A Unique Opportunity
DHX Advertising, the agency I'm creative director for, has partnered with Keep Oregon Green for over 5 years to spread their message of forest fire prevention and reducing human-caused wildfires. This year, Keep Oregon Green came to us with the exciting opportunity of designing a new Oregon license plate featuring the beloved Smokey Bear and the challenge to make it happen.
Designing the Plate
In the design phase many options were explored but Smokey Bear–who KOG has the rights to use and is celebrating his 75th anniversary–clearly rose to the top. Layout, color and design options were explored and eventually settled on a version where Smokey peeks in from the right–reminiscent of how he appeared in many historic posters.
Making it Happen
In order to make those plates a reality, Keep Oregon Green had to find 3,000 people willing to purchase a plate voucher. We created a social media campaign that resulted in immediate success. After news of the plate was picked up by major news stations and social media accounts, the 3,000 plate vouchers sold in a record time of 10 days.
Building on Success
The immediate success and excitement around the Smokey Bear plates has set Keep Oregon Green up for a successful fire prevention awareness campaign throughout the summer of 2019. The Smokey plate with unique messaging will appear as the key visual for their outdoor and social media campaigns.
