Saatchi & Saatchi IS launches the first ‘Bee Saving Paper’
Bees and other pollinating insects are thought to be responsible for keeping 90% of all wild plants in existence. The pollination “services” provided by bees are estimated to have a global economic value of €150 billion. Unfortunately, bee numbers are declining. In fact, in Poland 222 out of 469 species are already on the verge of the extinction. The potential absence of bees poses a great risk not only to the economy but also to human prosperity.
This dramatic decline is a result of multiple factors, including the extensive use of pesticides, rapid industrialisation and unprecedented urban development. All this makes bees have to fly much further in search of the plants they need. Long distances exhaust them. As a result, many of them lack the energy to survive, and they end up on the ground, dying.
To help bees, Saatchi & Saatchi IS Warsaw have teamed up with City Bees, an organization that encourages a passion for bees in urban communities, to launch Bee Saving Paper – a unique project that aims to promote an innovative, biodegradable material that can be used for many purposes and works like an energy drink for bees.
Bee Saving Paper has been developed thanks to close cooperation between many professionals, including entomology experts and paper craftsmen. It contains a unique form of energy-rich glucose and honey plant seeds, and is covered in water-based UV paint which is applied in patterns that are seen by bees as a meadow full of pollen.
The paper has a doubly helpful function: the special kind of glucose in its structure means that the paper does not become sticky, but still gives the bees that land on it a boost of energy. Once fully restored, the bee takes off again and carries with it a seed from one of its favourite plants spread throughout the paper – Lacy Phacelia. The seeds are then dispersed by the bees as they fly away and complete more of their daily journeys. The seeds then grow and flower and provide bees with more flowers in the future for them to stop and refuel along their way.
“We’ve managed to develop and produce what is probably the first paper nature would not only like you to use, but maybe even to drop. Currently, we are focusing – through beesavingpaper.com – on seeking partners who, just like us, care about the future of bees. We know our innovation won’t solve the worldwide problem of the declining bee population by itself, but we hope we’ll at least make people realise how important bees are to us.” said Tomasz Bujok and Anna Gadecka, senior creatives on the project.
Bee Saving Paper has already passed a successful field test, when it was used to create the visual identity – or as the creators prefer to call it, beesiness identity – for a beekeeper who lost over 95% of his hives. Now it’s ready for mass production and collaboration with bigger brands.
More information about the project is available at the website: www.beesavingpaper.com
