In October last year, Swedish islands, Gotland, and Stockholm agency, Differ, launched the second edition of their competition to find the ugliest lawn – opening it up to entrants from all over the world. The campaign’s aim was to highlight the importance of conserving water and reducing water wastage.
The winner of The World’s Ugliest Lawn has been crowned. An Australian. Kathleen Murray in Sandford, Tasmania has The World’s Ugliest Lawn. Her prize is a preowned t-shirt with the text, Proud owner of The World’s Ugliest Lawn.
Of course, the real winner of the campaign is water awareness. In the past weeks the earned reach of the initiative and the winner announcement has been global and viral without any paid media, USD617m (922m since October 2023).
The World’s Ugliest Lawn contest is a response to 2023 being the Earth’s warmest year on record and the increasing water scarcity around the world. It was launched in October 2023 in collaboration with the Hollywood star and environmentalist, Shailene Woodley. The campaign is a scale up of the successful water conservation initiative, Gotland’s Ugliest Lawn, from 2022 on the Swedish island, Gotland.
Some of the coverage includes:
CNN:
The Washington Post (where it was the top story with 466 comments)
The Guardian (One of the most widely read articles in a number of countries)
This week The Drew Barrymore Show on CBS will do a segment about the winner.
The campaign site with the jury’s motivation.
