“Wilson,” the most iconic volleyball from Hollywood, is taking centre stage in a sobering new campaign about the impact of plastics on ocean environments.
To promote UNESCO new scientific frameworks in association with Onda Azul Institute and techco Vivo, The Odyssey of Wilson brings real datasets to life in an engaging, multi-touch experience to drive change that sheds light on the devastating impact of plastic pollution on our oceans. The initiative transforms hard oceanographic data into an emotionally compelling, interactive journey spanning 450 years of environmental change.
Launched ahead of the 2025 United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice, France, the campaign uses Wilson’s imagined path through the world’s oceans as a metaphor for the long-term degradation caused by plastics. Backed by ocean data and projections, the experience traces currents, tides, and climate events to visualize the volleyball’s transformation into microplastics—witnessing acidification, ice shelf collapse, and rising sea levels along the way.
Recent insights from UNESCO’s State of the Ocean Report 2024 offer a sobering scientific backdrop to the initiative. The report reveals that 2023 was the warmest year on record for ocean temperatures, with average warming already reaching 1.45°C above pre-industrial levels — dangerously close to the 2°C ceiling set by the Paris Agreement. Sea levels have already risen 9 cm in the past 30 years, and the rate of increase has doubled in that time, largely due to warming oceans, which now account for 40 per cent of global sea level rise.
Moreover, ocean oxygen levels have dropped 2 per cent since the 1960s, resulting in over 500 coastal “dead zones” where marine life can no longer survive. Acidity has increased by 30 per cent since pre-industrial times and is projected to rise by 170 per cent by 2100, disrupting fragile ecosystems and threatening species such as shellfish and corals.
The campaign also echoes urgent warnings about marine biodiversity: many species now face a “triple threat” of rising temperatures, acidification, and deoxygenation, making survival increasingly difficult, akin to living in a room that is heating up, with thinning air that’s also turning acidic.
According to UNESCO, between 1.1 and 4.9 million tons of plastic are already present in the ocean, with discarded fishing gear and single-use plastics cited as primary sources. While progress has been made in mapping the seafloor — now at 25 per cent coverage, up from 15 per cent in 2019 — critical gaps remain in global monitoring and coordinated action.
These findings form the foundation of a campaign that transforms complex, sobering data into a story that resonates emotionally and urges action.
Led by the Onda Azul Institute, with technological support from telecom giant Vivo, the campaign serves as a call to action aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water.
“This project is about making science human,” said André Luis Esteves, director at the Onda Azul Institute. “By following the journey of a simple object, we illustrate decades of invisible damage caused by plastic waste — and why it urgently needs global attention. With Vivo and inspired by UNESCO’s scientific leadership, we’ve transformed data into a story people can feel.”
Vivo, a long-standing advocate for sustainability, provided infrastructure to translate scientific data into an immersive storytelling platform.
Creative development was led by award-winning agency Africa Creative, known for bold storytelling and purpose-driven campaigns. The integrated effort includes an immersive digital platform to explore the journey, a short film, public installations in coastal cities, and live activations during major sports broadcasts.
“Science alone doesn’t move people — stories do. By turning complex data into a powerful visual journey, we help make the invisible visible. Communication plays a strategic role in mobilizing collective action for our oceans ahead of the UN Ocean Conference,” said Raphael Vandystadt, VP of Sustainability at Africa Creative.
