantly it places nature at the forefront. By using nature as the starting point it allowed us to create an execution that would answer the emotional aspect of the brief. But it was important for us to emphasise the rational aspect too so we could create a memorable print ad that’s unique to EcoTree. So, because our target audience of climate conscious individuals are first-time buyers, we needed to communicate a message that is in reach for them. They need to think it’s attainable. By using small coins that most people would carry as pocket change, we believe it represents small-scale buying accessible to all. It also complements the fact that we don’t want to make false promises in that this is a massive investment payout either.

The copy is sincere but it is not corporate or forceful. Its aim is to inform the audience that they have the power to enact change if they want to.