Designing a Campaign to stop the Sale of Public Lands

In my role as Creative Director at Amplifier I worked with WildMontana.org, Protect The Arctic, and a coalition of public land advocates to confront a moment when more than three million acres of public land were put at risk in the “Big Beautiful Bill.” Our goal was simple: create enough visibility and public pressure to force the land sale provision out of the Bill.

We built the campaign around the language of real estate and used it as a provocation. We staged mock auctions in Washington DC and installed For Sale signs in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, at Montana trailheads, and across the Joshua Tree region, supported by brochures and field materials that turned protected places into sites of public alarm. Each action led people to a voicemail line where they could tell their own stories about why these lands matter, creating a living archive of voices from across the country at projectnotforsale.org.

The call and response structure grew quickly. In Montana the For Sale signs were answered by a statewide wave of Not For Sale posters, beer coasters, and eventually a Not For Sale Pale Ale that carried the imagery even further. Across the country our symbols became some of the most shared visuals of the entire fight, including a jingle that spread widely on Instagram. The combined momentum from this and other partner efforts helped remove the land sale language from the Bill, though new threats continue and the story platform will reopen as needed.