Save the ocean

Hypoxia, pollution and bottom trawling all cause the Danish waters to be in a decidedly rotten state. The temperatures increase, the prevalence of algae explodes and this stifle living conditions for fish, plants, and benthic animals. The Baltic Sea is polluted to such a degree that salmon is unfit for human consumption, while fish stocks in The North Sea are threatened due to many years of bottom trawling.    

All of this is the result of the marine environment being absent from the political agenda for over 20 years. 

This is why 4 environment organizations launched the campaign ”Redhavet.nu”, the purpose being getting the ocean back onto the political agenda.  

If you need the attention of the politicians, first and foremost you need to get the attention of the voters.  

It might be difficult to relate to terms such as dioxin, eutrophication and biodiversity. But few people wish to serve slimy jellyfish packed with toxins to their dinner guests.

We therefore opened the fishmonger of the future and showed the Danes what dinner will come to consist of, if no political action is taken.

We emptied the cold counter at the fishmonger in Rantzausgade in Copenhagen, and swapped salmon and trout for jellyfish, sea cucumber and other future alternatives to the fish that we know well.   

The fishmonger opened his doors and people flooded into the store. We filmed people’s reactions to the unappetizing dinner offerings and quickly the film gathered traction on social media. The film guided people onto a website on which they could sign a specific and concrete rescue plan for the ocean.

• The film gained more than 1,3 million viewings.
• More than half a million people interacted with the film (tagged, commented, etc.).
• Facebook manager Daniel Käfer: ”Generally, the film is far longer than average in its category. That an entire 42% watch at least 3 seconds, and 20% watch all of 15 seconds is the best result I’ve seen, except for sheer entertainment such as e.g. film trailers. CTR at 7,70 and CPC is in the top 5% of this category. This is some of the best results I’ve seen.” 
• OMD: ”Price per clip ended at a mere 1,54 kr., and an entire 5,15% of the exposures turned into clicks. Benchmark for campaigns of traffic optimization is at CTR 0,94% and CPC 6,14kr.”

• 25,000 Danes signed the rescue plan.
• Afterwards, the signatures and the rescue plan were handed over to politicians on Christiansborg, including Minister of the Environment Lea Wermelin, and on that very same day she invited the four environment organizations to a meeting.
• So finally, the ocean made it onto the political agenda. On 12 November 2019, a robust political majority decided to strengthen a gentler coastal fishing. And 14 days later the efforts against nitrogen emissions were tripled.