Edu Menezes

Amazon Desert Rally

A rally invented to be raced across the Amazon, on ground that is supposed to be river. Vivo put its name to it the only way a brand never does, by refusing to sponsor it.

Amazon Desert Rally — posterPlay case film — sound on2:15
Client
Vivo / Telefônica Brasil
Agency
Africa Creative DDB
Role
Motion Design
Year
2024

The brief

120 trillion litres went out of the rivers of the Amazon basin in 2023 alone, and the beds are dry enough to drive on. A river disappearing is not a thing the news can photograph twice.

The idea

Invent the race and announce it properly. Course markers, liveries, the first indigenous rally team, test runs on the riverbed, all of it straight enough that the country believed it, the Minister for Indigenous Peoples included. Then Vivo declares itself the first Official Non-Sponsor and asks every other company to do the same.

The result

112 companies signed on to not sponsor it, searches for certified timber rose 1,650%, and the reveal put the drought on the front pages. Gold at the Effie Awards Latam.

Credits

Motion Design — Edu Menezes

In partnership with — IPAM Amazônia

Awards
Effie Awards Latam 2024Gold · Corporate Reputation
El Ojo de Iberoamérica 2024Silver · SustainabilityBronze · SportsBronze · Outdoor