Some of the best ways we can save the planet are actually really…boring. 

That’s the ethos of Free the Sea CEO Christoph Dörn, who founded the Indonesia-based charity on a mission to clean up our oceans. Free the Sea connects households with local waste infrastructure, with the aim of stopping plastic before it even reaches the sea. It’s a preventative model that the climate action movement needs more of - community beach cleanups are amazing, but wouldn’t it be better if the rubbish never made it there in the first place? By the time most plastic waste washes ashore, it’s already caused significant damage to the environment around it, shedding micro-particles and injuring wildlife. The charity’s methodology also sits nicely in a space that’s giving people the tools they need to make real change to the world around them without putting all the onus on the individual. Households who sign up to the programme receive incentives to continue their efforts, like food, clothing and school vouchers, and are able to live and work in a safer environment. 

In October, we joined forces with Enviral to deliver a nifty out of home campaign for Free the Sea, helping them to reach over 5,000 delegates heading to the Blue Earth Summit in Woolwich, London. With Free the Sea acting as a partner, exhibitor and guest speaker, our aim was to put their mission at the forefront of people’s minds as they entered the summit, so we focused our efforts on the final mile leading up to Woolwich Works. We used a range of environmentally conscious materials and tools to deliver the messaging, including mobile ad bikes, chalk pavement stencils, digital screens on the London Underground and cardboard wayfinding signage - affixed with biodegradable cable ties, of course. It was great to have an opportunity to use some of our more innovative sustainable marketing solutions and put our experience and industry knowledge to good practice in the big smoke...