Air Heroes
E.ON
Issue 61 | February 2022
Agency
ENGINE
Creative Team
Executive Creative Director: Aaron Goldring Creative Director: Ross Newton Art Director: Alicia Job Copywriter: Jessica Pacey
Production Team
Project Management: Sophie Richaume Agency Producer: Alex Honnor, Henry Davies Designers: Joao Miranda, Nick Dinnen, Matt Baines, Marina Suprunova, Paul Kennerley Photographer: Mark Wesley Director/Production Co: Thomas Ormonde at MindsEye Cape Designer: Jo Tutchener-Sharp Patented Fabric: theBreath® Media agency: Dentsu and Starcom
Other Credits
Head of Strategy: Allan Blair Planners: Jack Cartwright, Kathryn Loosley, Gemma Glover Account Management: Rob Carter, Kat Thompson, Olivia Conroy PR: Jade Barringer
Date
September 2021
Background
E.ON is committed to renewable electricity and low-carbon energy solutions. But it also wants to encourage the British public to make more environmentally friendly choices. Air pollution is a major environmental issue that individuals’ actions can make a real difference to. During peak morning traffic, one in five cars are taking children to school. The daily school run is responsible for creating half a million tonnes of CO2 per year. (That’s more than some small countries). So, how could E.ON encourage parents and children to ditch the car and walk to school, whenever possible, instead?
Idea
E.ON joined forces with fashion brand Scamp & Dude to create a product that would – literally – empower school children to make a real difference to air quality. Superhero-inspired capes were created that gave kids the ability to become pollution-fighting Air Heroes simply by wearing one on their walk to school.
Their unique Air Hero capes come with a powerful insert called theBreath®. This is an innovative, patented fabric that’s designed to absorb and disaggregate harmful particles in the air. Built into the cape design, it gives each cape the power to actively remove two petrol cars’ worth of pollution over a year.
The campaign was kicked off on the first day of the new school year; the moment when school-run behaviour could most easily be shaped. The launch of the capes was supported by the epic ‘Air Heroes’ digital film. Podcasters and influencers were involved too, showing the cape in action and modelling the behaviour they wanted people to adopt. The idea was to team up with the Cartoon Network and Boomerang to create a series of sponsorships and idents, plus a special collaboration with Teen Titans Go! from the popular kids TV show. And lessons were even created for kids on the issue of air pollution, which were delivered in schools. Each element of the campaign directed parents to a competition on E.ON’s website, where they could win the ground-breaking, pollution-destroying capes for their child’s entire class.
A truly innovative real-world product was created and advertising was used to make it feel easy to take part in the fight against dirty air. The fact that the capes are still being bought in their masses via the Scamp & Dude website is testament to their popularity. The secret? Leverage something rarely seen in campaigns aiming to shape people’s behaviour: fun.
Results
It’s too early for full results to be available, but the campaign certainly caught the imagination of parents and children across the UK, helping to establish E.ON as a leading voice on air pollution. The campaign is still live, but to date it has achieved:
• 159 pieces of press coverage, including The Sun, Express, and Evening Standard
• 17.6 million advertising impressions
• 53,000 clicks through to the competition