EcoTree wants to launch an offer for high-quality, European-based and verified carbon credits toindividuals. How to make such an offer (usually seen as technical, for corporates only, or evenquestionable when it comes to green-washing) credible, easy-to-get and appealing forclimate-conscious individuals?
Background
This is where you succinctly explain who you are and what you do.
Having discovered the successful Danish bottle recycling system back in 2014, where one bottle
recycled equals a cash payout, four friends visiting from France had got inspired to create
EcoTree. To them, it was a logic approach that in order to preserve the common good, arewarding approach is much more effective than a punitive one. Buying a tree with EcoTree hasthen become a profitable investment, both for the person who buys it and for the environment.
Since then, EcoTree, B-Corp™ certified, has become a pioneering provider of Nature-Based
Solutions in Europe, allowing individuals and companies to commit to the environment by
supporting reforestation and ecosystem restoration projects in Europe. EcoTree partners up withindividuals, companies and organisations to help anyone turning their good intentions for a greener
planet into profitable action, with an act as simple as buying a tree. But at EcoTree, we don’t just planttrees. We grow forests and restore ecosystems and support biodiversity in the process. We’ve
planted and currently manage 1,7 million trees in Europe on behalf of 76.000+ individuals and 1.500+
companies. We also provide high quality, ethical and verified carbon credits, to support companies
achieving their carbon neutrality goals. More insights on ecotree.green.

Carbon credits explained:
Beside the Regulated Carbon Credit market (reserved for specific large GreenHouse Gas (GHG)
emitters), Europe has a very active Voluntary Carbon Market (VCM), where anyone can purchasecarbon credits freely (=it’s not an obligation). EcoTree is already a supplier of carbon credits on
the VCM and the below-mentioned carbon removal credits for individuals would fall into thismarket as well.
In a nutshell, a carbon credit is a market-based mechanism designed to mitigate climate changeby putting a price on carbon emissions. It represents a unit of measurement that corresponds tothe reduction or removal of one metric ton of carbon dioxide or its equivalent in greenhousegases (1 credit = 1 ton of equivalent CO2). These credits can be bought, sold, or traded, allowing
emission-reducing entities to monetize their efforts. The funds generated from carbon credit
transactions are then channelled towards projects that promote renewable energy, energy
efficiency, afforestation, or other initiatives that help combat climate change. Trees and forests
are the second largest carbon sink on the planet (after the oceans, but those are less“actionnable”!), and are currently capturing around 30% of humanity’s global GHG emissions
yearly, and therefore the carbon removal credits issued by EcoTree (based on forestry projects)
fall within the nature-based and “afforestation” category of credits.
A high-quality and high-integrity carbon removal credit is currently being sold at around 50-100€
per Ton, but the prices are expected to keep increasing over the next couple of years. In terms offootprint, a EU citizen has an average yearly GHG footprint of 7-10 tons, and for example one
return flight from Copenhagen to Nice accounts for 0,5 tons, similarly to driving one-way fromCopenhagen to Barcelona with a regular car. So offsetting your individual carbon footprint won’t
necessarily be cheap, but it’s not something only billionaires should consider!

The Challenge
Today, our individual customers primarily engage with EcoTree through the online purchasing
and/or gifting of trees, or via our monthly tree-subscription model. In order to boost thecommercial traction and customer engagement in this B2C segment, EcoTree wants toduplicate/adapt its current offering of verified carbon removal credits (currently only offered tocorporates) to individuals. Our individual customers should therefore be given the opportunity to
seamlessly purchase carbon removal credits with the below characteristics:● Online purchase● European-based & highly-qualitative credits, as they are backed by our sustainable forestry
projects in Europe● Verified & traceable (third-party verification by Bureau Veritas)● The deliverable will be a carbon credit certificate (template available on demand)=> Your mission is to make such an offering feel:● easy to understand (what is a carbon credit and what am I getting?)● reliable & trustworthy (carbon credit is an area which has raised lots of concerns andcriticism recently, and for a good reason most of the time…)● Impactful (sequestering carbon has a massive & local potential effect on the fight against
climate change)
Target Audience
Who are we talking to? Describe them succinctly in terms of demographics, job role,
responsibilities etc.
Individuals (B2C segment). More specifically:
1. Climate-conscious individuals (80%)
2. Nature lovers & forest connoisseurs (20%)
In terms of persona, we are primarily targeting:● Urbans (missing connection to Nature)● Male (80%) & female (20%)● 25-55 years old

● Middle- & upper-classes
Our typical target customer is not just climate-aware but also wants to act concretely andimmediately, and is expecting traceability/measurability and transparency in order to be willing totake action.
We are targeting our existing customers as well as trying to use this as a way to engage newcustomers.)

Insight
There is a lot of information out there about actions and steps that an individual should take to
be more sustainable (1.170.000.000 on google when you search!) e.g. eat less meat, trysustainable beekeeping, travel less by car or plane and so on. With so much contradicting
information, individuals are just lost and struggle to actually take the first step. Wouldn’t it benice to have an option that is tangible, measurable and something you can prove? Thanks tocarbon credits by EcoTree that is now possible!

StrategyWe need to convince our audience that this is THE easiest, most evident way you can start doing
something for our planet.
We usually communicate with our B2C audience through the below channels:● PR (spreading the word about our innovative tree-ownership model as well as strengthening
the brand, primarily through active & regular contact with journalists to get media exposure onpress, radio, TV, online)● SoMe (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn)● Our website & it’s blog section● Our newsletters
So we would expect to leverage those 4 channels to kick-off and push the offer to existing andpossibly new customers as well.

Key Message“EcoTree offers a tangible, immediate and impactful way to engage in the fight against climatechange”.

Personality
See below:

Campaign Do’s and Don’ts●●●●

No mentioned of religious, political and/or societal (LGBT+, anti-racism, etc.) references;
we want to stay exclusively focused on Nature in our messages
We clearly want to be seen as distinct from the vast amount of fairly questionable andpoorly-impactful carbon credits available on the market
The communication needs to be positive and not focusing on negative emotions e.g.
“The world is going under… ”.
Please do remember about the copyrights usage e.g. not using famous people/brands as
we don’t have the intention to buy out rights for their image.

Specific Deliverables
A PDF presentation of no more than 10 slides describing your campaign.
One slide that visually summarises your idea. This slide must be saved separately as a JPG
A three-part written submission (450 words)● Describe your creative idea - Potential for industry impact (150 words)● Strategy - Target audience, target media, planning and approach (150 words)● Execution - Implementation of PR activities, timeline and scale (150 words)