Blue Planet II honoured in world first creative industry underwater award ceremony at Cannes

Blue Planet II executive producer James Honeyborne (left) received the first Global Goal 14 Life Below Water Impact award for positive ocean awareness from the UN’s Director for Ocean Dr Lisa Svensson (pictured below with Honeyborne).

Underwater ceremony took place in bay of Cannes and screened during the Global Goals seminar with campaigner and musician Simon Le Bon, Sky CEO Jeremy Darroch, Unilever CMO Keith Weed, evian’s VP Marketing Patricia Oliva, Founder of Adjust Your Set and co-founder of BLUE Marine Foundation Chris Gorell Barnes and co-founder of Project Everyone Gail Gallie

United Nations campaign The Global Goals returned to the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity this year in partnership with Adjust Your Set and BLUE Marine Foundation.

The campaign hosted the world’s first underwater award ceremony for the creative industry, honouring the BBC’s wildlife documentary Blue Planet II, and also held a seminar on Ocean Health with musician and BLUE Marine Foundation ambassador Simon Le Bon.

SKY CEO Jeremy Darroch, Unilever CMO Keith Weed, evian CMO Patricia Oliva and Duran Duran singer Simon Le Bon joined Founder of Adjust Your Set and co-founder of BLUE Marine Foundation Chris Gorell Barnes and co-founder of Project Everyone Gail Gallie to discuss ‘Can Creativity Save Our Oceans?’. The panel explored how technology, media and creativity can combine to make positive changes in our oceans.

The seminar featured footage of the world’s first ever underwater award ceremony for the creative industry for the Global Goal 14 Impact award for positive ocean awareness, which was presented from the seabed under the bay of Cannes on Wednesday June 20. The award took place ahead of the first ever full Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Lions Awards, which will be presented on Friday 22nd June in the Palais des Festivals, supporting and raising awareness of the SDGs.

Says Darroch: “Since we launched Sky Ocean Rescue 18 months ago the world has woken up to the threat that single use plastic poses to the health of our oceans and of future generations. But now we need to go further and faster in taking action – that is why we are not only inspiring people and other businesses to make simple everyday changes, but also working with other innovative thinkers to create solutions that will help turn off the single-use plastic tap.”

Says Weed: “Blue Planet II made huge strides in raising awareness of plastic waste in our oceans. It’s now up to us to create a lasting legacy by addressing the issue of ocean plastic once and for all. We must move away from a throwaway model of consumption, to a truly circular economy. Together, let’s keep plastic in the economy and out of the ocean”.

Says Dr Svensson: “We need innovative and creative minds to support and enhance the work that the scientific community is doing to save our oceans. Blue Planet is an incredible example of how the creative industry can educate and inspire at scale. It’s companies like Sky and evian, individuals like Simon and foundations such as BLUE Marine that show leadership in saving our oceans but we can’t do it alone so I hope that today’s seminar will inspire the creative community to find solutions within their fields to help restore health to our oceans.”

Says Oliva: “This year we made a commitment to transform our approach to plastic. We can’t do this alone so we want to use the power of our global brand to drive collaboration across industries and beyond to make a meaningful impact. Blue Planet II has had an incredible impact in raising awareness on the plastic issue and we hope to keep building on this to make plastic waste a thing of the past.”

Says Honeyborne: “On behalf of our Blue Planet II team, who worked for 5 years across every ocean, it’s a great honour to receive this award, highlighting awareness of UN Goal 14 ‘Life Below Water’. Each and every one of us needs a healthy ocean and, if the response of our audiences tells us anything, it demonstrates that people do care and are engaged with what happens beneath the waves. Now we have to build on that.”

Says Barnes: “One of the biggest issues with the current crisis in the ocean is the lack of awareness. If any industry can change this, it is the advertising industry. Cannes Lions is the perfect place to galvanise all these creative brains to think about this and to help use creativity and technology to fix the biggest problem on our planet.”

Says Gallie: “By 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish, but thanks to efforts from many parties including Blue Planet II, public awareness of the problem is now the highest it has ever been, and we are calling on businesses, advertising agencies and media owners to all do everything to ensure a thriving and balanced ocean for all to enjoy.”

On Friday 22 June, the Global Goals will host the first ever “Ocean Mic” at the Google beach, inviting delegates to come together and see how their ideas can make a positive impact on the oceans.