OceanCare Campaign “Because Our Planet Is Blue” Receives Media Award
OceanCare’s international campaign “Because Our Planet Is Blue” has been recognised with the Media Award 2026 in the category “Excellence in Sustainable Media”. The submission was made by media agency adverserve, who supported OceanCare with strategic media placement in Austria as part of the campaign. Following the VAMP Award in Austria and the BoB Award 2025, this is already the third recognition for the campaign, which mobilised 114,559 people worldwide for real ocean protection and carried their demands all the way to the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France.
The Media Award is Austria’s most prestigious recognition for outstanding media strategies and innovative advertising campaigns. It honours how intelligently and efficiently advertising is placed in media. The category “Sustainable in Media” recognises campaigns that conserve resources and take on social responsibility – an ambition that has defined “Because Our Planet Is Blue” from the very beginning.
Where Creativity Meets Media Strategy
The creative agency Springer & Jacoby Österreich developed the “Because Our Planet Is Blue” campaign based on OceanCare’s 6-point action plan. The media agency Adverserve was responsible for the strategic media placement across various print and online media in Austria. Both creatively and in terms of media reach, the initiative generated attention and support in Austria and well beyond. adverserve opted for a targeted distribution across channels: 45% print, 30% online, 18% D(OOH) and 7% newsletter. This combination enabled broad reach and targeted different audiences effectively.
Six Action Points for Ocean Protection
On World Oceans Day 2024, OceanCare launched “Because Our Planet Is Blue” with a 6-point action plan addressing the root causes of ocean degradation: banning offshore oil and gas exploration and existing extraction at sea, mandatory vessel speed reductions in shipping, prohibiting destructive fishing practices, binding rules against plastic pollution, a moratorium on deep-sea mining, and the protection and restoration of marine ecosystems.
Over an entire year, the campaign mobilised support across multiple countries through an integrated 360° multi-channel strategy: from the trilingual petition on ourplanetisblue.org, to the collaboration with WeMove.EU, to the Trash Art Tour ahead of UNOC3 with The Trash Traveler.
The campaign deliberately broke with the idealised portrayal of the oceans, showing the threats unvarnished – carried by the central message: “The Ocean takes care of us – we must take care of the Ocean together.”
114,559 Voices Demand Real Ocean Protection
The campaign’s milestone was the delivery of 114,559 signatures to Peter Thomson, UN Special Envoy for the Ocean, and Juan Carlos Navarro, Panama’s Minister of Environment, in Nice in June 2025. The official UN report on the third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC3) recognised OceanCare’s six demands as “the benchmark for assessing the outcome of UNOC3” – not only for OceanCare, but for the over 200 NGOs and more than 114,000 citizens worldwide who supported the petition.
Three Awards, One Unwavering Goal
Within just a few months, “Because Our Planet Is Blue” has now been honoured internationally for the third time. For OceanCare, this is above all one thing: motivation. Because as much as we welcome this recognition, the real measure of success remains political impact for real ocean protection. The campaign’s six demands remain our clear message to decision-makers and the global community:
1. Ban offshore oil & gas exploration and exploitation
2. Implement mandatory vessel speed reduction to protect marine wildlife
3. Prohibit destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling
4. Adopt comprehensive rules to stop plastic pollution across its entire lifecycle
5. Agree on a deep-sea mining moratorium
6. Ensure effective marine habitat protection and restoration
Words and empty promises are no longer enough. What’s needed now is action and the political will for real ocean protection.
