Buglife’s B-Lines campaign

Conservation charity Buglife came to Skylark Media to help create a series of animations to promote its B-Lines initiative. The aim was to inform, inspire and empower the general public to take action for pollinators and wildlife.

Our animated explainer describes the problems faced by pollinating insects and how Buglife’s B-Lines is working with others to restore wildflower-rich areas of our countryside. Skylark video production’s animation features hand-drawn illustrations in a style sympathetic to Buglife’s brand assets. 2D vector graphics ensured a simplistic yet contemporary style that works well for a Facebook and YouTube audience.

The campaign includes a 20″ cutdown version, stills-based ad, video banner and audience-based social iterations for landowners, schools and the public. The animation was shared by ambassador TV presenter Steve Backshall.

After posting the video on the Milkywire crowdfunding platform, Buglife was awarded $500K investment to fund the planting of wild flower corridors for pollinators. We couldn’t be more proud.

‘Skylark Media made a superb animation to promote the Buglife B-Lines initiative. They were really collaborative and it is the best project explainer we have.’ Paul Hetherington, Director of Fundraising and Communications, Buglife

The Buglife animation generated over 30,000 organic views and more than 1000 shares. To date over 3,100 points of activity have been captured on the B-Lines map, representing over 3,000 hectares (ha). Buglife projects alone have contributed nearly 130ha of habitat for pollinators in 2023. 

The conservation charity was also selected by Klarna’s Give One initiative to receive $400,000 in funding to support the project, after the animation was uploaded to the Milkywire app.

Last year Buglife secured funding for a number of ambitious B-Lines projects including: the Life on the Edge in South Devon that will deliver 500ha of grassland scrub mosaic for rare pollinators; Aberdeen B-Lines that will transform 20ha on the coast, River Don and River Dee; and Kernow Wyls (Wild Cornwall: People for Pollinators) that will restore 30ha of coastal grasslands. Meanwhile, 52 land management training workshops were delivered, six farm clusters supported and 400 people trained in ecological survey techniques. In Europe, the EU Action Plan for Pollinators adopted the B-Lines principles, committing to creating ‘Buzzlines’ across Europe.