The brief.
The brief for this project was to raise the profile of the Catholic Church’s Synod on the Amazon, (officially called the Synod on the Pan-Amazonian region), and to highlight the teachings from this Synod through animated explainers.
The scope of this Synod was far reaching, covering a wide range of environmental and social issues, including climate change, social inequality, poverty, environmental protection, plus many more.
Eco-Catholic
Awakening Catholic audiences to the ecological dimension of their faith presents many challenges for the clients. First there is generally a lack of awareness of the ecological teachings of the Catholic Church, there is little understanding of what the Catholic Church actually teaches, and there is a recognised low motivation and engagement with ecological issues with much of the Catholic community.
Working through the communication and engagement strategy it was clear that new approaches were needed. To raise the profile of the Pan-Amazonian Synod within this context was identified as a real challenge. This is why a conscious effort was to move away from talking about the Synod to finding stories that help audiences engage with their faith through animated storytelling.
Eco-Catholic.com was created as a story-led platform, containing a range of animated explainers, reflections and talks on the ecological dimension of the Catholic faith. This platform is now used by a range of organisations, activists and faith leaders to help communicate core teachings of the Catholic faith to a wider audience.
Working the brief
In order for the Catholic community to engage with the content of the Synod it was clear that these animations would have to lead audiences into some of the more complex and nuanced teachings on ecology, as well as ensuring that they all spoke to the inner-adult and not the inner-child. This is why a more mature colour palette was chosen, with the main characters looking more abstract (missing facial features) and a more textured and roughened backdrop.
One of the most important aspects of this project was developing the multi-media platform Eco-Catholic.com, which serves as a place for audiences to watch the animations, to find out more, and to take action on ecological issues with one of the partner organisations. This tiered engagement strategy is carefully shaped around the audience’s experience, laying out each step of the journey along the way.
Alongside this project was a strong social media strategy, which targeted Catholics in the UK with these resources, as well as global movements on social and ecological issues.
Logo
The logo for Eco-Catholic was designed to be clear, but with an organic element to it, creating an ecological feel. The logo comes in two versions, with the circle and also without. The logo remains simple as the key aspect of this project is not about creating a strong brand (given that Eco-Catholic is not an organisation, but simply a platform), but rather to promote the content of the platform itself.
Portfolio and prices
Download our portfolio and costs brochure for a full guide on the types of storytelling services available, and a full list of prices to help you plan your storytelling journey.
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