Healthy Trees Are More Than Paper

We developed More Than Paper to spotlight the numerous benefits (services) trees provide for people in their communities. At its core, More Than Paper is a branded public awareness campaign along the lines of NBC ‘s The More You Know PSAs ( and One to Grow On PSAs, for any Gen. Xers reading this). However, instead of network celebrities, More Than Paper relies on evocative animation and plain language to resonate with audiences. Basically, whenever you see the a More Than Paper animation “unfolding” on your video screen, you should know we’re about to drop some serious tree-knowledge on you; in a fun, approachable way. The straight forward copy and stylized animation deliver crisp “take away messages” and speaking points that are supported by hard science. More Than Paper typically directs audiences to a single resource where they can learn more about the science or download additional resources relative to the topic(s) being addressed by each PSA.

And…….that brings us to our romance with the Healthy Trees Healthy Lives (HTHL). This initiative is a perfect fit for More Than Paper because (1) the general population should be aware of the human health benefits objectively linked to the extent and health of trees in their communities, and (2) it’s so EASY to deploy. HTHL is a "heat-and-serve" resource; complete with its own message, speaking points, website, and resource tools. HTHL checks all the boxes for the type of information and science More Than Paper was built to convey. All we had to do was appropriately stylize said speaking points and direct folks to the HTHL website. Needless to say, we could not wait to market HTHL through More Than Paper (we just had to make sure the HTHL website was finished first).

Louisiana Community Forests will launch a statewide multi-media More Than Paper campaign, featuring HTHL, in mid-to-late August. The timing and intent of this launch date is meant to grow brand recognition and drive traffic to the new HTHL website (if you are reading this weblog entry………you have managed to find the new website……….maybe you saw one of our ads!).

We’ll wrap up this post with an abundance of shout-outs. More Than Paper --peddling HTHL – is truly a collaborative effort that leverages program dollars and relationships both locally and regionally. Louisiana Community Forests is proud to cooperate with the US Forest Service, Southern Group, to deliver programs like this. If you enjoy the captivating PSAs and imagery as much as we do, check out elbow/room. If you like this sa-weet HTHL website check out TILT. We tip our hardhats to Red Six Media for a comprehensive media plan that focused a “whole-lotta” abstract intent. And….a big, fat thank you to Texas A&M Forest Service for curating this website and ALL of its content.

Thanks for checking this out.

-Robert Seemann, State Coordinator, Louisiana Community Forests

Robert Seemann is the Louisiana Community Forests, State Coordinator. Louisiana Community Forests is a statewide program developed and administered by Baton Rouge Green to promote the importance of community trees in Louisiana and provide assistance to communities relating to their urban canopies.

Post Script on direct marketing abstract concepts to an extensive user base:

[I was told to leave this paragraph out for the sake of brevity, but I don’t listen; my fellow data nerds may be interested in how we determined our markets.] This all pretty broad in scope, but we had to start somewhere. First, we identified key markets based on census data and geographic distribution. More Than Paper PSAs, by design, are meant to be understood and appealing to EVERYONE, but the Facebook, Google, YouTube and streaming OTT advertising require target demographics. So………our anticipated demographic group for the digital part of the campaign landed on: adults (18-55 years) using the internet, social media, and/or streaming services; whose online behavior indicates they may be interested in environmental issues, conservation, and/or coastal restoration. This targeted, multi-channel digital effort will backed up by traditional markets as well. We believe STRONGLY in the power of billboards to get a message out. Billboard ads will show up in the same key markets (across the state) around the same time as the digital campaign. Additionally, local television network affiliates, public television, and public radio will have the More Than Paper – HTHL ads, and are encouraged to air them in their PSA slots during the campaign period.