Royal Ontario Museum captivates with a campaign spanning 3 billion years
Royal Ontario Museum (ROM)’s latest campaign carries an important message around preserving nature, proving big budget ads aren’t just for Christmas.
We guarantee that ROM’s latest ad, by Toronto agency Broken Heart Love Affair and directed by Rune Milton, is the greatest campaign featuring an opera-singing chimpanzee you’ll see all year.
ROM’s ad is basically ‘2001 A Space Odyssey’ meets ‘Planet Earth’, with an epic soundtrack that is given a surreal yet poignant twist, given that it’s sung by a simian protagonist. Its serious message, however, is to highlight humanity’s brief moment on this planet and the responsibility that comes with.
The ad was created with help from Copenhagen-based visual effects experts Chemistry Film, marrying jaw-dropping imagery with the strains of the Italian opera L'elisir d'amore.
The museum’s artefacts are woven into the broader story of our planet’s history, bringing a new context to the objects, inviting viewers to reflect on the bigger picture of our place in this story.
Sally Tindal, ROM’s chief marketing and communications officer, labelled the campaign “our love letter to the natural world”, and by merging high art with brand storytelling, the campaign stands out in a market saturated with festive consumerism.
Past precedent
ROM’s advert takes its place among a pantheon of iconic advertisements with strong environmental messages.
IKEA’s Fortune Favours the Frugal’, a 2021 campaign encouraged sustainable living through everyday choices, such as using energy-efficient bulbs, reducing water usage, and recycling. The ads take a mostly lighthearted take, with impressive visuals and a soulful soundtrack.
Nike’s ‘Move to Zero’, meanwhile, featured a series of camping touchpoints to take users on their journey toward zero carbon and zero waste. The ad emphasises the importance of sustainable manufacturing and innovative materials to combat climate change while remaining aspirational and future-focused.
We’re also reminded of a contemporary campaign we’ve featured, Uncommon marking World Mental Health Day with an uplifting WWF campaign.
If you enjoyed this article, you can subscribe for free to our weekly email alert and receive a regular curation of the best creative campaigns by creatives themselves.
Published on: