Braam met with the Saatchi & Saatchi creative team last month to brain-storm the Earth Challenge project.
26 episodes have been completed and were shred with the team. The team then broke into two workshops and came back and presented their ideas. One of the areas of concern was to ensure the Challenge of creating a critical mass of a billion children lived long after the Earth Challenge was finished. One of the ideas that we are now exploring is to have a team of 3 in each episode, over and above the Earth Warrior adventurers. The 3 will be made up of an international celebrity, a child from the area and an expert on that episodes subject IE deforestation expert or water expert. A competition is created for each episode which continues for a specified period (perhaps a year). Part of the competition involves getting as many people (predominantly children) to sign a petition pertaining to that plight. This is driven by the celebrity who embraces that problem area (Leonardo de Caprio/deforestation).
Another important consideration is to have a live chat room/blog site/Facebook or the like. This enables people to interact on-line and feel personally involved.
We meet again in September to finalise the model before signing up TV rights with an international broadcaster. By year-end, the project will be in the hands of the top 5 international PR companies who will tender for the PR position with relevant budgets.
Finally, headline sponsors are approached for naming rights.
Target for Earth Challenge launch is November 2010. The clock is ticking!
A huge thanks to Saatchi & Saatchi for their passion and pro-bono involvement.