The Great Barrier Reef is breathtakingly beautiful. But negative media coverage around its death was hurting its reputation.

Recent climate change-induced bleaching in the northern part of the Great Barrier Reef was creating the misperception that the entire Reef was in jeopardy. With media globally reporting that the Reef was dead, no longer did travellers see the Reef as a vibrant underwater world and bucket-list travel destination. Instead, they believed it was devoid of colour and marine life and not worth the trip, driving visitation down from key western markets.

While it was true that some parts of the Reef had been impacted, it wasn’t in the state that media were reporting.

Tourism and Events Queensland’s (TEQ) brief was two-fold:

1. Shift media and consumer sentiment by resetting the conversation about the health of the reef.

2. Drive awareness, engagement and action among high-value travellers (Six Western markets).

We created the world’s first bookable rideshare submarine on the Great Barrier Reef, called scUber.

From the window of an electric submarine with a 360-degree view, TEQ could provide the world with an unfiltered view of the colourful beauty of the Reef and prove the fact that it continues to be very much alive and abundant with marine life.

To achieve this, we pitched the idea to UBER, and secured the world’s most popular rideshare platform to join us as partner – for credibility, newsworthiness, social currency and global database.

Visiting the Great Barrier Reef is an attitude game-changer. People are awe-struck struck by its beauty found nowhere.

But how do you get the world to travel there when all the messages are of death and decline?

• See the Reef live in all its glory

• Debunk misconceptions of a dying reef by showing a real-time view of marine life and vibrant coral.

• Leverage social currency of a trending brand: UBER

• budget wouldn't support a traditional approach across six global markets. Acknowledging this challenge drove us to search for a partnership that could double as a media channel. Uber's database fit the bill.

• Inspire people to share the experience

• scUBER was comprehensively shared around the world, shifting sentiment of the Reef from negative to overwhelming positive.

• Shown ways to tour the Reef without impacting it

• Create a narrative underpinned by environmental considerations

We hosted 36 media from six countries for the launch and post-launch event at Heron Island.

Assets were created and deployed through global newswires as well as TEQ’s owned channels and partner global networks including Uber’s 50 million rideshare user database and Tourism Australia’s 8.3 million followers on Facebook and 3.8 million on Instagram.

A 48hr global press office was managed on the ground in one of the most remote places on Earth: Heron Island.

scUber rides were experienced by global media, to educate and arm journalists with firsthand accounts of the true health of the Reef.

scUber was available to book through the Uber app.

A competition was held in which two people from each of the six western markets could experience scUber.

A panel session with five Reef experts was held to share views on the Reef’s future and address the myths surrounding the state of the Reef

scUber successfully changed the conversation and sentiment around the Reef globally reversing perception that travel would damage the Reef and increased consideration and travel bookings amongst High Value Travellers.

• Tourism numbers are growing +10.9% YOY to Feb 2020 (equating to thousands more Reef advocates)

• Positive social sentiment on the GBR grew from 21% to 62% i.e 3x more positive that pre-Scuber levels.

• Travel partner sales increasing (UK travel sales have increased by 22% with one partner)

• 4,320 earned media placements including via national TV, print and online stories.

• $130M+ earned media value generated

• More than 4.5 billion media impressions globally.

• 95% of media stories were positive or neutral in sentiment

In conclusion, scUber brought together tourism and technology partners to successfully change conversation and sentiment around the Reef globally, and demonstrate an uplift in travel intent to Australia's greatest natural asset.