The world was turned upside down in March of 2020 when the seriousness of COVID-19 struck. One Tree Planted wanted to help refocus the public’s energy towards hope and the idea that we now have an opportunity to do things a different way. A way in which we care for one another and our planet. And there was no better time to do this than in celebration of Earth Day.
One Tree Planted released a video titled, A New World which envisioned the idea of a healthier, more connected, and more sustainable world. This was our message:
"We are facing some of the biggest threats humanity has ever faced. Coronavirus, the climate crisis and other pivotal issues around the world. But the stories of hope and resistance, strength and action don't stop coming in. We are more aware and more empowered than ever before to take action and unite against the threats that we face. One Tree Planted is about more than planting trees. We aim to inspire, provide hope and give people actionable ways to make the world a better place. We have been inspired by the stories coming out about people acting in solidarity, helping their neighbors and supporting our medical staff heroes in the age of covid-19. This video is a thank you to all of those frontline workers, and a call-to-action for everyone to join the movement to build a new world, a better world, on the other side of this unprecedented crisis."
The video was so moving and well-received that we developed a campaign around it for Earth Month in order to unify our community further and create an opportunity to hear from others about their vision of a better world.
We invited our community to get involved and take action by simply answering the question, “What is your vision of a better world?” All they needed to do was post a video using #onetreeplanted and tagging us, or submit it to us privately. The response was both beautiful and inspiring. All walks of life from around the world joined in from young artists to the familiar face of Jason Mraz! We even had two school groups participate.
And then, we took it one step further. For every video submitted we also planted one tree in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Earth Day.
What started out as a powerful video inspired by a global pandemic grew organically into a user generated campaign that highlighted positivity in a time of fear.
The video has generated 196K views on YouTube, the highest views count thus far for One Tree Planted video content.
Over 300 community videos were submitted for the campaign.
Over 300 trees planted as a result of the video submissions.
A celebrity endorsement from Jason Mraz, who submitted his own Vision of a Better World video, and shared our original video on his YouTube show.
