The ‘ Wind in the Willows: Official Trailer ’ takes an iconic British childhood story and turns it on it's head.

Don’t Panic were tasked with creating a campaign that would educate and engage the public on the threat to Britain’s Wildlife, motivating the public to take action to prevent further depletion of our once flourishing, natural ecosystems.

Don't Panic therefore took one of the most iconic British childhood stories ever, The Wind in the Willows, and made a movie launch with a twist… With a major OOH campaign seeing movie poster placements all over the country, alongside a 2 minute trailer screened at 500 cinemas nationwide, the campaign was unavoidable. David Attenborough, Stephen Fry and Catherine Tate were amongst the all-star British cast backing the campaign. Badger and friends also joined the marches in the real world, outside Westminster and at the Extinction Rebellion march. The puppets were handmade from scratch for the film. 

Produced by animation house, Rowdy, the film trailer shows how the lives of Badger, Ratty, Mole and Toad are endangered by bulldozers, pollution and intensive agriculture. Their countryside homes are destroyed and broken up and the wild landscape they need to survive and flourish is now a hostile and toxic place. 

The campaign's objectives were to promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems. The film’s aim was to drive people to take action for nature’s recovery and play their part in creating a #WilderFuture. The campaign advocated for a Nature Recovery Network in law that maps where wildlife is and needs protecting, and where it should be, to drive investment and sustainable development.

The animated trailer calls on everyone to help reverse the damage that’s been done to our natural landscapes and secure a wilder future before time runs out. By evoking a sense of nostalgia and loss across generations, Don't Panic aim to remind a broad audience what’s at stake before leading them to adopt a fresh, diverse and progressive vision of a wilder future. Ultimately, The Wildlife Trusts want to unite the public in collective action and give them a tangible way of shaping the political agenda through public pressure.

Rick Dodds, Creative Director, Don’t Panic said “In recent years, Hollywood has done a great job of adapting our classic children’s book stories for the big screen. So, we chose the most British of them all, and enlisted the help of Badger and friends to highlight the stark reality of the British countryside. The narrative arc of the film trailer closely echoes the story of our countryside. In the beginning it was beautiful and plentiful, then things get pretty dark and twisted - but at the end there's hope because there's still time to do something about it.”

The campaign successfully disrupted conversation; 18 million people watched the trailer at the cinema, 195 news outlets reported the story, 3 national newspapers printed spreads of the story, and 60 million individuals were reached nationwide.