BBC Planet Earth III, the newest instalment of Sir David Attenbrough’s ground-breaking television series and co-produced by The Open University (OU), required a highly engaging digital reach activity in support. The goals were to attract audiences to OU Connect (The OU’s dedicated Broadcast site), and reinforce the OU brand presence, positive sentiment and consideration around it.
The digital activation needed to have an interactive element that deepened the learning experience of OU’s physical poster offering and origami activity, whilst also maintaining relevance to each episode across the eight part series through which it would be promoted weekly. Our aim was to create something that felt truly innovative for OU and would be a not-to-be-missed addition to the ‘Planet Earth III’ episodes.
Objectives included, intergenerational, universal appeal, meaningful longevity and ease of access. For the first time, The Open University wanted to bridge the gap between a physical item and digital experience; to unlock surprising and exciting interactivity, while providing opportunities for deeper learning about the endangered creatures featured as part of the BBC Planet Earth III series.
With the series acting as a warning to future generations communicating the devastation of the environment due to human interference and climate change, the experience needed a shareable element which would inspire viewers of all ages to show their support to save these animal’s environments, and ultimately their welfare.
We wanted to fully immerse viewers of Planet Earth III into three distinct habitats to give audiences the opportunity to appreciate the creatures in their natural surroundings, whilst learning about the environmental threats they are facing. Collaborating with the OU academics, we curated a wealth of resources around these habitats into accessible, easy to digest factual highlights that would be interesting to viewers.
In order to bring the activation to life Powster focused on the following features:
1. Dedicated Campaign Hub
Via either URL or QR code accessed via the televised CTA and / or via the OU Connect website “Habitat Explorer’’ allowed the viewers to travel instantly to various parts of the world via a WebGL modelled Earth. Tapping on specific continents would take them to three distinct ecosystems, specific to that area, which activated a WebAR experience in their own living rooms.
The hub also acted as a home for the accompanying instructions of the practical Origami activity and as a means to source more information about the OU.
2. Explore & Learn
Powered by 8th Wall, this immersive WebAR experience was modelled, animated, and developed fully in-house to include intricate details of the endangered animals, their habitats, biology and animated idiosyncrasies, with an art direction that also embraced the paper aesthetic of the origami style featured on the printed assets.
Audiences were able to get closer, viewing, rotating and expanding each habitat, seamlessly allowing them to get a closer look at a forest in South America, a turtle sanctuary in Australasia and a European grassland all through the lens of their own smartphones or tablets, with no specialised app downloads or equipment required.
Paired with individual atmospheric soundscapes and a variety of animations, each habitat flourished in-front of the viewer, highlighting key characteristics of the animals and their native environments. Tappable hotspots also supported additional educational content including, text, image and AV sources to add a digital, hands-on, layer of learning to that already provided by the Planet Earth III episode.
3. Share Your Pledge
At the end of the learning journey, viewers could choose their favourite habitat, and personalise a dedicated digital memento, encouraging them to make a symbolic pledge and share across their own social channels, with the aim of inspiring others in their collective mission to protect these species.
4. Promotion
With Sir David Attenborough’s narration at the end of each BBC Planet Earth III episode, we edited an intriguing CGI CTA video which teased the activation each week across the eight-week run. With a new habitat unlocked episodically, this sustained long-term interest, encouraged repeat visits and allowed for deeper learning.
The awe-inspiring first episode of Planet Earth III captivated an astounding audience of 10.6m viewers after 28 days, making it one of the highest rated programmes of 2023.
As the credits rolled, Sir David Attenborough impassioned viewers with a call to action, resulting in thousands of visitors flocking to The Open University experience, where we saw an average engagement duration of 4 minutes and 2 seconds each time, allowing people to find out more about each of the animals in their habitats first hand as they explored each uniquely crafted WebAR environment.
Across the three weeks we saw a successive surge in user sessions with an impressive 82.9% engagement rate, indicating consistent high engagement. Moved by the experience, viewers also shared their personalised pledge cards across social media, commitmenting to spread awareness of these majestic creatures fighting for survival.
Technology is changing the way we engage with learning so we were thrilled with the response from Caroline Ogilvie, Director, Broadcast and Partnerships at The Open University: “Habitat Explorer is the culmination of our efforts to bring learning experiences into people’s homes in an engaging and innovative way. Expertise from Dr Miranda Dyson and Dr Vicky Taylor from our STEM faculty allowed Powster to translate fascinating details about these animals and their habitats into a rich and informative experience that successfully delivers the surprise and delight we wanted to achieve. We’re thrilled to see fans of Planet Earth III and their families exploring the worlds of these amazing animals together.”
