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, an AfriOceans Conservation Alliance initiative, in collaboration with Two Oceans Aquarium, proudly sponsored by the SOSF until 2008.

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, and assisted by the Two Oceans Aquarium, 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. The Save Our Seas Foundation funded the campaign 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.

While I continue to drive the campaign in South Africa, and have adopted it for the Save Our Seas Shark Centre, the Save Our Seas Foundation are driving it internationally. They have entered the toaster TV ad into a few festivals and we have done very well, winning many awards, including the prestigious PANDA Award 2008, and the campaign award Jackson Hole Film Festival 2009.

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, as well as the Two Oceans Aquarium and the Save Our Seas Foundation - together we are making a difference!