Wilderness Company Update #4

Wow. April went by in a flash. I truly feel like I posted my last update about a week ago and I’m pretty sure it’s got nothing to do with the Easter Egg coma that I’ve been in for most of the month. I DID have last week off so that will certainly be part of why this feels like it’s come around quick but just in general the last year has felt like it’s taken both four thousand years and no time at all. I hope that the feeling of things opening up again has been making you feel optimistic. I know there’s a lot of anxiety for many about coming out of lockdown and I’m sure that it’s going to be as overwhelming as it is refreshing to be around people again. The last month at Wilderness has been quite full on with some amazing partnership work in London and in Amsterdam as well as the launch of our most ambitious Intersport campaign to date. Oh also WE’VE BEEN NOMINATED FOR A WEBBY!!!!!

WE’VE BEEN NOMINATED FOR A WEBBY!!!!!!

Glitter cannon! Champagne popping! Raised hands! Loaf of Bread emoji! Our work with the incredible team at Fresh Fitness Food has been nominated for a Webby Award in the Health, Wellness & Lifestyle category. As you might expect that’s a pretty stacked category for 2020 and we are absolutely thrilled to be recognised. Having started working with the team the week everything locked down and having to find ways to keep the gym-going community engaged while there were no gyms to go to was a huge challenge and one we’re so happy to have taken in stride. Fingers will be crossed until May 18th when winners are announced. There’s a public voting component if you fancy dropping us a vote you can do so HERE.

DIVERSITY & INCLUSION IN HIRING

Tilly - Wilderness’ Head of People and Operations - wrote a blog about the agency’s commitment to Diversity and Inclusion for The Drum last month. She outlined how our hiring practices have evolved over the last few years and how the desire to improve and make the agency practice what we preach is an ongoing effort. As Tilly says we started with an agency full of apples and “if you only have apples then you have a limited number of recipes to make.”

ACCESS ALL AREAS

We’ve been working with the incredible team at Access All Areas Theatre company based in Hackney helping them to find new and effective ways to approach social as we come out of lockdown. The focus for Access All Areas is disruptive theatre, performance and events by learning disabled and autistic artists - creating intimate moments of interaction between performers and the public. Through their learning scheme they’re breaking new ground in training for emerging learning disabled theatre makers and the wide-reaching Take Part programme, co-led by learning disabled professionals, aims to give learning disabled peers and neighbours a voice at the heart of our community. So far we’ve done some workshops with the digital team and we’re looking forward to our partnership continuing and helping them with their amazing mission.

TAKE IT EASY TAKE IT EPIC

I teased it last month when the guys had just come back from shooting in the great outdoors but the Intersport Outdoor Category campaign ‘Take It Easy, Take It Epic’ went live at the end of April. This is the culmination of months of planning and our most ambitious production to date showcasing all the ways you can experience camping and hiking. We wanted to inspire people - whether they want to take it easy or take it epic - with mindful moments connecting with nature and breathtaking vistas. Really proud of the team for this one.

BLUE LOOP x SYMPANY x WILDERNESS

Over in Amsterdam we’ve been helping Sympany and Blue Loop Originals with their Recycle Roadshow. The aim of the textile recycling campaign is to get Amsterdammers to drop their old jeans off at one of the Sympany containers around the city in order for the denim to be sorted, cut up, turned into fibres and recycled into an absolutely snazzy one-of-a-kind Amsterdam sweater. Every year, about 145 million kilos of textiles end up in the bin without a second thought. Buying, wearing and throwing away is absolutely the norm for the vast majority of consumers and we need to change our thinking. With Sympany and BLO your old jeans can go from worn to reborn and come back to life as a cool new jumper. We’ve been helping the team with their campaign approach on social. We’ve created some assets for them and are also working on the paid campaign in order to get as many ol’ blue friends donated as possible. If you’re in Amsterdam you can find your nearest drop off point (container or partner store) HERE.