PANDA AWARD WINNER 2008!

PLUS WINNER OF: Jackson Hole Film Festival 2009 - Winner Campaign Award; Interfilm Berlin 2009 - Viral Video Award; Montana 2009 - Best of Category in the Non Broadcast Program Category; Missoula 2009 - Best of Category in Advertising/PSA/Promo 6. Fastnet Short Film Festival - Special Mention 

THE RETHINK THE SHARK is one of my awareness campaigns. It was created by Saatchi & Saatchi, Cape Town in 2004, for the M-Sea Programme, a unique shark scientific research and awareness campaign, an AfriOceans Conservation Alliance initiative, in collaboration with Two Oceans Aquarium, sponsored by the SOSF until 2007.

Assisting in changing peoples perceptions of sharks was one of my main objectives for the M-Sea Programme, a challenge I presented to Saatchi & Saatchi to creatively help me solve. Through a series of creative meetings with Saatchi & Saatchi, the Rethink the Shark was born! Saatchi designed a number of elements for the campaign, including three television commercials and three supporting posters.

While the M-Sea Programme was running, I ran the campaign in South Africa during a peak holiday season at a time when Cape Town had experienced a few shark encounters close together, which threatened tourism as well as peoples perceptions of sharks. I used a multi media approach i.e. a mobile billboard, posters, the TV ads playing over on plasma screens at petrol stations, a high profile newspaper competition, which ran for a few weeks, main feature articles, as well as 40 000 Rethink the shark peak caps handed out to beach goers, and media coverage. We successfully reached over 1 million holiday makers over 4 weeks and established the Rethink the shark in South Africa.

For a period of time the SOS Foundation ran with our campaign internationally. We continue however to drive our campaign as AfriOceans initiative it is.

This is an incredible campaign, which is yet to reach its full potential, and for all the awareness it has already generated I would like to thank Saatchi & Saatchi, Cape Town, for helping us make a difference. Thank you Saatchi!