Emotive unveils global creative for Deep Rising campaign, asking people to ‘claim your piece’ of the deep seabed
Emotive has revealed new creative for Deep Rising’s global campaign against deep sea mining, encouraging people to reclaim the seabed from mining companies.
Miners are attempting to turn a vast area of the Clarion-Clipperton Zone (CCZ) – spanning over 3 million square kilometres in the Pacific Ocean – into the largest mining site on earth. While mining companies insist the seabed is barren wasteland, Deep Rising hopes to change the narrative and show people it is teeming with life and home to millions of species, yet to be discovered.
The Deep Rising documentary, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival last year, explores the global corporations and organisations who want to mine the seabed, and the claims they make about how it will help us transition to a ‘green revolution’ – but in turn, will destroy a fragile underwater ecosystem, the size of Europe.
Officially launching on Wednesday, ‘The World’s Largest Ocean Dispute’ campaign comes after phase one of the campaign back in March, when Emotive unveiled a giant street mural at its Coogee office, by iconic Aussie artist and musician Reg Mombassa.
Simon Joyce, CEO of Emotive, said at the time that the agency wanted to find an artist whose style is instantly recognisable, and the moment Mombassa was raised as an option, it was a “no brainer”. When Emotive moved to its Coogee office, the agency didn’t just want to “be a cool creative agency by the beach”, but be a beacon for creativity in the community, he explained to Mumbrella.
Phase one also saw the agency do a call-to-arms to the media and marketing industry, and over the past 8 months, JCDecaux, ARN, Channel Nine, Mamamia, WeAre8, On the Edge and Surfers for Climate have rallied to support with over $2M of advertising and editorial committed in Australia, UK and the US. More partners are still coming onboard.
The partnership with Deep Rising marked Emotive’s first pro-bono campaign. In March, Joyce told Mumbrella that as an agency, you want to give back and show the power of creativity for good, but when trying to balance the capacity of your team who are focusing on client campaigns and commercial outcomes with the desire to give back, it can be difficult to do so. He said that Emotive, which is nine years old now, felt it was finally in a position to work on a pro-bono passion project at scale, and truly give back to its community.
“We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to change the course of history and prevent irreparable harm to our planet,” said Deep Rising’s head of impact and co-executive producer, Laura Clarke.
“‘The World’s Largest Ocean Dispute’ campaign empowers humanity to formally challenge this ocean grab that’s threatening to destroy an irreplaceable and vital part of our planet’s ecosystem.
“The seabed cannot be owned and corporations don’t have the right to decide what happens to it – especially if the destruction impacts our lives and the lives of our children,” she added.
Clarke, who co-founded the Palau Pledge in 2017, said the area is one of the last pristine ecosystems in the world, and that the deep sea supports all life on earth. She previously told Mumbrella that the film and impact campaign asks the “vital” questions, “are we ready to repeat history by plundering another pristine ecosystem for profit? Have we been greenwashed by these corporations saying we must do this to transition to green energy, when in reality there are alternative technologies that will allow us to transition without even more harmful extraction?”
According to the United Nations’ Convention on the Law of the Sea, where the CCZ lies in the Pacific Ocean is defined as the “common heritage of (hu)mankind” and must be “held in trust for future generations” – meaning it doesn’t belong to any organisation, it belongs to all of us as human beings.
So, the new campaign – ‘The World’s Largest Ocean Dispute’ – has divided the deep seabed into 8.17 billion GPS coordinates, representing everyone on the planet, and through the Deep Rising website, people can freely claim their unique coordinates to protect it.
In partnership with Web3 organisation, CoinWeb, a person’s claim will be recorded on an eco-friendly blockchain for transparency and proof of stewardship, so that it can be used to elevate the voice of humanity and dispute the mining corporations’ claims to exploit the deep seabed for profit.
This campaign hopes to send a powerful message to nations, corporations and policymakers: The deep seabed is the common heritage of humankind and must be protected on behalf of humanity, not exploited to benefit a select few.
In return for their claim, a person will receive a unique DEEPSEA NFT / Birthright Certificate stamped with their individualised GPS coordinates, featuring beautifully designed deep sea creatures – inspired by deep ocean life, known and unknown. The non-tradable NFTs will be available in 90 languages including many Indigenous languages, and can easily be shared to social channels.
“For such a complex and far reaching issue, it’s a simple solution,” said Paul Sharp, creative director at Emotive and co-executive producer of the Deep Rising documentary.
“An insanely vast area of the deep seabed in the Pacific has been secretly divided up for potential mining which would be carried out by mining companies and their pro-mining nation sponsors. By dividing the deep seabed into 8.17 billion plot coordinates, we’re allowing all of humanity (the rightful shared owners of the deep seabed) the ability to claim it back and have their voices heard.”
The NFTs
Michael Hogg, managing partner and head of strategy at the agency, added: “Emotive’s purpose is to create ideas that change the way people feel. Changing how people feel about deep sea mining to ensure the safeguarding of our planet’s last pristine wilderness is arguably the most important thing we’ve ever pointed it at.
“I’m grateful to the Deep Rising team for bringing the problem to the world’s attention before it’s too late, and now we’re inviting the whole world to go on the journey with us.”
‘The World’s Largest Ocean Dispute’ launch coincides with the UN Climate Change Conference COP 29, reinforcing the environmental and generational significance of the threat posed by deep sea mining. On December 4, Emotive will also host a celebratory event, attended by Laura Clarke and 180 special guests designed to further galvanise community, marketing and media industry support for the global impact campaign.
Driving the audience to Deep Rising’s website are video, social, and OOH assets.
The award-winning Deep Rising documentary has also been made available to stream on the website, for the first time ever. Shortly after, it will also launch on Amazon Prime Video, Google Play, and Apple TV, to amplify the campaign’s reach and deepening its impact to inspire action and get people to claim their piece of the deep sea.
“Emotive, alongside so many other pro-bono partners, are so proud to play a part in this project – which gives the ocean a much needed voice,” Joyce said.
“Emotive has always been based by the Pacific Ocean, so it’s both deeply personal and a privilege to support Deep Rising’s mission to halt deep sea mining before it starts. It felt like a once-in-a lifetime opportunity to leverage the power of creativity for good, bringing together big ideas, brilliant partners, beautiful design and blockchain technology to give people everywhere the power to protect the deep seabed. So please, claim your birthright today and join The ‘World’s Largest Ocean Dispute.'”
Credits:
Client: Deep Rising
Director, Producer & Co-Creative Director: Matthieu Rytz
Head of Impact and Co-Executive Producer: Laura Clarke
Head of Communications: Katie Lettice
Co-Creative Director and Co-Executive Producer: Paul Sharp
Head of Strategy: Florence Tercier
Partnerships Manager: Mark Haver
Partnerships Consultant: Marie-Céline Piednoir
Social Media Coordinator: Mackenzie Govett
Creative and Production: Emotive
CEO & Founder: Simon Joyce
Managing Partner & Chief Strategy Officer: Michael Hogg
Group Creative Director: Darren Wright
Senior Creative Director: Paul Sharp
Creative Directors: Kat Topp, James Pash
Head of Design: Daniel Mortensen
Senior Designer: Chris Cooper
Senior Art Director: Tessa Chong
Head of Production: Hayley-Ritz Pelling
Creative Producer: Jenna Fisher
Producer: Rebecca Love-Williams
Business Directors: Mitchel O’Donohue, Pia McMorran
Senior Account Directors: Robyn Claffey, Zoe Hartas
Media Agency: Kookaburra Riot
Founder: Paul Murphy
Website Build: Taledo & JTB
Taledo Founder: Peter Vahaviolos
Blockchain Partner: Coinweb
Global PR: HAVAS Red
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Lauren McNamara is the associate editor at Mumbrella, covering the creative and PR beat. She joined in November 2022 as editorial assistant, after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS.
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topics
CCZ
CoinWeb
Deep Rising
Deep rising documentary
deep seabed mining
emotive
Laura Clarke
Michael Hogg
Paul Sharp
Simon Joyce
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