In this week's latest video communications we see a renewed focus on CSR, sustainability and going green. For more from #CommunicateLens, follow @Communicatemag on Twitter.

Aker Solutions

Aker Solutions, an Olso-based engineering company that provides the products and services to unlock energy from oil and offshore wind, created #PowerTheChange, an employer brand video that encourages people to take ownership and accountability in the quest to create a cleaner and more sustainable future. The video shows employees across the world working towards one project, building a more sustainable future, and although they initially fail, by working hard and going through different scenarios, they finally come together to find a solution. #PowerTheChange is a call for potential employees to engage with Aker while also inspiring people to play their part and unite against the common challenge of climate change. The video is part of Aker's #PowerTheChange progrmame, designed to change perceptions of the company as an employer. Another film, 'The Changemakers' focuses on existing employees and their contributions to the future of energy. The campaign unites the company's ESG positioning with its employer brand by calling for ‘changemakers and accelerators’ to build a better future.

Born Free Foundation

The Born Free Foundation, an animal charity focusing on animal welfare and conservation, worked with media and marketing services company Engine to launch a campaign, ‘Nature’s closing down sale,’ that urges people to adopt an endangered animal to coincide with Black Friday. The one-minute social film which spearheads the PR campaign adopts a style of sales advertising, featuring a salesman (English actor Harry Peacock) who speaks directly to the camera and urges viewers to adopt as there are ‘incredible reductions to all your favourite animals.’ Tigers are down, as are leopards and rhinos, which are 90% less and won’t be around for more. Archive footage of endangered species in the wild being attacked is overlaid with sales graphic, while the salesman makes his pitch as if he were at an auction. While the film initially appears grotesque, it is a way to engage viewers and draw a parallel between the urgency of sales advertising and the desperate state of the world’s endangered species, explains creative director at Engine, Katy Hopkins.

Engine also created a digital pop-up Instagram shop for the campaign, so users can pay directly and easily to adopt an endangered animal.  

International Air Transport Association

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) worked with multicloud solution provider Rackspace Technology and video production agency Big Button to create a video that shows IATA piloting next generation airline standards, achieving its goals of becoming ‘leaner, meaner and greener,’ including accelerating its IT transformation with the help of Rackspace. The video explores how IATA’s priorities have changed before and after Covid-19; in the former case it sought to double the number of passengers and  protect the planet, while now it’s looking at ways to of keeping the industry afloat. Now the goals are not only sustainability but also facilitate exchange of information, handled by Rackspace Technology. The video features IATA’s CIO, Pascal Buchner, who puts forth the association’s new vision and the invaluable role Rackspace Technology will play in bringing it to life.

“The future of IATA is about data management and providing the airline with some visibility about something that is unpredictable. For this we need a platform that will cover all the data management end to end and that will guarantee that the data is safe and secure,” says Buchner.

Plastic Energy

Plastic energy worked with Tesco, Sabic, Sealed Air and Bradburys Cheese to launch the ‘closed loop collaboration’ which opens up new possibilities for plastics through chemical recycling. The animated video offers a brief explaination for viewers to help them better understand the process of recycling soft, flexible plastic packaging. Tesco will be introducing the new plastic packaging, after having introduced soft plastic recycling collection points in 10 stores in 2019. As the video shows, soft plastic material collected from Tesco customers was sent to Plastic Energy, which converted the used packaging into oil and was then in turn used by Sabic as an alternative to traditional fossil materials to make new plastic pellets. The animation aspect of the video makes a complicated and technical process easy to follow and understand, adding some light humour to it. The work is part of Tesco’s 4R campaign remove, reduce, reuse and recycle programme and its goal of ensuring all packaging can be recycled as part of a closed loop.

 “Tesco, a founding member of The UK Plastics Pact, has demonstrated that by taking an innovative and collaborative approach, new solutions can be found to take plastics from in-store collection points to a food-grade packaging format,” says Peter Maddox, director of Wrap UK.

Simmons & Simmons

International legal firm Simmons & Simmons launched an end of the year corporate video in light of the festive season that thanks its clients and business partners. The overall message the video conveys is that despite 2020 being a difficult year on many fronts, there is still reason to celebrate because whatever happens next year, Simmons & Simmons will always be there to help clients and partners alike. The video opens with clips of the highlights of the year, starting from wildfires, Brexit, BLM protests, the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, US elections and, of course, the Covid-19 pandemic and how it changed everyone’s lives. Throughout the ups and downs, the one common thread highlighted in the video are Simmons & Simmons’ employees, shown across all different phone and computer screens working virtually, for keeping up with the rocky ride in 2020.