'The High School' teaches an air-quality lesson in Vietnam

GreenID, a Vietnam NGO, and FCB-affiliated Happiness Saigon have launched 'The High School', an effort to raise awareness about the detrimental impact air pollution can have on children's cognitive development. The effort also aims to distribute air-quality meters for use in schools at ground level.

The hook for the campaign is the above film about 'The High School'—a classroom in clear air 461 meters above the ground, in the Landmark 81 building in Ho Chi Minh City. Although the partners have not actually established a school at the location, they assert that the effort is more than a one-off for the cameras. Only one group of students received a lesson about air pollution at the location so far. But Alan Cerutti, co-founder, CEO and strategy director at Happiness, said GreenID intends to host further classes as it works to spread knowledge about the issue.

The partners admit that 'The High School' is an "extreme solution to get across that if nothing is done, the only place where children will safely be able to learn is hundreds of meters above the ground".

The campaign invites parents to 'enroll' their children at The High School, an action which signs their school up to have an air quality meter installed. The hope is that by spreading the use of these meters, the campaign can encourage schools to keep kids inside on days when the level of PM2.5 pollution (particulate matter smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter) is high.

Recent studies have shown that this form of pollution destroys brain cells and directly impacts the learning capacity of children, according to GreenID, citing Harvard, the World Health Organisation and Unicef as sources. The campaign also discusses six steps that people can collectively take to lower the PM2.5 levels.

CREDITS

Partner: GreenID
Founder & CEO: Nguy Thi Khanh
Communication Manager: Nguyen Thi Trang Nguyen
Communication Officer: Tran Thao Ly
Technical Specialist: Nguyen Thi Anh Thu
Clean Air and Water Program Manager: Nguyen Thi Hang

Agency: Happiness Saigon
Executive Creative Management/CEO: Alan Cerutti
Executive Creative Director: Gregory Titeca
Creative Director: Marc Richard Vander Heyden
Concept Provider: Jazz Tonna
Concept Provider: Robin van Eijk
Creative Support: Nicholas Stillittano
Strategic Brand Planner: Linh Le
Account Manager: Mai Nguyen
Account Executive: Hang Le
Account Executive: Hang Luong
Head of Copywriting: Phuc Nguyen
Copywriter: Hoang Luu
Head of Design: Neena Felizzi Gatdula
Designer: An Dang

Production House: Yo! 
Director: David Andre Robert Guibal 
Art Director: Truong Trung Dao
Assistant Director: Jesson Luther Laville
Director of Photography: Adrien Joan Plate

Developer: BLISS interactive 
Head of Technology: Thomas Colliers
Front-end Team Leader: Thai Nguyen
Project Manager: Duyen Do
Developer: Benjamin Richebois
Developer: Thong Hua