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Climate Week NYC, an event hosted by the nonprofit business group Climate Group, descends on New York this week to coincide with the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
While world leaders engage in diplomacy on East 45th Street—while facing tens of thousands of protesters fighting for an end to fossil fuels—Climate Week focuses primarily on the private sector.
Together, these gatherings mean that there are tens of thousands of climate people in New York right now, and brands are taking note. On the one hand, sustainably minded brands have a captive, like-minded audience—and on the other hand, it can be a ripe opportunity for greenwashing.
“The way for corporations to participate in a helpful way would be to actually act according to their commitments and then talk about those actions,” Amy Westervelt, investigative climate journalist and host of the Drilled podcast, told Adweek. “It’s not that hard.”
Tour company Intrepid Travel is using a combination of out-of-home, digital and experiential advertising to grab the attention of these environmentally-focused visitors and locals, all flocking to Manhattan for a slew of closed-door meetings, public talks, casual meetups, happy hours or protests. At the same time, sponsors like construction company Saint-Gobain and consulting firm McKinsey are drawing criticism for their participation, which activists see as antithetical to the goals of Climate Week.
‘Good Trips Only’
Intrepid, which organizes sustainably designed small group travel across the globe, chose this time and place to kick off its biggest ad campaign in North America to date.
A roughly $1 million investment, this iteration of the ongoing “Good Trips Only” campaign is posting up in subway cars, wrapping pedicabs and Citibikes—which support sustainable transit methods—and sponsoring hand-painted murals in Brooklyn.
“The only way to truly feel good when you travel is by doing it mindfully and purposefully and sustainably,” said Mikey Sadowski, vp of global communications at Intrepid. “We really want to be positioned as that turnkey way to see the world a little more responsibly.”
In addition to the OOH media, Intrepid has a narrative ad placement in The New York Times and audio ads on The Daily podcast. It’ll also take over experiential marketing space Showfields Brooklyn to host an activation featuring a newsstand with Intrepid’s Good Times publication, video footage from a selection of the company’s trips and panel discussions in partnership with Travel Massive, B Local NYC and Atlas Obscura.