We restored a coral reef in Indonesia to demonstrate Sheba’s goal of going above and beyond when it comes to sourcing sustainable ingredients for the world’s most-loved cat food.
In line with parent company Mars’ sustainability goals, Sheba has pledged to make a difference by going beyond just sourcing sustainable ingredients to actively restoring ocean health - to ensure the cats of the future can still enjoy fish.
Working with Mars Petcare and our agency colleagues, including those at AMV BBDO, Google & Freuds, we spread a message of hope. We would show the world that coral reefs can be restored and that it’s possible to reverse the trend of environmental degradation with passion and endeavour.
On an atoll destroyed by bombing off the coast of Sulawesi in Indonesia we built Hope Reef. When viewed from the air it spelled out the word HOPE at such scale it was captured by satellites and incorporated into Google Earth, Maps and StreetView.
Publicised globally because coral reefs are a critical part of the marine ecosystem, the project not only conveyed the importance of going above and beyond to restore ocean health but also brought the issue of cat food sustainability to the fore.
But we didn’t stop there. It was crucial that we didn’t just talk to consumers about what Sheba was doing, but offer them a way, anyone, anywhere could help. So we invited the world to play a part in coral reef restoration via our monetised YouTube video.
We promoted Hope Reef using high-impact and mass-reach online video and social partners, in addition to fame driving OOH placements in select cities to showcase the visual beauty of the reef.
Online video built awareness and drove viewers to our monetised YouTube channel. Facebook and Instagram helped drive mass awareness of the project, while Snapchat filters brought the reef to life.
Twitter encouraged conversation and engagement. High-impact OOH in coastal cities like San Francisco, Miami and Sydney showcased the visual of Hope Reef alongside its coordinates which drove people to Google Maps to view it for themselves and “swim it” on Underwater Streetview.
Sheba set out to have a positive impact on the future of fish, to increase brand salience, and grow sales.
The reef is thriving, with 70% coral coverage, +300% fish abundance, +175% average fish size and +10% more species. Over 1 million people have explored Hope Reef on Google Maps and Sheba’s “Reef Star” System has been adopted by 5 more countries, with 40,000 sqm of reef regrown so far. With 20 million views, our YouTube ‘Channel That Grows Coral’ has raised enough funds for a new crowdfunded reef.
Global PR coverage resulted in 2.5billion earned impressions across major titles including BBC, Forbes and National Geographic and drove a 276% increase in positive social conversations about reef restoration.
Our high-impact paid media campaign across 11 markets to date has helped to grow brand awareness by +17% and purchase intent by +14%.