Last year, Sydney, Australia hosted Earth Hour 2007 to motivate people to take action against the threat of global warming by turning off their lights for one hour at a particular time. The event attracted a great deal of coverage and was adopted by a number of other cities around the world.
This year, the event is going global and consumers throughout the world are being asked to participate in an hour of darkness at 8pm on 29th March.
In his book 'The Green Marketing Manifesto' John Grant touches on the idea of branding something to make it more real or tangible to consumers. He refers specifically to the phrase 'Carbon Footprint' and how giving a name to acknowledge our individual or corporate CO2 emissions provided people with something tangible to respond to and take responsibility for.
Creating a branded event like Earth Hour empowers individuals to participate on a grand scale in a solution to a global problem. Like Live Aid or AIDS Day or wearing a pink ribbon for breast cancer, it moves people to become involved and enables us to see how our small contribution can make a real difference.
