The A-Z of Wearing it Wild in Naked's Fierce New WWF Film

Creative agency Naked Communications have partnered with Pulse Films to help launch WWF’s Wear It Wild campaign on Friday 5 June 2015.  Wear It Wild is the charity’s brand new national fundraising event, in which WWF asks people to dress ‘as wild as they dare for the day’.

In a bold and punchy take on the traditional charity ad, the film is scored with punk rock track ‘Hunter’ by Kentish duo The Slaves - sourced by Music and Sound Company, Pitch and Sync. The spot intends to give viewers an example of how creative they can be when wearing it wild later this month. There’s an outfit for every letter of the alphabet, yes, even ‘U’.

Director Alex Haines comments, “On paper, a family-friendly, animal-themed fancy dress party sounds so expected and twee - the fun bit was trying to move away from that expectation; adding a layer of attitude! Music was always going to play a big part in that, and we were really excited when we got sign off on the Slaves track! They embody everything we wanted from this film attitude wise.”

Francesca Briginshaw of Pitch and Sync comments “As the film had such a strong message the music had to reflect this so we knew we had to find something that was pretty strong . We looked at a few different styles musically but this riff led, raw and more raucous style was one that seemed to jump out.”

Naked’s Creative Director, Cyrus Vantoch-Wood, who led the project for WWF, comments on the story behind the launch and how it influenced the ideas behind the film, “Having a fundraising idea is one thing, but our mission for the film was to drive action and inspire behaviour; like a video flyer to get people involved. We also couldn’t forget that this is a serious issue. Wildlife populations worldwide have declined by 52% since 1970. We needed something that can appeal to school kids, mums and hipsters alike, whilst maintaining some break through. We needed an execution with teeth. The end product is a piece of content that taps into people’s imaginations and shows them that this is an opportunity to have some fun and do some good.“

The Naked creative team came up with the A-Z concept, choosing a shortlist of 40 animals that would make for an inventive and visually diverse final sequence. Alex Haines comments, “Cyrus and the guys at Naked did a great job compiling the initial shortlist. Some letters were trickier than others, I mean how many animals can you name beginning with ‘U’ or ‘Q’? That was also the fun part though, we learnt about some crazy new animals and hopefully everyone who watches this film will Google just what an Uakari is. Every day’s a school day!”

The project itself required a great deal of planning and organisation. The shoot was completed in a short time frame of 8 hours, allowing only 15 minutes to capture each animal on the day. Cyrus Vantoch-Wood comments “The planning behind this film was extensive but everyone involved worked really hard to support the project and we can’t thank them enough. We’re looking forward now to hosting our own Wear It Wild Day next Friday”

WWF hopes that ‘Wear It Wild’ will become a major event in WWF’s annual calendar, bringing WWF’s work alive in hundreds of schools, businesses and organisations across the UK.

Charlotte Bagg, Events Manager at WWF-UK said: “It was fantastic to work with Naked Communications and Pulse Films. Great content is an essential part of reaching and inspiring millions and we hope that this fun, shareable video will help encourage the nation to make a stand for nature and Wear it Wild on Friday 5 June.”

Wear It Wild will take place on Friday 5 June 2015. To find out more about getting involved visit: www.wwf.org.uk/wild