Challenge:

Charlotte, renowned for its lush tree canopy and often called “The City of Trees,” faced a quiet but accelerating crisis: a steady decline in its urban forest. TreesCharlotte, a local nonprofit, had long worked to address this issue through education, planting events and partnerships, but public engagement remained limited.

Key obstacles included:

• Public Apathy / Awareness Deficiency: Residents enjoyed the Queen City’s natural beauty but were largely unaware of the canopy’s decline and the urgency of conservation efforts.
• Engagement Fatigue: Previous campaigns had struggled to move beyond passive awareness into actionable community commitment.
• Fragmented Audiences: The city’s population—ranging from homeowners to students, developers, and community leaders—required tailored messaging to mobilize different demographics effectively.

TreesCharlotte collaborated with Imperative Partners and SPARK Strategic Ideas to develop a city-wide conversation around preserving the tree canopy by making the seemingly invisible loss visible and emotionally resonant. The “Charlotte Without Trees?” campaign took root.

Solution:

Strategic planning for the new campaign started in Fall 2023 with a forecasted launch date of April 2024. The campaign aimed not only to inform but to evoke an emotional response by asking Charlotteans through cheeky yet accessible analogies to imagine their beloved city stripped of its trees—an unimaginable yet memorable thought.

The overarching objectives were to elevate awareness about Charlotte’s disappearing tree canopy, mobilize diverse resident groups to take action, and drive measurable engagement through pledges, volunteerism, and donations.

Campaign messaging was centered around general analogies that included landmarks, institutions, Southern food, and more. For example: “Charlotte Without Trees? That’s like BBQ without the slaw.” “Charlotte Without Trees? That’s like CLT Airport without rocking chairs.” The team also used hyperlocal analogies tailored to cultural and neighborhood-specific icons (e.g., “SouthEnd without breweries,” “NoDa without the cool kids,” and “SouthPark without the mall.”)

The campaign was targeted to six audience segments: homeowners, renters, students, business owners/community leaders, developers/builders, and landscapers/gardeners. The call to action was for individuals to complete online pledges, which were a tailored action checklist to make engagement accessible and relevant.

The creative execution of the campaign included five primary components.

1. Website:

• Microsite—a dedicated platform (CharlotteWithoutTrees.org) hosted pledge sign-ups, educational resources, and volunteer opportunities.
• Content was localized by audience type for maximum resonance.

2. Advertising:

• Social media ads—video and static ads ran on Facebook and Instagram platforms. Creative featured playful yet impactful visuals and short videos, linking the analogies with tree loss.
• Google search and display ads—a dual approach leveraging both paid and grant-funded campaigns. Search ads focused on high-intent keywords like “Trees Charlotte” and “plant a tree charity.”

3. Video:

• A series of :15 and :30 videos illustrated “unthinkable” comparisons: BBQ without slaw, Uptown without bankers, Lake Norman without boat parties, etc.
• Placed on YouTube and embedded in social media, videos featured voiceover-driven storytelling with dynamic editing and visuals of Charlotte’s trees vanishing to emphasize urgency.

4. Guerrilla Marketing:

• Tree banners—over 400 vinyl signs were wrapped around tree trunks with bungee cords throughout parks, greenways, public libraries and neighborhoods. Banner messaging showcased benefits of urban trees in a humorous way—“Money doesn’t grow on trees, but property values do.”
• Stump signs—placed at high-traffic sites, these signs on posts were embedded into large tree stumps. The signs highlighted the losses caused by the removed trees—“One less tree leads to way more problems,” “It’d be a lot cooler if the rest of the tree was here,” and “When we lose a tree, we lose more than you think.”
• Digital truck ads—digital billboard trucks displaying top-performing ads were on-site at high-profile events, including Panthers games, the ACC Football Championship, and a benefit concert for Hurricane Helene relief.

5. Community Partnerships:

• Key partners—Charlotte Douglas International Airport, Charlotte Ballet, UNC Charlotte, Johnson C. Smith University, Mint Museum, and neighborhood associations around the city—supported campaign efforts.
• Co-branded videos and social content were amplified through partner channels. Custom tree signs were placed on campuses and public sites.