In 2015, every country in the United Nations signed up to achieve 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. In 2019, few were on target to achieve any of them.

Weeks out from the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the UN Secretary General set a challenge to our agency to raise the profile of the world’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) using creative communications. With the General Assembly due host to an SDG summit to launch a ‘Decade of Action’, we were briefed to create global awareness of all the Goals with only a $30K budget.

On August 28, 2019, the world’s media would be focused on one person, Greta Thunberg. The young, fearless girl was sailing from Europe to New York to bring specific attention to Goal #13, Climate Action. So, to bring attention to all 17 Goals, we decided to join the spotlight and latched onto the biggest cultural moment of the year.

To do it, we created the SDG Flotilla. 17 boats with 17 sails, each with a Sustainable Development Goal printed on it. As Greta sailed into New York Harbour, we sent our SDG Flotilla out to greet her, and in doing so, put ourselves in front of the lens’ of all the international media’s cameras.

The challenge at hand was to bring attention and awareness to all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and what they each represent. With most of the world never having heard of any of them. To force worldwide attention on the goals, we were going to need to tap into a big cultural moment.

As with any global challenge our target audience was the world, its leaders, who would be soon attending the General Assembly and of course the media – who would be integral in spreading awareness with the lack of media budget. With all eyes on Greta Thunberg arriving in NYC for the General Assembly, sailing by boat from Sweden, we found our moment to latch on to.

With only 30 days from briefing to the arrival of Greta in New York, and only $30,000 budget, we had a challenge on our hands.

In partnership with the United Nations, North Cove Sailing Club, Hudson River Sailing Club, GT3 Creative Sail Partners and UK Sailmakers, as Greta neared New York, we assembled the 17 boats and 17 SDG sails.

Our flotilla surrounded Greta as she sailed into the harbour, putting our boats and the SDG sails unavoidably in front of the world’s eyes.

New York Harbour literally became an ocean of activism, colour and awareness as the world’s news media beamed images of the Sustainable Development Goals across the globe. Every single goal was captured and shared across live streams, social media channels, news websites and broadcast media.

In a single four-hour period, the Sustainable Development Goals got more attention than in the past four years. In fact, it was the biggest media moment for 17 Goals since their launch in 2015. Here some of the key results:

• Reported by major news outlets in over 45 countries.

• Media awareness of the 17 goals reached over 800 million.

• Shared 60,000 times across social media.

• 183 million impressions.

• 25% worldwide increase in Google searches for ‘17 Sustainable Development Goals’, in the following 2 weeks of the activation.

Greta herself even tweeted images of her sailing alongside the flotilla to her millions of followers. This was then reciprocated by the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, and UN Deputy Secretary General, Amina J. Mohammed.

Then, during the General Assembly’s Sustainable Development Goals Summit, the 17 flotilla sails were displayed on the grounds for all the world leaders to see. To further drive home the message, during his address to world leaders UN Secretary General, António Guterres, used the flotilla as his metaphor for action; “Like the Sustainable Development Flotilla on the New York Harbour, we need all hands-on deck. We must leave no one behind.” Putting emphasis on further action and essentially putting every country in the United Nations on notice.