When was the last time you worked on a something that you were really proud of?
Perhaps it was one where the creative was beautifully shot. Perhaps it was one with a searing customer insight that led to a double-digit market share gain. Perhaps it was one that snagged you a B&T Award?
Few campaigns, however, will have had such an outsized impact as Compass Studio, Surfrider and Ben & Jerry’s work from earlier this year.
Seismic Blasting
Energy company TGS and Norwegian oilfield services company SLB had spent more than 15 months planning to explore the Otway Basin, off the coast of south-west Victoria, as well as other areas of the seabed stretching to Tasmania and King Island—in total, it covered some 7.7 million hectares. Together, they planned to explore the seabed using a technique known as seismic blasting.
“It’s the first step in looking for offshore oil and gas. What we know about the practice is that right from the start through to the very end, it’s really destructive,” Steph Curley, CEO of Surfrider, a not-for-profit dedicated to protecting Australia’s coastline, told B&T.
“It’s destructive both for the marine life and the ecosystems and then all the way to the end when you’re looking at fossil fuel extraction, burning, decommissioning of rigs. Every part of fossil fuel extraction is destructive but seismic blasting is obviously the thing that starts it all.”
The process sees large ships tow airguns that fire loud blasts into the ocean every 10-15 seconds. These sound waves penetrate the seabed and those that bounce back to the sea surface are used by geologists to find oil and gas reserves trapped in the ocean bedrock.
These sound waves are up to 250 decibels in volume—twice as loud as a jet plane taking off. Sound is also louder and travels further underwater.
According to the Australian Marine Conversation Society, the scale used to measure decibels is logarithmic, rather than linear. In practice, this means that 20 decibels is 10 times as intense as 10 decibels—not twice. 30 decibels is 100 times more intense than 10 decibels. The loudest underwater sounds made by whales measure in the range of 140–190 decibels. A 250 decibel seismic blast is 1,000,000 times more intense than the loudest whale sounds.
Again, the Australian Marine Conservation Society says that seismic blasts can damage whales’ hearing and keep them away from key feeding and breeding grounds. Dolphins, sea turtles, sea lions and other large animals could suffer similar effects. Zooplankton, which sit at the very bottom of the ocean food chains, have been found dead following seismic blasts—even as far away as 1.2km from the blast site. Seismic blasting can also disrupt fish stocks that feed nations.
“Two-and-a-half years ago, Surfrider was alerted to a really big [seismic blasting] project. In fact, it was the world’s largest proposal, right off the coast of Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia. It was also a project in a really pristine ecosystem and waters. We were tipped off by a fisherman who had been altered to this kind of consultation process,” said Curley.
“This is typical of a process like this because we don’t see it. It’s not happening on our doorstep. It’s happening way off the coast, out of sight and out of mind”.
The impact of seismic blasting extends beyond simply harming animals, too.
“Tourism and fishing are some of the main industries in these regional towns. But it also affects the way of life. If you’re living out there, you live and breathe the ocean, you spend all your spare time there with your family, mates. These big projects really put that at risk with everything from oil spills to the big picture of burning fossil fuels,” said Curley.
The Campaign
Surfrider and Compass Studio, working with support from Ben & Jerry’s created a campaign to save the ocean from the “faceless” companies planning the seismic blasting activity.
The resulting film runs for 40 minutes. It was produced by Surfrider’s Drew McPherson and directed by ecologist Matty Hannon. It premiered in Hobart in October last year.
“[After the premiere] we spent the next two months touring it across four states with Surfrider and a cool guy called Roly from Emu Parade, who served ice cream out of his veggie and solar powered fire truck and trailer set up while educating about activism causes he’s passionate about!” Sean Farrell, Ben & Jerry’s ANZ country manager told B&T.
There were also hundreds-strong ‘paddle outs’ from the local community to organised by Surfrider.
“It was probably about 15 months from end-to-end,” Luke Dean-Weymark, co-director of B Corp-listed agency Compass Studio told B&T.
“Things can take a little time to get set up but if we can do the preparation and foundational work before the campaign kicks off, the results are going to be better and the value pays off in the long run. There are a lot of people involved in these projects—Ben & Jerry’s, Surfrider, the activists. There’s a lot of moving parts.”
But rather than just an activist-led campaign with paddle-outs and other community demonstrations, Curley explained that more was needed to prevent the seismic blasting from happening.
“We knew that this story needed to be bigger. The film allowed us to craft a compelling story. We knew that if more people knew about the [seismic blasting] project, it would add pressure that would ultimately see us win this campaign,” said Curley.
“This campaign was so pivotal to making sure people knew about it. We went from knowing it was an issue, we met as a group of small not-for-profits… and we knew it was a story that had to get out.”
Following the campaign, with the local and national pressure it helped to foster, TGS cancelled the project.
“With competing global priorities, TGS have decided not to proceed with the Otway 3D Multi-client Marine Seismic Survey Environment Plan at this time,” a statement from the company read.
The statement ended with a brief thanks and a note that the corresponding email address would be shut down. B&T contacted TGS for comment and received no reply prior to publishing.
“With Victorian gas production declining rapidly, immediate action is needed to find and develop the new gas supplies,” Australian Energy Producers chief executive, Samantha McCulloch, told gas and oil trade publication Upstream.
“Instead, we are seeing increased regulation, long delays to project approvals and the continued demonisation of gas by the Victorian government… this is scaring off investment and delaying urgently needed new gas supply.
“Decision-makers must recognise that capital is global and mobile, and Australia is fast losing out to other countries that are actively supporting investment.”
For what it’s worth, McCulloch said that seismic surveys are a “safe and essential technology used in Australia and around the world for more than 60 years” and the independent regulatory NOPSEMA supports this view.
Changing Priorities?
Prior to her role at Surfrider, Curley served as Ben & Jerry’s activism manager in Australia—where she first became aware of the organisation’s work.
“This year, in addition to continuing to support Surfrider to Save the Southern Sea as our Activism focus, we also decided to launch a brand campaign that was centred around celebrating our history and activism heritage,” said Farrell.
“Ben & Jerry’s has a unique business model, made up of three inter-related parts: a product mission, an economic mission and a social mission,” continued Farrell.
“Our social mission compels us to recognise the role we play in society—and to use the tools and channels we have as a business to drive progressive change. We have a long history of standing up for what we believe in, and in partnering with NGOs and movements to drive impact. Over the years we’ve supported marriage equality across the globe, the fair treatment of refugees and justice for those impacted by climate change.”
However, earlier this year, marketing professor Mark Ritson made what was perhaps a startling proclamation.
“The one thing I think we need to be aware of is that the context in which we’re doing marketing is gonna change,” he told B&T.
“Don’t get me wrong, I don’t support this perspective but the environmental movement is not going to continue to move. We’re clearly going to keep making petrol cars, we’re going to keep burning petrochemicals and I think there’s a renewed realisation that we’re not going to turn a corner environmentally. Politically what we’re seeing is a global shift to the right. Again, I’m not saying it’s good or bad, I don’t want to be that crass and I’m not just talking about Trump, I’m talking about what’s happening in Europe, Asia. The world isn’t getting more liberal. That’s a factor we need to be very, very conscious of in the next 12 months.”
For brands such as Ben & Jerry’s with a strong social bent and B Corp-listed Compass Studio, this might be concerning. However, Curley, Dean-Weymark and Farrell remain unmoved in their determination to do good for society.
“Consumers expect companies to take action on societal issues. And, when companies do this right, when they take a stand in the right way on societal issues it drives loyalty. People are more likely to engage with a brand, product or service and buy that product or service if brands are clear with their values. It’s a halo effect. We’ve had a long company history that proves that doing good is good for business,” said Farrell.
“There’s a level of transparency that’s almost demanded of brands these days,” added Dean-Weymark.
“As younger generations gain more authority, if a brand is not doing anything but just making money, it just isn’t going to play. It’s not a long game and it isn’t going to work well for anybody. I’m also calling bullshit on the idea of brands moving away from trying to have a bit of a purpose or have an impact outside of just new product development and sales. It’s not a compelling sell. People want to make the right decision and as marketers we want to steer them to a better solution if it’s within their means.”
Curley, meanwhile, believes that more brands should look to work with NGOs.
“It’s such a powerful thing for NGOs to have access to marketing. It’s something that we can’t afford, we can’t prioritise and we have to put that money into doing the work. It’s always a struggle for funding,” she said.
“[Brands] will get so much value out of it. Even if it’s just knowing that it’s the right thing to do.”
And perhaps we shouldn’t need much more of a reason than that.
