Minderoo turned plastic pollution into a daily weather forecast

Plastic pollution is measured in tonnes and parts per million, which stays abstract for most people, yet plastic treaty negotiations were happening in Paris and needed public pressure.

M&C Saatchi and the Minderoo Foundation turned the science into 'The Plastic Forecast', a weather report telling people how many kilograms of plastic would fall on them that day, with live 3D 'plastic clouds' reacting to actual rainfall.

It launched on the eve of the negotiations and ran across major French networks' daily weather reports for the whole week, reaching about 1.31 billion people and drawing more than 2,350 media mentions.

Put an abstract crisis in an everyday, automatic format

Weather is an automatic, trusted daily habit, so borrowing the format made an environmental metric feel normal and unavoidable.

Live data tied the number to the viewer's own city and the actual weather, making the crisis personal and immediate.

It gave journalists a ready-made segment, so the campaign reached audiences through the news it sought to influence.

The treaty talks gave it a deadline and a venue, concentrating the world's media attention during the launch window.

An abstract number becomes urgent when it is delivered in a format people already trust and check daily.

The Plastic Forecast won a Silver Lion, five shortlists at Cannes, a One Show Green Pencil and a D&AD placement, and secured UN endorsement on World Environment Day. Minderoo planned to roll the forecast out to more cities, turning a campaign into a reusable tool.