Incredible Beast Omnimedia and NRDC Team Up to “Face Plant” Nick Offerman

NEW YORK —Actor, author and woodworker Nick Offerman takes on his dirtiest role to date, starring in an NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) campaign created and produced by Incredible Beast Omnimedia in which Offerman, who hails from a farming family in Minooka, Illinois, promotes regenerative agriculture by portraying worn-out topsoil, healed by cover crops.

NRDC is leading a campaign to persuade Congress to support the COVER Act as lawmakers negotiate a new Farm Bill to replace the current law, which was last adopted in 2018. The COVER Act would incentivize farmers to plant cover crops by offering them a $5-per-acre savings on their crop insurance bills—just as an auto insurer can reward good drivers with a discount.

Regenerative agriculture practices, including cover cropping, build soil health and fight climate change. They maintain roots in the soil, which sequester legacy carbon from the atmosphere, prevent soil erosion, percolate water quickly, protect waterways from pollution, increase soil fertility, and help farmers reduce their use of harmful chemicals and synthetic inputs, saving money. Currently, however, only about 5% of America’s cropland utilizes cover crops.

The “Face Plant” campaign, conceived of by Incredible Beast founding partner Sandra Itkoff and brought to life by creative agencies Upshot and AMP Agency, serves to enlighten and motivate the public and Congressional leaders on the importance of cover crops and their role in soil and food health—as well as the health of our planet. The campaign asks people to go to nrdc.org/soil to learn more about cover cropping and climate-friendly agriculture in the Farm Bill. 

Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/Dd11VU7AmhI

“I am grateful to finally exploit my talents as a dirty man of the soil to encourage the use of cover crops in pursuit of restoring the health of our nation’s fields,” said Offerman, who comes from an Illinois farming family. “We have a long way to go, and many more regenerative steps to take, but supporting this effort is a very good beginning.”

It was produced by Incredible Beast, a production company that puts farming and food at the center of the story, and directed by Morgan Sackett, known for his work that includes Veep, Hacks, and The Good Place. 

“Incredible Beast’s goal is to not preach to the choir,” said Itkoff, “but to present strong, optimistic, entertaining narratives that show the power of food and farming to address food security and climate issues—and pull large amounts of legacy carbon from the atmosphere. It is an incredible opportunity to bring the talents of Nick and Morgan, both from farming families, together with NRDC to help build a better future.” 

Offerman is the face of the new campaign and plays the dirt in the lead spot, with only his scraped and pallid face visible as he talks directly to the camera about the daily harms he endures. He explains how “generations of chemicals and tilling have left me spent and lifeless—dried out, flaky, like dust in the wind,” then explains the vital role that cover crops can play in restoring the ground’s health as his face begins to take on a healthy glow and flowers spring up around him.

“We never doubted Nick’s dedication to protecting the earth, but it wasn’t until we saw him buried up to his neck in soil that we realized this is truly a mission for him,” added Michael Rivera, Chief Creative Officer at AMP and Upshot. “With Nick’s comedic turn in the dirt, our goal is to ignite a conversation about farming practices and the value for everyone of more sustainable practices like planting cover crops.”

The spot is set to launch during Climate Week NYC, starting on September 20, across various social-media platforms.

“Agricultural policy issues can really get in the weeds, pun intended, so we are enormously grateful to have Nick Offerman bring his talent, witty humor, and unique perspective to this piece,” said Arohi Sharma, Deputy Director, Regenerative Agriculture, Nature Program at NRDC. “Cover crops are one of the best tools we have to improve soil health and fight climate change on farms, and this new video couldn’t be better timed. Congress made historic investments in climate and agriculture through the Inflation Reduction Act, and by including the COVER Act in the next Farm Bill, we can supercharge those investments and help farmers become climate champions.”

ABOUT COVER CROPS

Farmers can help fight climate change by adopting regenerative agriculture practices that build soil health, including cover cropping. Cover crops are planted between cash crops, when the ground would otherwise be bare. They maintain living roots in the soil, and these living roots sequester carbon from the atmosphere, prevent soil erosion, protect waterways from pollution, increase soil fertility, and help farmers reduce their use of harmful chemicals and synthetic inputs. Currently, only about 5% of America’s cropland utilizes cover crops.

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ABOUT NRDC

NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) is an international nonprofit environmental organization with more than 3 million members and online activists. Established in 1970, NRDC uses science, policy, law, and people power to confront the climate crisis, protect public health, and safeguard nature. NRDC has offices in New York City; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Chicago; Bozeman, MT; Beijing; and Delhi (an office of NRDC India Pvt. Ltd). Visit us at www.nrdc.org and follow us on Twitter @NRDC.

ABOUT INCREDIBLE BEAST OMNIMEDIA 

Fresh, never crunchy. Peachy, never preachy. Backed by over $5 million in seed funding, Incredible Beast produces humorous entertainment projects, provocative films, fiction series, and other mainstream content to inform and inspire people to seek out food and products that are tasty and healthy for them and the planet. Reaching beyond the choir to engage audiences that are not aware of the power of farming and food to change how we live, Incredible Beast Omnimedia’s next project, a feature documentary by iconic filmmaker Errol Morris, exemplifies their mission to inspire change through engaging storytelling. 

Founding partner Sandra Itkoff’s work has premiered at Sundance Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, Tribeca Festival, and many other competitive film festivals around the world. Winning the duPont, Sundance Jury Prize, among other international awards, Itkoff is an accomplished producer and media executive known for her work with HBO, Showtime, CNN, PBS, IMAX, and more. She is bringing her focus through Incredible Beast to entertaining stories with food and farming at their core. Itkoff’s work has been supported by meaningful advocates of quality media, the Ford Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, and Sundance Institute, among others. Sandy@IncredibleBeastOmnimedia.com

ABOUT AMP AGENCY

With more than 418 employees and teams in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and Austin, AMP Agency is architected to effect change at all touch points between a brand and its customers. The agency, named to Adweek’s inaugural Fastest-Growing Agencies list, uses proprietary data, behavioral analysis, and predictive analytics to inform its insights and investment strategies and create beautifully useful marketing ecosystems, digital products, and customer experiences that grow businesses. AMP Agency’s client list includes Meta, Sam Edelman, and others across technology, consumer packaged goods, beauty, fashion, retail, consumer electronics, travel, financial services, and healthcare industries. AMP Agency is part of Advantage Solutions, a leading provider of technology-enabled sales and marketing solutions. For more information, visit ampagency.com.

ABOUT UPSHOT

Empowering brands to own the moment since 1994, Upshot is an award-winning integrated-marketing agency recognized for delivering daring, imaginative brand-building campaigns, activations, and experiences that build powerful consumer-brand relationships in culture. Proud to support emerging Black talent in the advertising industry, Upshot is a member of the BLAC (Building Leaders and Creators) program. Visit upshot.agency and follow @upshotagency on Instagram and LinkedIn.