June 19th, 2015 was a significant and historical day at Times Square. We crushed one ton of confiscated ivory to protest the illegal ivory trade and poachers who are all responsible for the deaths of 96 elephants per day in Africa and to raise awareness of this horrific market.

 

The task for this event was to create a brand identity for the event that all partners and supporters could share, and also design banners, posters, and social image shares to create a presence not only at Times Square, but for supporters on the web.

Because the purpose of the event was to alert those participating and those around us of the gruesome killing of African elephants, black and white photos were chosen to create contrast to help the imagery stand out against the colorful, busyness of the city. Red was the color of choice for typography for it represents not only anger and violence, but also love and compassion.

Not everyone who thinks of ivory associates it with a dead elephant, or an elephant at all. One way to get the message across fast was to create an ivory tusk crossed out in place of the “o” as part of the logo. 

The banners: two 3' x 10' side stage banners, and one 8' x 10' stage backdrop banner. The first side banner had an impactful message, while the other had the partner and supporter logos. The photos were taken by WCS staff Julie Maher Larsen during her trip to Uganda. The background texture is a vectorized picture of actual confiscated crushed ivory that Julie also photographed.

Due to the amount of organizations involved, such as USFWS, WCS, and IFAW, hundreds of supporters came out to help protest against the trade. Political figures and pro-animal welfare celebrities such as Kristin Davis, Edie Falco, and Shannon Elizabeth made appearances as well.

Having a hashtag as part of the event name was a key factor in creating an online presence and social awareness. We wanted this event to not only be successful in person, but just as much on social media. We were able to get a lot of traction through Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and considering we also had a live stream on Google Hangouts, the hashtag proved to be quite a success.

Though a controversial event, the crush proved to be a huge success with broadening awareness, which was the main goal. There are many, many steps to still take to enforce new strict regulations, but one thing for sure is that the U.S. is now talking.