Woolmark tells the story of sustainable fashion in style

By bringing a powerful insight to life in dramatic storytelling, Woolmark allows an important message about sustainability in fashion to be heard, says Paul Valentine, creative partner at Tin Man.

It can be tricky to get the balance right in a piece of brand comms. The age-old question is how much you show ‘the problem’ versus how much you dwell on ‘the solution’ that the product you’re selling delivers.

In earned media, we know that ‘the problem’ can be a powerful way of connecting the public around big, emotive issues such as sustainability. But often clients will push for more focus on the brand solution; the product attributes. The result can be on-brand, but bland, instead of something memorable and bold that will earn your attention and its place in your head.

What I like about this ad is not only the bravery, to dwell on the problem for 51 out of 60 seconds, but the powerful, visceral way that it makes you confront it and the pointedness of the insight it shares: that every piece of synthetic clothing still exists in some form. When I first saw this, alone and on my phone, I said “wow” to myself out loud. Because it brought the impact of that home to me.

It's more than a strong concept. It is technically great too, a wonderful piece of filmmaking; cinematic, leaning into familiar cues and tropes of zombie swarms and horror movies to grab attention. Yet it avoids cliches or feeling stale, with unexpected camera angles, an edit that keeps you trying to catch up with the action and a score that adds a fresh layer of complexity rather than the expected dramatic, suspense building tool that often goes hand in hand with scenes of chaos and horror.

I hope this will be playing out in packed cinemas. On a big screen, volume up, watching it in a room full of strangers, huddled in the dark, its true impact would be felt.

Even the dovetailing into the solution (which could be clunky,) the transition, from an apocalyptic vision of a claustrophobia inducing synthetic-clothing hell-swarm, into the ethereal, natural beauty of the ‘wool-world’ in the final 9 seconds is, is delivered elegantly.

My take: if you have seen this, you will remember it and it will make you feel something. And it will probably make you want to buy wool. What more can you ask for? I personally love this.