Undiscovered Creatures - Surfers Against Sewage

The Brief

In early 2019 marine conservation charity, Surfers Against Sewage, released ‘The Creature.’ The film depicted a never-before-seen creature that washes up on the beach and eventually dies due to plastic waste inside its body.

It ends by asking the question; 95% of our oceans remain unexplored. Are we killing what we’ve yet to discover?

Our brief was to continue this thought (in a more affordable channel) and create fresh and thought-provoking conversation around SAS’s annual Autumn Beach clean to a UK audience jaded by anti-plastic messages.

The Solution

The ‘Undiscovered Creatures’ radio/audio campaign plays actual deep-sea hydrophone recordings of mysterious and unexplained underwater sounds considered by many marine biologists to have an organic source and be proof of large, undiscovered ocean life.

The campaign introduced the intriguing yet little-known sounds (known as ‘The Julia,’ Bloop’ and ‘Upsweep’) to the public through radio, online radio and podcasts.

Each spot plays the real recording and explores its backstory before asking the question; are we killing what we’ve yet to discover?

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Insight & Results

​The ambition to create new conversations around plastic waste, SAS and the unexpected impacts we’re having on oceans was certainly met with several radio stations choosing to play the spots and discuss them off their own accord. Including play on Giles Peterson’s popular Worldwide FM Daily show (known for never playing ads).

Representatives from Surfers Against Sewage were also invited on to several radio shows to talk in more depth about the campaign.

And ‘Undiscovered Creatures’ featured on numerous websites, generating online discussion, unusual for radio advertising.