ADC Awards
ADC Annual Awards is the oldest continuously running industry award show in the world, with an incredible legacy of over 100 years. These awards celebrate the very best in advertising, digital media, graphic and publication design, packaging and product design, motion, experiential and spatial design, photography, illustration and fashion design – all with a focus on artistry and craftsmanship.
Learn more about ADC105
Category
Art Direction - Digital / Motion / Digital
Annual ID
ADC_ADV21_063M
About the Work
Background:
In late 2020, Volkswagen revealed their first sustainable, all-electric SUV. But with other automotive companies announcing their own EVs, we needed to do something unique to stand out. So, we set out to create a digital campaign that’s as sustainable as Volkswagen’s all-new electric vehicle.
Insight:
The internet has a surprisingly large carbon footprint. Simply interacting with online media generates ~4% of global CO2 emissions. But the less data embedded in online media, the less energy needed to transfer it over the web, resulting in a smaller carbon footprint.
Idea:
We did the unthinkable for an automotive website by replacing every image with over 1.5 million ASCII characters – meticulously coded to create the illusion of car photography. No JPEGs. No PNGs. Only live text, used to mimic photographic light and shadow. We also removed all colour, in favour of a strict black and white palette. Together, this minimalist UI design drastically reduced the amount of embedded page data, making a more sustainable browsing experience.
Results:
A website that’s 99% cleaner than over 2 million sites tested – generating only 0.022g of CO2 per page view (versus the average of 1.76g). This was validated via a manual assessment by Website Carbon, who factored in the proportion of desktop and mobile users, the carbon factor for national grid energy, and data centre/user locations. Based on 100,000 page views, our site now saves over 171,800g of CO2 per month.
Since its launch in January 2021, the Carbon-Neutral Net has garnered over 22 million earned impressions and counting. Not only did we successfully promote Volkswagen’s all-new EV in a way that’s never been done before, but now site visitors can read all of VW’s sustainability-focussed content the way it was meant to be seen – in the most carbon-efficient way possible.
In late 2020, Volkswagen revealed their first sustainable, all-electric SUV. But with other automotive companies announcing their own EVs, we needed to do something unique to stand out. So, we set out to create a digital campaign that’s as sustainable as Volkswagen’s all-new electric vehicle.
Insight:
The internet has a surprisingly large carbon footprint. Simply interacting with online media generates ~4% of global CO2 emissions. But the less data embedded in online media, the less energy needed to transfer it over the web, resulting in a smaller carbon footprint.
Idea:
We did the unthinkable for an automotive website by replacing every image with over 1.5 million ASCII characters – meticulously coded to create the illusion of car photography. No JPEGs. No PNGs. Only live text, used to mimic photographic light and shadow. We also removed all colour, in favour of a strict black and white palette. Together, this minimalist UI design drastically reduced the amount of embedded page data, making a more sustainable browsing experience.
Results:
A website that’s 99% cleaner than over 2 million sites tested – generating only 0.022g of CO2 per page view (versus the average of 1.76g). This was validated via a manual assessment by Website Carbon, who factored in the proportion of desktop and mobile users, the carbon factor for national grid energy, and data centre/user locations. Based on 100,000 page views, our site now saves over 171,800g of CO2 per month.
Since its launch in January 2021, the Carbon-Neutral Net has garnered over 22 million earned impressions and counting. Not only did we successfully promote Volkswagen’s all-new EV in a way that’s never been done before, but now site visitors can read all of VW’s sustainability-focussed content the way it was meant to be seen – in the most carbon-efficient way possible.
2021 Awards
Total Points: 3
Merit Honor
Credits
Agency
TAXI Canada / TYPE 1 / Toronto
PR / Marketing Agency
BICOM / Toronto
Client / Brand
Volkswagen / Ajax
Art Director
Logan Franklin
Chief Creative Officer
Alexis Bronstorph
Kelsey Horne
Creative Director
Allen Kwong
Data Scientist
Haipeng Wang
Ken St.Germain
Product Manager
Matthew Clemente
Strategist
Aurora Stewart de Peña
Social Strategist
Kiana Ohori
Michal Fetsum
Account Director
Atash Khosrorad
Account Supervisor
Deema Kasem
Developer
Christine Tan
Jay Catalan
Digital Sustainability Consultant
Wholegrain Digital (Website Carbon) / London
Director Marketing Insights
Adrian Tudorache
Email Manager
Colin Rickatson
Hannah McGregor
Project Manager
Anna Dumke
Senior Project Manager
Jessy Stark
Technology Director
Rob Cimicata
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