2021 – Love Sevan | The lake Sevan is the jewel of Armenia. Throughout the years, people have unmercifully polluted the shore as well as the lake water with household and industrial waste. The pollution has caused a greening of the lake from algal bloom toxins. Illegal fishing during the spawning season has also been one of the biggest threats. It disrupts the regular reproduction of fish and decreases their quantity.
The #LoveSevan campaign of the European Union and Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) was launched in July 2021, funded “Environmental Protection of Lake Sevan” (EU4Sevan) Project implemented by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and UNDP under the coordination of the RA Ministry of Environment.
About the campaign
The campaign’s primary goal is to raise awareness. Specifically on how one can contribute to restoring and preserving the lake’s Eco balance, its sustainable use, and protection. The idea evolved around the idea to love Sevan, to act for Sevan. Instead of preaching not to litter, our main aim was to focus on carrying out a certain action. An example would be taking your bottle with you.
There have been intense and lengthy discussions with GIZ and the Ministry to develop a specific message and the approach. We have conducted many surveys to check the validity of the message, changed the characters various times. Finally, the agreement was around personifying Sevan, and our creative team created the four vivid characters. The approach is quite unique, as it had an emotional impact on the audience and proved to be quite engaging. We were guided by the mindset that Armenians refer to Sevan as a woman, a “blue-eyed beauty.”
Within the framework of the communication, the population of the Gegharkunik region and tourists as well as the broader public are the main target of the campaign. The scope of the communication plan included deliverables designed by our creative team: two
short 3-minute influencer
vlogs featuring a famous Armenian actress, Ani Khachikyan, on the shore of Sevan talking about the existing pollution issues of Sevan. Along with that, a two-minute animated
video raising awareness about the threats, social media posts with
infographics and
animations, as well as billboard placement for two months in Sevan, Gavar, Martuni, and Vardenis.
So far, people on social media platforms have been loving the whole concept of preserving Sevan. It is quite early to consider this is a successful campaign; however, we have received various positive feedback. People have been leaving positive comments under the posts on social media, praising the campaign, and leaving their creative suggestions to help with the issue.
