International Potato Center (CIP) / Global / 2015PR Stunts · Digital & Tech
Potatoes on Mars.
To show the potato can help fight world hunger, the International Potato Center teamed up with NASA scientists to grow potatoes in Mars-like conditions.
- Brand
- International Potato Center (CIP)
- Agency
- Memac Ogilvy Dubai
- Market
- Global
- Region
- Global
- Year
- 2015
The challenge
The potato has little PR appeal, but CIP sees it as a crop that could help feed the hundreds of millions of people facing hunger. It needed a story big enough to get attention.
The idea
Memac Ogilvy Dubai's Will Rust came up with the idea while working with CIP and connected its team with NASA. The experiment used soil from Peru's Pampas de La Joya desert and a lab-simulated Martian atmosphere, framed as a step toward farming on Mars, and the potatoes were grown live for audiences to watch.
Results
- The MEPRA Awards entry claims more than 100 million people tuned in to watch the potatoes grow live.
Case study source: International Potato Center Source ↗
Awards
- Cannes Lions 2017PR LionsSilver
- Cannes Lions 2017Health & Wellness LionsGold
- Cannes Lions 2017Innovation LionsSilver
Credits
- Creative agency
- Memac Ogilvy Dubai
- Creative Director, Memac Ogilvy Dubai
- Will Rust
