Niantic and Open House For Good Partner at Cannes Lions to Make Walking La Croisette a Way of Supporting Sustainability
Real-World Metaverse Activation to Plant up to 300,000 Trees Credits Festival Delegates for
Their Movement Throughout the Week In Support of Environmental Goal
The many steps and kilometers delegates walk along La Croisette in search of creative inspiration, from The Gutter Bar to the Palais, can now be a way of doing good in the world!
During Cannes week, Niantic will plant trees to reward the movement by players of its realworld and AR games, including Pokémon GO and Pikmin Bloom. The initiative is part of a partnership between real-world metaverse pioneer, Niantic, and Open House for Good.
Cannes Open House for Good is a massive collective industry event around Sustainability in all its aspects: Environment, Social, Economic and Communications Ethics, taking place all across the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. All participating venues pledged to open a conversation on Sustainability, with a focus on how the industry together can drive the necessary change.
“We want to create a truly inclusive event, where everyone can take part – with or without a badge or fancy waistband. Time is running out to tackle the climate emergency – and we need everyone to play their part. Come and be part of the change!” Thomas Kolster, Mr. Goodvertising, author and speaker.
“Open House for Good is a first at Cannes Lions” comments Isa Kurata, cofounder of ACT Responsible. “Opening our Responsibility Hall to all to put sustainability at the forefront of conversations is a powerful statement from the festival. We are thrilled to have the support of Niantic to make a maximum of noise about it Wednesday 22 at 2pm.”
“Niantic is partnering with Open House for Good to promote sustainability efforts, including using our Tree Planting Campaign to encourage more people to explore their communities,” according to Yennie Solheim, Director of Social Impact at Niantic. In addition to Niantic’s monthly community day, they will count the kilometers moved by Festival attendees who play one of their AR games towards the goal of planting 100,000 trees in the month of June. One tree will be planted for every player who moves 5km, with a cap of 100,000 trees in total.
To activate the tree planting, Niantic has developed a unique partnership with Ecosia, rewarding every player who moves 5km during their monthly Community Day events. So far in 2022, they’ve planted 200,000 trees thanks to players who participated in Niantic’s April and May Community Day events. And, for any players who are limited in mobility, Niantic will be planting an additional 1,000 trees in their honor.
The initiative was developed with Global Digital Innovation Agency of the Year, Gravity Road, (part of The Brandtech Group) who partnered with Niantic and Open House for Good to create a unique way to amplify the conversation about sustainability in Cannes, while at the same time, building tangible results.
Gravity Road co-founder Mark Boyd says: « We’re delighted to have played a part in this, it brings a whole new dimension to Cannes week. Of course, it’s about the environment and sustainability, but it’s also underpinned by Niantic’s core principles of exploration, exercise, and connections – all of which contribute to mental wellbeing and are so critical to our creative industry as we rebuild after the last few years. »
People can learn more about the impact they’re making just by getting out and exploring at www.Ecosia.org and learn more about Niantic Community Day on community.day.
About Niantic
Niantic builds augmented reality technology that powers the real-world metaverse. Our Lightship platform is the world’s first scaled AR platform, enabling developers around the world to create sophisticated AR experiences for phones and eventually AR glasses. Lightship is also the foundation for Niantic’s hit games, including Pokémon GO, Pikmin Bloom and Ingress. For more information, visit nianticlabs.com and @nianticlabs.
About ACT Responsible
ACT – Advertising Community Together – is an international non-profit association. Since 2001, its mission is to inspire, promote and unite the advertising industry around social responsibility, sustainable development, and best practices. To achieve its goal, ACT Responsible developed various initiatives in partnership with a network of committed players in advertising, media, and education. act-responsible.org
About Gravity Road
Gravity Road is a digital creative company delivering ideas people want to spend time with. We use a progressive combination of advertising, entertainment, and technology to generate fresh cultural and commercial impact for brands. Clients include: TikTok, Niantic, Diageo, Footlocker, Mastercard, and Moet-Hennessy.
Gravity Road was named UK Digital Innovation Agency of the Year in 2021 and 2022, and Global Digital Innovation Agency of the Year in 2022 (voted on by global marketers for Campaign magazine). Gravity Road is part of The Brandtech Group, which was selected as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies 2021 by Fast Company (as You & Mr Jones)
