UP Blog : Creating brands & campaigns to make the world a better place

10th February 2020

Can kids handle the truth about meat?

Most children instinctively care about animals, and would literally lose their lunch if they knew what happened to them before they were turned into sausages, bacon, etc. Parents, in an effort […]

Most children instinctively care about animals, and would literally lose their lunch if they knew what happened to them before they were turned into sausages, bacon, etc. Parents, in an effort to shield their children from these horrors, often hide what really happens to animals on farms and in slaughterhouses.

This raises the question: if the truth about meat production is too gruesome to share with children, how can we make them complicit in it?

In our video for PETA, launched last week, we filmed kids asking them if they know where meat comes from. Their answers – among them “poo”, “ham is a vegetable”, and a spirited chicken dance – make it clear they don’t know the truth about whom they’re eating. But if they did, how would they feel?

Make sure to watch to the very end!

The video achieved 300,000 views in the first week on PETA UK and US facebook pages alone, as well as a lot of heated discussion. Which is exactly what PETA wanted!

To date, the video has been watched 300K times on Facebook. On Twitter, it has been seen 53K times and picked up almost 10K views

12th December 2019

It’s time to #RethinkFish

“Our compassion should not just be for the cute and cuddly. We know so much more than previous generations about the way fish experience pain and distress, and we have […]

“Our compassion should not just be for the cute and cuddly. We know so much more than previous generations about the way fish experience pain and distress, and we have a responsibility to treat them decently and humanely.” John Flack, MEP

This sentiment encapsulates our exhibition for Compassion in World Farming’s #RethinkFish at the European Parliament last month. Because while most people understand that fish feel pain, there is still a sad lack of empathy for these creatures.

So, the exhibition stand seeks to challenge what we thought we knew about fish, and why it’s time to rethink how we treat them. As you walk around the stand, you first learn about the extraordinary parallels between us and fish, including some amazing stories, and then how they are farmed. Currently fish are the only farmed animal not covered by European Farm Animal Welfare protection.

“Fascinating and deeply moving new campaign from @ciwf. Fish are sensitive, intelligent, emotional animals. They feel pain, they use tools and they form social bonds. But fish also need protecting. It’s time to #RethinkFish”. Stephen Fry, actor, comedian and writer

The opening event was a great success, 9 MEPs spoke and another 20 officially supported the #RethinkFish initiative.

Photo Op: MEPs at the European Parliament ‘caught’ in the net

French Green MEP Damien Carême kissing our life-size salmon

Inside the fish crates is a video showing how long it takes sea bass to die

The outside of the stand highlights the characteristics of these amazing creatures

Take a look at our #StopTheMachine exhibition for Compassion in World Farming

13th June 2019

Would You Do That To A Cat?

Chickens deserve better! Check out our campaign for Better Chicken Welfare for CIWF

Grow fast, die young: the life of a modern factory farmed chicken.

Over 1 billion chickens are raised for meat in the UK each year, the majority are bred to grow unnaturally fast and spend their short lives trapped in oversized bodies.

This spring we worked with Compassion in World Farming to create a social media campaign to raise awareness of the suffering of factory farmed chickens.

A series of funny videos pose the question:
“You wouldn’t do that to a cat, so why do it to a chicken?”

The ‘basket’ post (below) achieved 42% engagement rate on Facebook, and 9% of users who saw the ad viewed the video in full – very strong for a 21 second video!

The campaign aims to encourage those who eat chicken to choose ‘better’ chicken, or no chicken at all! To help people make an informed choice, we created an online and offline Happy Chick-o-meter, which rates the chicken labels in supermarkets.

Below, our ‘flip-book’ social media animation demonstrates the shocking rate of growth since the 1960s:

Find out more about the campaign here.

17th July 2017

#StopTheMachine Launch at Natural History Museum

Intensive farming, fuelled by consumer demand for cheap meat, is one of the biggest drivers of species extinction and biodiversity loss on the planet.

Many people are aware that wild animals across the globe are threatened by extinction. However, few know that intensive farming, fuelled by consumer demand for cheap meat, is one of the biggest drivers of species extinction and biodiversity loss on the planet.

On 22nd May 2017, CIWF launched their #StopTheMachine campaign at the Natural History Museum. We created a striking exhibition stand which will tour around the UK and Europe over the next 12 months. The stand is a ‘Big Red Box’ which opens to reveal the devastating truth behind intensive animal farming.

And what about that life-size paper jaguar? He is the work of the amazing Wolfram of www.paperwolf.de

The campaign launch was attended by celebrities, journalists and NGOs. Keynote speakers included award-winning wildlife expert Simon King OBE, leading British environmentalist Tony Juniper, Bill Oddie, Evanna Lynch, conservationist Stanley Johnson and the naturalist and great-great grandson of Charles Darwin, Chris Darwin.

See more pictures of the exhibition and watch the launch film (produced by Andrew Davies / CampaignFilm.com)

19th September 2019

Animation for London’s Car Free Day

Imagine if cars were invisible? More than half of Londoners think you can always see when pollution is bad in the capital – when in fact many pollutants are invisible […]

Imagine if cars were invisible?

More than half of Londoners think you can always see when pollution is bad in the capital – when in fact many pollutants are invisible and can be present in air that looks ‘clean’. And more than 50 per cent of London’s toxic air pollution is caused by… vehicles. [Source: london.gov.uk]

And there are plenty more scary facts: did you know London’s Oxford Street is the most polluted street on earth [Source: telegraph.co.uk].

Above is a short, fun animation we’ve produced to shine a light on the issue.

*Animation can bring concepts to life that text or live videos can’t*

#CarFreeDay

Working in London ourselves, we’re ecstatic about London’s Car Free Day this Sunday 22 September, encouraging everyone to cycle, walk, use public transport, and party!

https://londoncarfreeday.com/

10th May 2019

A short video for #MentalHealthWeek

Mental Health Awareness Week runs from 13-19 May 2019.

One in four of us experience mental health issues. For some, it is debilitating.

We made this hard-hitting short film as part of our Passion Projects series, our soapbox from which we use in-house resources to highlight an issue we feel, well, passionate about.

Shot on Red Epic at UP Studios, with the generous help of Eve Anderson.

Written, directed, shot and produced by UP.

Take a look at our ‘shock-tastic’ video featuring the same actress.

NEWS & VIEWS:

Imagine if cars were invisible?

#CarFreeDay