RMIT students flatten the plastic curve with award winning campaign

RMIT students flatten the plastic curve with award winning campaign

A team of two RMIT Vietnam students took home the third prize at the ASEAN Youth Social Journalism Contest with a social media campaign to raise awareness about plastic consumption among Vietnamese youth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

RMIT Vietnam Bachelor of Communication (Professional Communication) students Hoang Nguyen Nhat Vi (pictured left) and Pham Quang Vinh placed third at the ASEAN Social Youth Journalism Contest. RMIT Vietnam Bachelor of Communication (Professional Communication) students Hoang Nguyen Nhat Vi (pictured left) and Pham Quang Vinh placed third at the ASEAN Social Youth Journalism Contest.

Project “Flatten the Plastic Curve” run by RMIT Vietnam Bachelor of Communication (Professional Communication) students Hoang Nguyen Nhat Vi and Pham Quang Vinh successfully reached nearly 200,000 young audiences after only one month of running.

Following the theme #ASEANYouth and COVID-19 ─ Response, Recovery, and Resilience, the duo decided to empower young online shoppers to take small but impactful actions while making their orders through comic-like graphics and influencer marketing.

Hoang Nguyen Nhat Vi said that COVID-19 has challenged Vietnamese people’s sustainable habits since they have been requested to minimise physical contact and unnecessary travelling.

“As the most adaptable generation of the region, ASEAN youth quickly adjusted themselves to the situation by transferring their daily activities to digital platforms,” she said.

“Convenience comes with a price, and minimised physical contact is a trade-off between health and environment.

“The ‘new normal’ life is now indulged with single-use plastic packaging.”

Throughout the campaign, the duo encouraged young people make changes such as ordering from one shop to minimise plastic packaging, or directly messaging to the shop owners or food shippers to remind them to reduce as much as they can the plastic wrappings.

Starting the regional round with great enthusiasm, the duo instantly faced a huge challenge due to the latest COVID-19 outbreak in Ho Chi Minh City.

Pham Quang Vinh said that as the lockdown imposed, “we were unable to go out to produce video contents or organise a youth event as required by the competition rules.

“We had only one month to run our entire campaign, and the results from the first two weeks were so disappointing that we started to question our own purpose,” he said.

“However, as the theme of this year’s contest, we have gradually adapted to this new situation by re-adopting a digital-led approach for our plastic reduction intention.

“We revised our strategy, reached out to environmental experts and published comic-inspired content in minimalist and green living community groups to drive more traffic to the page.”

Using comic-like graphics and influencer marketing, Vi and Vinh empowered the young online shoppers to take small but impactful actions while making orders.. Using comic-like graphics and influencer marketing, Vi and Vinh empowered the young online shoppers to take small but impactful actions while making orders..

By the end of the campaign, the duo reached over 40,000 young people with their print ads, received organic shares and had their campaign mentioned in four Vietnamese macro influencers’ Facebook pages. A group of students even asked Vinh and Vi if they could volunteer for the campaign as part of their university project.

“Without resilience, none of these results would have ever happened,” Vinh said.

“The adaptability and resilience [that we had to perform during the competition] are the key qualities necessary for any profession in the ever-changing world we are living now.

“Nobody knows what may come our way, so getting ourselves ready for volatility did us good.”

The duo believes that RMIT Vietnam has always maintained a diverse and well-connected network with different NPOs, NGOs and business stakeholders.

“This facilitated us to produce more content with professional knowledge of the field,” Vinh concluded.

Story: Ha Hoang

 

24 September 2021

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