Eurythenes plasticus
Role: Executive Creative Director / Concept
WWF
A new deep-sea species named after the plastic found inside its body.
BACKGROUND:
The ocean plastic problem goes far deeper than anything previously imagined. The problem is so bad that new deep-sea species are being found already contaminated by plastic.
IDEA:
When you find a new species, you get to give it a name. To make an environmental statement against ocean plastic, we named a new deep-sea species after the plastic that was found inside its body - Eurythenes plasticus.
Watch the case film
A scientific collaboration.
In collaboration with a scientific team led by renowned marine ecologist Dr Alan Jamieson from Newcastle University, a new contaminated species was found off the coast of the Philippines at a depth close to 7000m in the Mariana Trench. The newly discovered amphipod was named Eurythenes plasticus after the PET plastic that was found in its hind gut.
Shining a spotlight on the problem.
We launched the campaign on the 5th of March and made history by making Eurythenes plasticus officially part of our planet's taxonomic record. Within hours of the ZOOTAXA publication, a worldwide conversation had ignited over the extent of the plastic pollution in our oceans in over forty countries without any media spend.
Driving visibility & persuasion.
Closely following the publication of the new species, we rolled out a cross-platform campaign including paid social, cinema, OOH, Digital OOH and permanent museum partnerships. Every touchpoint encouraged people to sign a petition asking for a legally binding global UN agreement to put an end to marine plastic pollution.
For the future fighters of our oceans.
Due to massive interest from schools to integrate the subject into the curriculum, we developed together with the scientists the website www.plasticus.school as an international educational resource that has thousands of downloads to date.
Results:
4.7 B
total campaign reach.
€39 M
in earned media.
93
countries discussed plasticus online.
>1.2 M
exhibition visitors to date.
>2.2 M
petition signatures.
Awarded:
Credits: Client: Hanna Eberhard / Theresa Reis, Scientists: Dr. Alan Jamieson, Johanna Weston, Concept: Christian Korntheuer, Bernd Rose, Andy Wyeth, CCO: Till Diestel, Creative Managing Director: Kristoffer Heilemann, ECD: Andy Wyeth, Copy: Christian Korntheuer, Marcos Alves, Art: Bernd Rose, Marco Serra, Rosario Brancato, Technical Development: Martin Boeing-Messing, Account: Kat Wyeth, Planning: Benjamin Pleissner, Kyle Duckitt, Chief Production Officer: Steffen Gentis, Producer: Kat Wyeth, DOP/Edit: Niklas Lemburg, Alexander Link, Juhn Kim, Production Company: Sehsucht, Creative lead: Hans-Christoph Schultheiss, Producer: Stephanie Hülsmann, Music: Alex Komlew
Selected Works
