The Ocean Race
Protecting the ocean and realising its potential to combat the effects of climate change is a cause close to our hearts here at Leap, so we were delighted when The Ocean Race approached us to work on a campaign around the importance of the ocean.
The Ocean Race (formerly known as The Whitbread Round The World Race and The Volvo Ocean Race) is an around the world sailing race that takes place every three to four years. During the race of 2017-18 brought the launch of Racing with Purpose, The Ocean Race’s sustainability program in partnership with 11th Hour Racing, who establish strategic partnerships within the sailing and maritime communities to promote collaborative, systemic change benefitting the health of our ocean.
Through the sailing race, The Ocean Race have a huge platform to communicate sustainability. They already have some great projects and initiatives in place, and as well as actions in host cities they are also taking action (such as dropping data buoys in for climate scientists) along the race route in some of the most remote parts of the ocean. Despite doing so much they want to do more, this includes building on how they communicate sustainability from a brand perspective.
The Ocean Race’s sustainability communications manager reached out to us wanting to do a specific campaign communicating the importance of the ocean and raising awareness of its power as a potential solution to climate change in the lead up to World Ocean Day.
We devised a plan using different assets to help achieve The Ocean Race’s ultimate goal of raising awareness of the importance of the ocean within their fan base, but also of the importance of sport and the impact that sport can have in tackling climate change. Driven by initiatives that The Ocean Race are doing we used interesting “beneath the surface” facts that viewers may not know about the ocean and created a series of short animations and static social media illustrations that then related back to The Ocean Race’s initiatives. This included highlighting that teams gather vital data about the impact of climate change on the seas as they race.
We then planned a more emotive, longer form content series interviewing a handful of The Ocean Race’s high profile sailors who were about to take part in the European leg of the race. They talked about their special connection with the ocean and witnessing firsthand the devastating impact of pollution, climate change and industrial overfishing and what needs to happen to protect the future of our ocean.
“I’ve really enjoyed working with Leap. They have an in-depth understanding of the key issues facing the planet and creative ideas of how to communicate them. The team are enthusiastic, professional and easy to work with.”
Heather Carswell, Sustainability Communications Manager