{"id":41094,"title":"The t-shirt prank that generated \u00a370k to fight climate change: Greenpeace x Joe Lycett","description":"Greenpeace pulled off the prank of 2024 with help from comedian Joe Lycett - and turned it into a best-selling product, raising over \u00a370k in royalties for their cause.\n\nThe question for any brand looking to replicate that success is...how? In this post, we'll break down how this story unfolded and the steps the Greenpeace team took whilst working with Joe to launch a successful campaign (and keep the hype going afterwards).","content":"<p>Greenpeace pulled off the best prank of 2024 with help from comedian Joe Lycett - and turned it into a best-selling product,<strong> raising over \u00a370k in royalties for their cause.<\/strong><\/p><p>The question for any brand looking to replicate that success is...how? In this post, we'll break down how this story unfolded and the steps the Greenpeace team took whilst working with Joe to launch a successful t-shirt campaign (and keep the hype going after the drop).<\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/p1qfzkn4df9eavlqpmgyikz03zvmdejgboohqpsj1bkvfyfa.png.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/p><h2>Harry Styles, Greenpeace, and a Kit Kat Chunky walk into a bar<\/h2><p>If you missed this news story, here's a recap: In June 2024, Harry Styles bought one of Joe Lycett's iconic paintings for \u00a36 + a KitKat Chunky (specifically Peanut Butter).<\/p><p>Whilst Joe did receive the \u00a36, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/C8g97ivINiY\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">chocolate was nowhere to be found<\/a>, prompting Joe to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C8mP0lxIji9\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announce he would be suing Harry for a KitKat<\/a>.<\/p><p>Ridiculous? Yep.<\/p><p>Headline-grabbing? Definitely.<\/p><p>A few days later, Joe <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C8tq58AoZl6\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a> that this had been an intentionally ridiculous stunt to highlight how irrational it is that Shell is suing Greenpeace for a peaceful climate protest. He gave Greenpeace the rights to print the original painting onto tees and totes, to support their legal defence.<\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/fhmttdlc2leip5nz9klcxakpxbvriywlsajfveygooaswam8.png.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">Joe's Instagram Reels throughout this saga have pulled in a cool 8 million combined views.<\/p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qKtJQl-_COA\/?modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;controls=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;vq=highres\" height=\"350\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><p><\/p><h2>The results<\/h2><p>A few of Joe's fantastic photos wearing the tee, a<a href=\"https:\/\/greenpeaceshop.co.uk\/joe-lycett-x-greenpeace\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> top-notch landing page<\/a>, and some creative graphics later, the campaign blew up.<\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/rivvryyktjwn0gjobic6rhquzls9hbvcljiyrbr05awplchq.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/w3zutdrkanxkcafbtejhg9pxwrtovgi9qhniezrgpzxq1wip.png.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">Traffic went up by <strong>2388% vs the previous day and shot up by another 1341% the following day as the Greenpeace store took advantage of <a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/blog\/offers-discounts-freepost-teemill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Freepost weekend<\/a><\/strong> to promote the products.<\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/zjftveiyd067h0xhvgg070tyr24vzrmp42xce88ohsnbhmdm.png.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">Sales? <strong>44x higher on the day <\/strong>the products launched vs the previous day.<\/p><p>Greenpeace used<a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/teemail\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> Teemail <\/a>to spread the story far and wide with a newsletter written by Joe himself for a personal touch. They complemented this by sending a newsletter to their own database of supporters, driving organic traffic to the site in floods.<\/p><p>Getting some further famous faces involved quickly, including Dr Jane Goodall and actor Simon Pegg (+ Harry Styles' mum!), helped keep the story going, building on the hype.<\/p><p><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/f6en3jzffrwh33fcgrc8npcf61ugaexpct44rbsgmn7uwxhk.png.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">-- <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/C87gTzBtXyN\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Simon Pegg even filmed a video for Greenpeace to support their cause<\/a><\/em><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/ka8gku5jpmmheovo5set3w7a4sv23tjzggjoprhgv9rnltre.png.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><img src=\"https:\/\/images.teemill.com\/pjzdppxghemdptlbdhwimslnlekl1p0ufcekcvuqu1zr0xpt.png.jpg?w=1140&amp;h=auto\" alt=\"\" title=\"\">-- <em>Greenpeace shared the story to their own channels after Joe revealed the big twist<\/em><\/p><p>With over <strong>11,000 t-shirts and totes <\/strong>sold in just a few weeks, Joe's prank has helped Greenpeace raise over <strong>\u00a370k in royalties <\/strong>to support their fight against Shell.<\/p><h3>What tactics can we pick out from this story to replicate with your own brand?<\/h3><ul><li><p>Choose the right influencer - someone who aligns with your cause and has an engaged audience<\/p><\/li><li><p>Employ a social media-first approach with authentic content from the influencer themselves - let them drive it<\/p><\/li><li><p>Build hype ahead of the launch<\/p><\/li><li><p>Get original photos from your influencer to boost engagement further<\/p><\/li><li><p>Build a landing page for the campaign that looks awesome to ensure conversions<\/p><\/li><li><p>Have content lined up for after the launch to keep the traffic coming - send the tee out to further influencers who can post their own content in the days following the launch<\/p><\/li><li><p>Align your launch before a <a href=\"\/blog\/?search=freepost\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Freepost<\/a> Weekend for an extra boost while the campaign is still trending<\/p><p><\/p><\/li><\/ul><p>Want to learn more about building viral influencer collaborations? <a href=\"https:\/\/teemill.com\/blog\/get-celebrities-to-wear-products\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Check out our ultimate guide in this post next.<\/a><\/p>","urlTitle":"t-shirt-prank-greenpeace-joe-lycett-harry-styles-sued-for-kit-kat","url":"\/blog\/t-shirt-prank-greenpeace-joe-lycett-harry-styles-sued-for-kit-kat\/","editListUrl":"\/my-blogs","editUrl":"\/my-blogs\/edit\/t-shirt-prank-greenpeace-joe-lycett-harry-styles-sued-for-kit-kat\/","fullUrl":"https:\/\/teemill.com\/blog\/t-shirt-prank-greenpeace-joe-lycett-harry-styles-sued-for-kit-kat\/","featured":false,"published":true,"showOnSitemap":true,"hidden":false,"visibility":null,"createdAt":1721230300,"updatedAt":1721282612,"publishedAt":1721234024,"lastReadAt":null,"division":{"id":12,"name":"Teemill"},"tags":[{"id":40,"code":"inspiration","name":"inspiration","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/inspiration\/"},{"id":44,"code":"socialmedia","name":"socialmedia","url":"\/blog\/tagged\/socialmedia\/"}],"metaImage":{"original":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/lczguktf718ndpoqoofl2wgndwn6bb2tdccdpecgyhcfukyl.jpeg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/lczguktf718ndpoqoofl2wgndwn6bb2tdccdpecgyhcfukyl.jpeg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/lczguktf718ndpoqoofl2wgndwn6bb2tdccdpecgyhcfukyl.jpeg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"metaTitle":"Comedian raises \u00a370k with Harry Styles t-shirt","metaDescription":"","keyPhraseCampaignId":null,"series":[],"similarReads":[{"id":35,"title":"The 12 Best Movies For Business Startups 2025 - Netflix, Disney, Prime","url":"\/blog\/netflix-startups-business\/","urlTitle":"netflix-startups-business","division":12,"description":"Instead of scrolling through an Instagram feed or studying your mate's dinner on Facebook, we like the idea that as a store owner you can flip the relationship and use tech to make time on the sofa productive and profitable for you.","published":true,"metaImage":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5c9dcaa0289175.83327431.jpg.jpg?w=1140&h=855","banner":"https:\/\/images.podos.io\/5c9dcaa0289175.83327431.jpg.jpg?w=1920&h=1440"},"hidden":0},{"id":43,"title":"The 7 best business books everyone should read","url":"\/blog\/best-business-books\/","urlTitle":"best-business-books","division":12,"description":"In The Matrix, Neo just sits in a chair, and Morpheus uploads Kung Fu, how to fly helicopters and loads of other languages into his brain. 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