SILK Bee Hotel

Over the past few years, the global bee population has drastically declined, as parasites, diseases, pesticides, and the lack of floral diversity, have decreased available spaces for bee reproduction.

For our client SILK in the plant-based food world, their problem was that a wave of new brands and products were flooding the market making various claims about their commitment to the environment to try and quickly win over consumers.  But SILK has long-standing sustainable behaviours because they knew that the more we help bees, the more they help us. We wanted to make sure SILK stood out in the marketplace by doing something to help, instead of just talking about it.

When thinking about the physical spaces advertising occupies, we saw an opportunity to use OOH billboards for the benefit of both biodiversity and SILK.  Whilst the billboard itself is used for advertising messaging, the support pole that holds the billboard in place is not fully utilised and is empty space that can be used for other purposes. Introducing ‘Bee Hotels’.

SILK would install Bee Hotels on OOH billboard support columns to create spaces for bees to reproduce – a first of its kind, and a crucial assist for bees in the ever-creeping urban environment they find themselves living in. To bring credibility to this idea, we worked closely with entomology professors from the Université de Montreal who could study the impact the Bee Hotels had on bees, and ensure they were promoting biodiversity.

Once locations were identified that allowed for good access for the university research team, the bee hotels were constructed from locally sourced cedar wood, following the best scientific protocol for design and production for bee hotels.

Native flowers were planted at the base of the OOH billboard columns to attract bees and encourage them to check into our hotels.

Once the bee hotels and flowers were installed, SILK’s OOH messaging was used to showcase the product range and announce the bee-friendly initiative. The Bee Hotel OOH campaign was supported with social and PR initiatives to spread further awareness of SILK’s commitment to the biodiversity of bees.