NGage launches agency with ‘Festival for Our Planet’
With a strong focus on social cohesion and environmental advocacy, Sri Lanka’s pioneering Integrated Marketing Communications Agency now rebranded as NGage Strategic Alliance (formerly known as Bates Strategic Alliance) l a u n ch e d its NGage Goodvocacy arm, with a public edutainment event on environmental awareness titled ‘ Festival for Our Planet’. It was co-hosted with and at the Good Market, Colombo with the E nv i r o n m e n t a l Foundation Ltd as a partner.
Spurred by the worldwide “Climate Strike” children’s campaign that took place on March 15, the aim of the festival was to align with this seminal happening and educate and mobilise enthused citizens for climate and environmental justice.
The event unfolded with the lighting of an eco-green-treelamp by the Founder and Leader, Nimal Gunewardena, with other experts, speakers, performers and celebrities present. Twelve speakers ranging from high profile consultants, environmental activists, UN SDG advocates, and motivational speakers covered topics ranging from global warming and climate change to action to halt environmental degradation through pollution of oceans, water and air, protecting our forests, advocating sustainable consumption and switching from fossil fuels to renewables, and driving other climate-smart initiatives, the agency said in a media release.
Environmental architect Sunela Jayewardene spoke on improving the quality of sustainable life in cities. “Even if green legislation does not happen as fast as we would like, we as consumers can make conscious decisions by implementing eco-practices in our everyday practice.” Also voicing his stance on how to empower and mobilise youth on environmental activism, Founder of Global Unites, Prashan de Visser intoned “Our children deserve something better - a thriving environment is a vision worth having.”
In addition to the varied talks on the educative speaker platform, environmental videos and movies were shown on a giant screen, and an art installation by Dillai Joseph and Charith De Silva featured Sanni masks creatively refashioned to show environmental destruction. “Our over-indulgence in plastics, mindless deforestation, overcrowding by endless construction in cities, overuse of pesticides, improper waste management and an increasingly large carbon footprint per person are the demons possessing us today,” said the creators.
An evening concert featuring rock artiste Chitral Somapala majored on ‘ songs for the planet’ including ‘ Wilpattuwe’ co- written with NGage’s Creative Director Chinthana Dharmadasa. Other performers were N i r mali and Harsha Markalanda, and Thilan Wijesinghe.
“The way for brands to engage with their audiences is changing dramatically from the broadcast advertising mode into creat ive edutainment-based PR events and video- laced digital campaigns. Brands have to seriously rethink and innovate its products and packaging and re-fashion its messaging from hard-sell to a ‘Higher Purpose’ approach” said Nimal Gunewardena. “That’s the philosophy that NGage Strategic Alliance will drive as a new- genre, relaunched agency.”