A New Campaign from WWF Is Hard to Watch — That’s the Point
WWF’s new fight against climate change sends a stark message
When WWF decided to produce an ad touting the urgency of combating climate change, the nonprofit organization settled on a unique, yet compelling marketing strategy. Produced in partnership with the TRY Advertising Agency headquartered in Norway, the resulting “Broken Records” campaign, released during the Summer Olympics in Paris, features voiceovers by sports announcers juxtaposed with images depicting ecological disasters, such as Greece facing the largest wildfires ever in the European Union (2023) and new heat records throughout the world. It’s a compelling yet unnerving ad that makes it difficult to look away — and that’s precisely the point.
This article by Brion O’Connor first appeared in the ANA Magazine on November 25, 2024, as part of the organization’s series on Social Impact. Brion O’Connor is a Boston-based freelance writer and a longtime contributor to the ANA, specializing in social impact initiatives. His 40-year journalism career includes stints as a newspaper reporter, newspaper editor, magazine writer, and content provider for custom publications. His stories have run in Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Men’s Journal, Men’s Fitness, the New York Times, the Boston Globe, Ski, Bicycling, and numerous alumni and in-flight magazines.
“This campaign came out of our European offices, where the concept really resonated with our climate experts,” says Terry Macko, SVP of marketing and communications at ANA member WWF. “It’s the kind of effort we’re doing day in, day out, all year long.” He adds, “We all felt it was right. In a network like ours, when you get enough people around the table and everybody’s in agreement, you know you have something that’s going to resonate.”
WWF — known by its iconic panda bear logo — was founded in 1961 with the aim of protecting the planet and endangered species threatened by human development. One of the world’s largest conservation organizations, WWF now has more than six million supporters and is active in nearly 100 countries.
A 60-second spot from WWF titled “The Climate Games: Broken Records.” Timed to coincide with the Summer Olympics in Paris, the ad juxtaposes sports commentators describing feats of athletic achievement with images of environmental disasters including raging wildfires and floods.
Click for WWF Internationalist spot on YouTube.
The “Broken Records” campaign reflects the organization’s mission to conserve nature and reduce imminent threats to biodiversity. It cuts a sharp contrast between hearing the exultation of sports commentators highlighting the pinnacle of athletic achievement and seeing footage of fires, floods, and environmental destruction.
“The campaign is an opportunity for WWF to highlight the impacts of climate change at a really relevant moment, when the world was coming together to celebrate the Olympics,” Macko says. “In celebrating the Olympics, people are celebrating the amazing records that are being broken in sports. But we have the ability to contrast that celebration with the tragedy of breaking climate records.”
Meaningful Response
It was crucial to associate the campaign with the Summer Olympics and fuel attention to climate “records,” Macko says, ranging from long-lasting tropical cyclones in Madagascar and Mozambique to the largest wildfires ever recorded in Europe to a record-breaking string of 100-degree-plus temperatures in Arizona.
Indeed, last June was the twelfth consecutive month that global temperatures exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.
“Rings of Fire: Heat Risks at the 2024 Paris Olympics,” a report published by Basis, Front Runners, and Climate Central, outlines the various ways that extreme heat can put athletes at risk and endanger their performance.
“We saw the athletes experience climate change during the Paris Olympics,” says Tara Doyle, a spokesperson at WWF. “There was extreme heat, 40 degrees Celsius, that was really unprecedented for that area. There were instances of heat stroke. That really tied together the importance of our message and the timeliness of the message, that these athletes were experiencing climate change in real time as we were watching.”
The response to the “Broken Records” campaign has been swift. By Labor Day — shortly after the Summer Olympics’ closing ceremonies — the video had garnered more than 3.3 million views across social media platforms (including nearly one million views on YouTube).
The media responded in kind, with more than 1,300 outlets picking up the story. What’s more, thousands had signed a WWF petition urging world leaders to accelerate the transition from fossil fuels to clean energy sources.
Fall In
The video campaign was supplemented by an email outreach to WWF members, with the bulk of emails going to members primarily based in the U.S. “We have broad reach to people who are environmentally minded and can spread the word,” Macko says. “We take advantage of media and social media, but also the deep personal relationships that we have with supporters and activists.”
The campaign’s timing also gave WWF a platform leading up to Climate Week NYC in September, hosted by the Climate Group in conjunction with the UN General Assembly, and the 2024 UN Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan in November.
“The fall is a really important time for climate change, and the people who are leading our actions to fight against climate change,” Macko says, adding the caveat that it “remains to be seen” if global decision-makers have heeded the campaign’s call to action.
While WWF wasn’t an official sponsor of the Summer Olympics, tying the campaign to the quadrennial competition among elite athletes enabled the organization to reach a global audience of roughly three billion people.
“What we could do is tap into the energy of people who are enthusiastic and excited about breaking records but deliver the message of the other records that are being broken that we don’t want to see broken,” Macko says. “It was a way of cementing that construct with people, because when it comes to climate, records are unfortunately going to continue to be broken after the Olympics.”
Macko acknowledged WWF officials discussed the potential risk of delivering a mixed message, one that might dampen the enthusiasm of the Summer Games by emphasizing the dire consequences of failing to address climate change.
“At WWF, we paint a picture of hope and optimism about the future, and we believe that we can address these kinds of problems with the right solutions,” Macko adds. “We think it’s important to look at the facts and be realistic and understand what’s truly happening in the world.”
Three-Pronged Strategy
Another reason to align the campaign with the Summer Olympics? Phenomenal athletic accomplishments aren’t achieved without dedication, commitment, and hard work, the same qualities needed to tackle climate change.
“We have to transform our economies,” Macko adds. “We have to move the world off of fossil fuels. We have to have a 100-percent renewable economy within decades. That’s going to be a lot of hard work, but we absolutely will experience that pain as we move to that bigger brighter bolder future.”
Marcene Mitchell, SVP of climate change at WWF, stresses the organization’s ability to effectively combat climate change boils down to three disciplines.
“The first is we have to stop emitting greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere and overwhelming the planet’s natural carbon cycle,” she says. “The second thing we need to do is bolster the planet’s natural ability to manage the carbon cycle. Third, we need to address the climate impacts that are already happening: rising sea levels, increased frequency and severity of storms, heat waves, and wildfires.”
Macko says it’s too early to say whether WWF will launch a similar campaign during the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy. But he expects the organization to continue making sure its voice is heard.
“Based on what we saw here, the future holds a lot more messaging around climate change and the significance of what is happening and how quickly we need to act,” Macko adds. “You’ll see us doing a lot more, taking advantage of moments when the world is watching.”
