The archive · Public & Social · Marketing decision · 2018–2021
Boranka turns burnt-pine crayons into a forest planted by a whole country
After Dalmatia's 2017 wildfires, Croatia's Scouts made crayons from burnt pine so people could draw trees — and planted a real seedling for every drawing.
Scout Association of Croatia
What it had to solve
In 2017 catastrophic wildfires devastated forests across Dalmatia, leaving an area far too large for any single cleanup. The Scout Association of Croatia launched Boranka in 2018 — 'bor' is Croatian for pine — to turn replanting from a distant cause into a national movement.
How it works
After wildfires in 2017 devastated forests across Croatia's Dalmatia region, the Scout Association of Croatia launched Boranka in 2018 to bring the land back. Its name comes from 'bor', the Croatian word for pine — the same trees the fires had taken.
The creative engine was a crayon called Boralica, made from the leftovers of burnt pine and distributed free in more than 115,000 pieces. People drew trees, photographed them and uploaded the drawings to a virtual forest; for every tree drawn, scouts and volunteers planted a real seedling in the burned areas.
The campaign grew into the country's largest volunteer reforestation action: 2,500 volunteers planted more than 25,000 trees in the first eight weeks, and the total later passed 85,000 trees with 7,000 volunteers. In 2019 Boranka became the first non-profit campaign ever to win the Effie Croatia Grand Prix.
Why it lands
- A crayon made from the disaster itself gave people a physical, personal connection to a burned landscape they might never visit.
- The one-for-one promise — every drawing matched by a real seedling — made participation feel meaningful and measurable.
- Mass planting days turned volunteers into the visible workforce, letting the whole country watch the forest return.
- Workshops in schools and kindergartens brought the message to children, who became the campaign's most enthusiastic recruiters.
What it did
In the first eight weeks more than 2,500 volunteers planted over 25,000 trees and 5,000+ children joined school workshops; the campaign drew 300+ media mentions and became the first non-profit ever to win the Effie Croatia Grand Prix.
What you can take
Give people one concrete act instead of an abstract cause: a crayon and a promise that every drawing becomes a real tree turned reforestation into something a whole country could do together.
Since then
Boranka continued long after launch: by early 2021 more than 7,000 volunteers had planted over 85,000 trees around Split, Solin, Makarska and Zadar, which CroatiaWeek described as the largest volunteer reforestation of burned land in Europe. The campaign won a Golden Euro Effie and, in 2021, the European Citizen's Prize, and even the prime minister and president planted seedlings. It became a standing example of how a small civic organization can mobilize a country around restoring nature.
Sources
- Scout and Guide Association of Croatia and their reforestation campaign Boranka take Effie Croatia Grand Prix!
- Croatian Scouts Association wins European award for Boranka campaign
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