CAMPAIGN NAME

Greenpeace_The Dead Sea

CATEGORIES

Best of Europe: Small Budget
Best of Europe: Positive Change - Non-profit

CLIENT

Greenpeace (Denmark)

LEAD AGENCY

&Co. / NoA

CAMPAIGN DESCRIPTION

Denmark is a seafaring nation with over 7,000 km of coastline, and no Dane lives more than 50 km from the sea. The ocean, fjords, and local waters are central to Danish identity — emotionally, culturally, and environmentally. Yet despite this close connection, the sea’s health has long been taken for granted.

For decades, marine biologists and NGOs have warned that Denmark’s waters are slowly dying. However, the issue has remained largely invisible and politically untouched. The primary cause is nitrogen pollution from agriculture — a powerful and protected sector that offers politicians little incentive to act.

At the same time, environmental data such as oxygen depletion is difficult to grasp and lacks media appeal. In a crowded media landscape with a saturated political agenda, environmental issues struggle to gain attention unless driven by conflict, emotion, or spectacle.

Greenpeace, while well known, is often perceived as activist and polarising in Denmark. The challenge was therefore not only to raise awareness, but to broaden emotional engagement beyond Greenpeace’s core supporters. This had to be done through an earned-first, low-budget strategy in a media environment increasingly resistant to issue fatigue.

At the time of the campaign, Denmark’s government was entering climate negotiations (the Green Tripartite) with the agricultural lobby, without plans to address nitrogen pollution or sea oxygen depletion. This made the window for impact extremely narrow.

In short, the campaign faced an urgent crisis hidden below the surface, an indifferent public, a politically sensitive cause, and a media system that demands strong narratives. The breakthrough came from reframing a complex ecological disaster as a personal loss, using the universally understood ritual of a funeral to drive empathy, engagement, and political pressure.

THE CHALLENGE

In September 2023, a scientic report registered the worst oxygen depletion in Denmark’s seas in 20 years (1). Fish and plants suffocating to death beneath the surface. It created massive press coverage in the following two months, but political action failed to happen.

We needed to bring the crisis to the surface again. So that every Dane – the public, press, politicians – could see it, feel it and act upon it. In the first half of 2024, The Government and a tripartite including The Danish Agriculture & Food Council were to negotiate climate and environmental measures, but we knew they didn’t plan to address oxygen depletion and nitrogen pollution in the negotiations.

We needed to build momentum quickly and sustain it while the negotiations took place to make the crisis impossible to politically ignore any longer, motivating not just talk but real action (money and regulations) as if life depended on it. Because it did. We needed a truly powerful idea. One that could cut through public apathy, build national attention and support around this massive, complex, and largely unseen crisis, at a time when the last thing we needed was yet another one.

STRATEGIC APPROACH AND EXECUTION

How could we engage ordinary citizens with an invisible, complex crisis like oxygen depletion? We needed to make it emotionally relevant and visible.

We realized that no Dane lives more than 50 km from the sea, and for most, the ocean, fjords, or inner waters are a source of belonging — almost like a childhood friend. Our insight: it wasn’t just about oxygen depletion; it was about a beloved friend suffocated. Reframing the crisis as personal loss turned a scientific issue into a collective sorrow and shared responsibility.

Despite Denmark’s secular society, funeral rituals remain deeply ingrained. These shared emotions became the glue to unite citizens, journalists, and politicians around the cause.

Our idea was simple: stage a funeral for the dead sea, inviting the public, press, and politicians to grieve, remember, and act. The funeral would symbolize hope and spark action.

We chose Vejle Fjord for its strong local engagement and national attention. The funeral included a local priest and a marine biologist, adding legitimacy and expert perspective.

Key campaign elements amplified the funeral across multiple channels. Print ads announced the event, while opinion pieces sparked debate. PR outreach and journalist interviews generated media coverage, complemented by engagement with climate debaters. Paid and organic social media helped reach wider audiences, and the campaign website offered detailed information and solutions. Partnerships with the Sport Fishing Association, a local priest, and local politicians added legitimacy and encouraged broad community participation.

We turned funeral rituals into creative vehicles — from death notices to a gravestone. On March 19, a death notice in Politiken invited Danes to pay tribute with words and funeral beers. Carsten Jensen’s obituary and Greenpeace opinion pieces in national media reignited conversation.

On April 6, 800 liters of dead water from Vejle Fjord were placed in a glass coffin, visible to attendees, creating striking imagery for the press. Words of hope and remembrance from priests, activists, locals, and politicians provided multiple news hooks, putting oxygen depletion back on the agenda.