Koalas of NYC

In 2020, Australia endured its worst bushfire season on record, killing an estimated one billion of the country's unique wildlife. Our job was to make New Yorkers feel a tragedy happening on the other side of the world. We placed plush koalas in prominent locations across New York City, each one a tangible representation of the animals caught in the fires. A QR code on every koala led straight to donate at WIRES - Australia’s largest wildlife rescue and rehabilitation charity. Koalas appeared in parks, subway stations and near prominent landmarks - high-traffic places where the strangeness stopped people in their tracks. They picked the koalas up, photographed them, scanned the code and donated, all in the space of a minute. Jennifer Aniston, Katie Holmes, Lewis Hamilton and Lewis Capaldi carried the campaign to their own audiences, taking a New York street stunt global overnight. In 23 days, fans in more than 150 locations worldwide staged their own koala drops. Demand grew so fast that the toy supplier began donating proceeds from koala sales, on the back of record numbers. The campaign closed more than 400% over its donation target.