Spring Day Celebration at Sable Square in aid of Arbor Day (1 September ’09)
ELEMENTS:
The campaign seeks to form a united bond with school children in the area, and thus, their parents.Globally, Arbor Day is celebrated with a focus of educating youths about the benefits of keeping the environment green. Across the world, countries plant trees on Arbor Day since they play in important part in the environment.
In South Africa, interestingly Arbor Day is celebrated for an entire week. National Arbor Week focuses on joining all South Africans together to celebrate the importance of trees. Therefore the communities are urged to get involved and focus on forestry. It takes place first week of September.
In South Africa, the focus is also on two specific trees – one common and one rare species so that the community can concentrate on understanding trees (indigenous) and raise awareness of greening initiatives.
This year, 2009, the two trees are the Monkey Thorn (Apiesdoring) for the Common Tree and the Tree Fuchsia and Round –Leaved Teak for the Rare species.
Pre-planning:
Connect with the Department of Water and Forestry (DWARF) and Food and Trees for Africa (FTFA). It is also important to receive their hand-outs on above as it carries important information on Arbor Week.
• We used a drawing from one of the kids that attended our July, Operation Green Fingers workshops. This will form the base of our creative for the campaign. Megan Thomson, age 11 from Milnerton Primary.
• Each celebrity will receive a tree to preen and shape according to their own creation. The creations will be on display in the square after the event. So the celeb has to send us a suggested design beforehand so that it can be approved by the topiary expert.
Activities of the promotion:
• Roxy Louw, Dieter Voight and Willem Botha would be involved, in an on-stage topiary art class. The instructor would give the celebs an opportunity to demonstrate their skills by shaping their very own topiary in a certain time limit. The audience would select the best celebrity topiary.
• We have been able to negotiate an excellent deal with Superplants. 350 learners from the schools attending would receive a plant to nurture and grow in their own garden
• Previous to this competition, the celebs would have an opportunity to submit their designs for a professionally created topiary. Their drawings along with the finished designs (created by a professional), would be displayed throughout the Square.
• A fun and educational planting experience would be organized showing the school kids how to plant and maintain their ‘Sable Square Shrubs.’
• The topiary trees will be displayed in the centre, with a placards saying: “This tree belongs to [celeb name]. Join us on 29 August, when our celebs demonstrate their artistic topiary skills!”
• Invite Tygerburger, Kaap Rapport and Next48hours media to cover the story for additional editorial
• We will give a goody bag to as many kids as we can. This was negotiated with Pick n Pay.
