Get Involved and End Poverty in UN Campaign

A revolutionary movement is in the air and is fast collecting momentum among creatives.

The UN’s Global Goals hit the headlines this weekend with the start of its week-long launch and attempt to reach seven million people worldwide in one week.

Unveiling 17 insanely ambitious goals – aka Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – the campaign known as Project Everyone attempts to end extreme poverty, tackle inequality and reverse injustice by 2030 by getting everyone involved.

“The more famous these global goals are, and the more widely they are understood by everyone - the more politicians will take them seriously, finance them properly, refer to them frequently and make them work,” says Project Everyone’s website.

Since its initial announcement in June, the campaign has had non-stop public attention – using different mediums and enlisting the help of seriously high-profile celebrities, creatives and anti-poverty organisation Global Citizen to get the message out.

The campaign launched on Friday as this was when 193 international leaders at New York’s UN headquarters decided that they will adopt the goals.

Friday marked the release of the Global Goals ad trailer (above) – the full spot will be a minute long – which used high-profile celebrities and creatives to create the ad and promote the goals. Liam Neeson stars as the llama, while Project Everyone frontman and British director Richard Curtis teamed up with advertising legend Sir John Hegarty and Aardman Animations to create it. Watch the behind-the-scenes spot below.

Saturday saw the Global Citizen Festival take place in New York’s Central Park with a stellar line-up including Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran and Coldplay.

Today, the campaign’s founding partner photo agency Getty Images released 17 images that illustrate each of the goals.

With images featuring on over 10,000 ads that will be displayed internationally, the campaign is expected to be the biggest advertising campaign of all time with organisers hope that it will reach and connect with different types of people.  

“Images transcend language and are universally understood, making them highly evocative.  They are the lingua franca of our time,” says Getty CMO Susan Smith Ellis. “Reaching 7 billion people in 7 days is an audacious undertaking and it is the power of our images that helps to make this possible.”

Getty is responsible for documenting and distributing all aspects of the movement, such as Richard Curtis’ short film No Point Going Half Way and Stephen Hawking’s powerful message To save the world we need everyone to tell everyone.

The agency will also host an outdoor exhibition featuring images of the goals at Tokyo’s International Photography festival and will also distribute image and editorial content from various associated events.

Digital lesson plans have been created in partnership with UNICEF to teach children from around the world about the Global Goals and what effect they can have on the world.   

To join the movement, get involved and spread the campaign use #WeHaveAPlan; #TellEveryone or #GlobalGoals. Alternatively, download the Global Goals app to interact with the trailer when you see it in the cinema.