Chevron Thailand has long been a supporter of CSR, with education as the cornerstone of its activities. In 2008, the company launched the Chevron School Network in Thailand, a nationwide waste reduction campaign aimed at enabling school children and teachers to organize community waste management and recycling projects.

Siamentis was hired to help Chevron expand the number of participating schools, and also to raise greater public awareness and understanding of its CSR activities.

In the case of Chevron’s CSR program, Siamentis found inspiration for the television commercials and print ads in the impressive impact that the Chevron School Network has had on local communities:

• At Baan Na Wong and Anuban Pihcit schools, students have convinced food vendors operating near school grounds to use biodegradable food containers made from banana leaves, thereby eliminating the use of thousands of plastic bags and Styrofoam boxes.

• At Wat Sai Yai School in Nonthaburi province, children now prepare for traditional temple festivals by melting down used wax to make new candles and creating candle-holders from discarded plastic water bottles.

• At Wat Prachiek School in Songkhla province, a whole community gets together each weekend to clean up the nearby beach. School children then sort the collected rubbish and deliver it to recycling facilities.

As students at schools involved in the Chevron School Network incorporate waste reduction into their daily lives, they become agents of change for the rest of the community. This was the crux of our communication campaign; instead of using actors and models, we used the actual students and community members involved to inject the campaign with the authentic appeal of true stories and real people.

The 45-second TV commercials was shot in late July and went on air in the middle of August 2010.