Today, paradise as we know it is at risk of becoming extinct. Our oceans are drowning in plastic, with a staggering eight million metric tons of plastic waste dumped into the sea each year.

As a brand synonymous with the beach, Corona is committed to protecting paradise. But right now, most of the world doesn’t know that marine plastic pollution is a global issue, which affects us all.

To get people to care, Corona briefed us to raise global awareness of the issue and

change the public’s perception of paradise from: idyllic to endangered.

Reflecting the scale of the issue, our brief was a global campaign, focusing specifically on seven key markets: (Australia, Colombia, Chile. Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru, United Kingdom).

Our oceans are drowning in plastic, but most of the world is not aware of this colossal environmental issue.

To highlight the issue and make everyone care, we created a global conversation by putting plastic into other places it doesn’t belong – everywhere from fashion to billboards to events.

Aligning with World Oceans Day 2018, we hijacked the most iconic symbols of paradise, including Corona’s own brand platform. Across all touchpoints (including, large scale installations, events, Corona’s own brand channel, specifically developed products, and via global influencers and media outreach), our ‘Oceans Week’ campaign replaced the pristine beach images the public is usually fed, with executions that show paradise in its true state: drowning in plastic.

Every element and asset of the campaign was designed to change people’s perceptions and raise awareness for marine plastic pollution.

It was key for our campaign to appeal to many different types of consumers, similar to how plastic pollution faces everyone, everywhere. Utilizing multiple platforms, we were able to generate global earned media and maximize the campaign’s reach to target a global audience - everyone from surfers and beach-goers, to city dwellers and the fashion world.

Furthermore, it was also an opportunity to educate consumers on Corona's ongoing partnership with Parley For Oceans and commitment to protect 100 islands across the world by 2020.

In the week leading up to World Oceans Day, we started the conversation by hijacking Corona’s OOH and DOOH - swapping the brand’s familiar images of paradise for beaches blighted by plastic, and added a thought-provoking question mark to the brand’s global tagline ‘This is Living’. The hijack continued on Corona’s Instagram, and featured only images of paradise’s true polluted state.

In seven key global cities, we created large OOH installations in high foot traffic areas. At first these resembled typical Corona billboards, but over a few days were transformed into gigantic ‘Waves-of-Wastes’ built from real oceans plastic.

We also redesigned the classic Hawaiian Shirt. Made using up-cycled plastic, it looks idyllic initially, but look closer and the plastic reveals itself. The limited-edition shirt was available online, with proceeds donated to Parley for the Oceans. It was also given to influencers to further bring attention to the issue.

Corona was the most talked about brand during Oceans Week. The campaign garnered 2.69 billion earned media impressions, increased total brand mentions by 13%, and drove 44% of #100islandsprotected lifetime usage.

The campaign instigated front-page, agenda setting news and made it to national TV and newspapers in key markets: Australia (The Australian, News.Au), UK (Sky News, Evening Standard), Colombia and Ecuador (La Republica, El Tiempo), Dominican Republic (Chevere Nights).

Globally, over 200 influencers shared our content and generated 30 million social impressions.

Our limited-edition Paradise? Shirt sold out in a couple of days and was featured in media coverage all over the world.

In Chile, mayor Evelyn Matthei gave her endorsement to the Corona X Parley partnership, following national coverage of the wave of waste.

All of this working to achieve our aim of highlighting the issue of marine plastic pollution across the globe.