Abandoning language that helped sentence Kauri to death long before disease did.

Language shapes reality. Unfortunately, the language being used to describe New Zealand’s native Kauri and the threat posed by the pathogen, Phytophthora agathidicida, would have you believe Kauri extinction is both predetermined and unchangeable. 

When, in fact, that’s far from the case. The National Pest Management Plan for the protection of kauri was launched to prevent exactly that, with rules they approached us to communicate. So, we reframed the issue from one of ‘Kauri dieback’ to the need to ‘Give Kauri Space to Grow.’ Creating a campaign with visuals that focused on light, movement and hope for the future to communicate the new guidelines and help shift pre-existing attitudes of fatalism and resignation.