Google uses AI to help restore kelp forests in Australia’s Great Southern Reef, launches awareness campaign via Emotive

Indie agency Emotive has launched a new campaign for Google, showcasing how the tech giant’s AI tool is helping to restore Tasmania’s giant kelp forests in Australia’s Great Southern Reef.

The Great Southern Reef – which straddles five Australian states – has giant kelp forests that keep the ecosystem going, yet only 5% remains.

In collaboration with CSIRO, the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, the Nature Conservancy, the Great Southern Reef Foundation, the Kelp Forest Alliance and NGIS, the campaign reveals the work being done by Google AI to study the 5% remaining, with the aim of regrowing and restoring the forest.

“The collaboration between Google, CSIRO, the Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies and The Nature Conservancy is part of Google Australia’s Digital Future Initiative — a $1B investment in Australian research, infrastructure & partnerships. A huge focus of the initiative is fostering Australian made technology and talent to address some of the world’s most pressing problems,” said Zoe Hayes, head of brand, social and YouTube marketing AUNZ at Google.

“Our hope is that this groundbreaking work will have an impact not just here in Australia, but globally.”

Using Google AI helps speed up the data analytics needed to decode the DNA of the surviving heat-resilient kelp, and map the remaining forests for the first time, to support restoration.

Via a micro-documentary on social media, and a playful partnership with animator and TikToker Sam Cotton, the campaign hopes to make ‘The Invisible Forest’ visible to Australians, drawing attention to the complex and invisible issues in an evocative way.

The doco features Prof. Craig Johnson (Professor of Marine Ecology, Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies), Dr. Anusuya Willis (Director of the Australian National Algae Culture Collection, CSIRO) and Grace Chung (Head of Google Research Australia).

Cotton said: “I love our country and its wildlife, yeah even those chippy stealing seagulls, so when Google invited me to help shine a light on the story of the disappearing giant kelp habitats, and how they’re helping restore them, I was thrilled to be involved.”

Emotive’s creative director, Paul Sharp, added: “Google’s AI-driven giant kelp restoration collaboration is as big and complicated as those words together sound.

“It’s a super-important and very involved project that we needed to simplify in order to share with broader non-science audiences, and Sam’s popular bitesize takes on wildlife create a perfect portal to get people intrigued.”

The campaign is rolling out nationally across YouTube, LinkedIn, TikTok and Instagram.

Earlier this week, Google launched another piece of work via Emotive, showing young Australians that ‘the first times’ can be easy, with its first-ever native TikTok campaign.

Designed to get Gen Z to engage with Google’s search app, the campaign shows the role the app can play in helping young adults navigate independence and the exciting, but scary first times.

In another environmental move, the creative agency has recently unveiled a major campaign, collaborating with the team behind the award-winning Deep Rising documentary, to take action against deep sea mining and the dangers it poses to the world’s ecosystem.

Set to launch in June, the world-first campaign, which Emotive will lead strategy and creative for, is designed to give people across the world agency over the decisions currently being made about the future of the seabed by a select few.

Speaking exclusively to Mumbrella, the team said it wants to “tell the story of the deep ocean, because it can’t speak for itself”.

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Lauren McNamara

Lauren McNamara is a journalist 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 CSIRO Dr. Anusuya Willis emotive Google Grace Chung Great Southern Reed Foundation Institute for Marine and Antartic Studies Kelp Forest Alliance Nature Conservancy NGIS Paul Sharp Prof. Craig Johnson Zoe Hayes

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