OceanCare campaign honored with the BoB Award for “Because Our Planet Is Blue”
OceanCare’s international campaign “Because Our Planet Is Blue” was honoured on 2 July 2026 in Berlin with the BoB Award 2025 in the category “Social & Sustainability Impact” – following the VAMP Award in Austria, this is the second 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 BoB Award (Best of Business-to-Business Communication Award) of the Bundesverband Marketing Clubs e.V. is one of the most renowned awards for B2B communication in the German-speaking region. This recognition honours not only the creative achievement of the campaign, but also every partner involved and all those who supported “Because Our Planet Is Blue”. With the BoB Award, the campaign now also receives recognition from the B2B communication industry across the DACH region, regarded as an important mark of excellent communication work beyond the NPO context.
Six Action Points for Ocean Protection
On World Oceans Day 2024, OceanCare launched “Because Our Planet Is Blue” with a clear 6-point action plan addressing the root causes of ocean degradation: banning offshore oil and gas exploration and explotation, mandatory vessel speed reduction 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.
Based on this action plan, creative agency Springer & Jacoby Österreich developed the campaign, deliberately breaking with the idealised portrayal of the ocean, carried by the central message: “The Ocean takes care of us – we must take care of the Ocean together.” This message culminated in the campaign slogan BECAUSE OUR PLANET IS BLUE.
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 with The Trash Traveler.
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.
Two Awards, One Unwavering Goal
Within just a few months, “Because Our Planet Is Blue” has now been honoured internationally for the second 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:
- Ban offshore oil & gas exploration and exploitation
- Implement mandatory vessel speed reduction to protect marine wildlife
- Prohibit destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling
- Adopt comprehensive rules to stop plastic pollution across its entire lifecycle
- Agree on a deep-sea mining moratorium
- 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.
