We’re

an impact-driven creative agency, working for the biggest client of them all...

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the Ocean.

We’re a different kind of nonprofit.

We use a combination of creativity, technology, and powerful partnerships to raise the awareness and support necessary to help fast-track ocean conservation action.

Our Formula

Outrage +

Excitement

+ Optimism

Conservation organizations usually focus on creating outrage about ocean issues to get support, but we’ve found that creating outrage on its own rarely leads to action. Instead, it needs to be balanced with optimism and excitement. There are more than enough conservation organizations focused on creating outrage, so we focus on the rest of the equation… creating optimism and excitement about ocean science and conservation. Now, more than ever, we believe this is what’s needed to fast-track ocean action.

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We’re celebrating a decade of impact.

Evolution
2010-201220132014201520162017201820192020
The Adventures BeginGoing GlobalInternational CollaborationsThe Lead up to COP21Chasing a Global Bleaching EventPremiering Chasing Coral on NetflixInternational Year of the ReefGrowing and GlowingA year that needed a little extra creativity.

After inventing the revolutionary SVII camera, we kicked off our surveying of the Great Barrier Reef — the most comprehensive scientific survey of the reef in history. We had two teams working on five separate expeditions: a shallow reef team and a deep reef team, going places no one had ever gone before.

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Following the success of our Australian expeditions, we took the project global, heading off to the Caribbean. Side trips to the Galapagos, Monaco and numerous other locations made this an amazingly successful year.

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We teamed up with NOAA's Office of National Marine Sanctuaries in 2014 to do our first major survey in the US. This was in addition to our survey of locations in the Coral Triangle. We also partnered with UNESCO, held our first exhibition, surveyed Sydney, re-visited the Great Barrier Reef after Cyclone Ita and got involved in several documentaries.

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Although we witnessed and revealed the Third Global Bleaching Event in 2014, it began to gain momentum in 2015. We re-visited American Samoa twice to record a reef bleaching and dying for the first time using 360-degree photography. We had expeditions in the Indian Ocean and a major exhibition at the Natural History Museum in London.

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The Third Global Bleaching Event continued throughout the year, and we were the only team tracking it as it devastated reefs around the world. It was the year we finished filming Chasing Coral, started our Seaview Education program with Google, and changed our focus from documenting the problem to creating a solution: a global plan to save corals.

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The year started with the team on the silver screen. Chasing Coral made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won the U.S. Documentary Audience Award. Soon after, we launched our next big initiative, 50 Reefs — the only global plan to save coral reefs. Meanwhile, we continued to track the Third Global Bleaching Event.

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Still on the screen with Chasing Coral — which, in 2018, won an Emmy, a Peabody, and was shortlisted for an Oscar — we kicked off International Year of the Reef in January, and it quickly became our biggest year yet. The 50 Reefs initiative resulted in $86 million in funding toward conservation action.

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In 2019, we wanted to create even bigger excitement and optimism around coral reef conservation. We launched our Glowing campaign with Pantone and Adobe to reach a new audience of creatives, then partnered with World Surf League to capture the global surfing community.

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We pivoted away from expeditions and conferences and focused on unlocking the power of creativity to accelerate action – developing new partnerships and a plan for the UN Ocean Decade to help transform the image of ocean science and conservation.

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Our Team

We believe in keeping our team small so we can be more creative and react more easily to opportunities. A small, highly motivated team is the secret to achieving big results.

Richard Vevers

Founder & CEO

Richard Vevers is the founder and CEO of The Ocean Agency. Before diving into ocean and coral reef conservation, Vevers first worked at some of the top London advertising agencies and then as an artist and underwater photographer. It is this background that has guided his unique creative and business-thinking approach to ocean conservation. His imagery, revealing what is happening to our oceans, is some of the most viewed underwater imagery of all time, and his ideas, projects and public speaking have made him a leading voice in the fight to save coral reefs.

His major successes include: 1) inventing the SVII camera and taking Google Street View underwater, 2) pioneering virtual reality ocean education – currently available to over 90 million schoolchildren, 3) the XL Catlin Seaview Survey – the most comprehensive underwater photographic survey and record of coral reefs with over 1 million images captured and analyzed, 4) revealing the crisis facing coral reefs in the Netflix Original Documentary “Chasing Coral” – winner of the 2018 Emmy for Outstanding Nature Documentary, 5) 50 Reefs – a global scientific study to help target and inspire effective conservation support and action that resulted in $86 million in funding for leading science and conservation organizations, and 6) the Glowing campaign – a global campaign to accelerate coral reef conservation action and funding through popular influence and business involvement.

PASSIONATE PEOPLE ACCELERATING OCEAN SCIENCE AND CONSERVATION ACTION

Colette Weintraub

Strategy & Partnerships

Jerome Maas

Strategy & Partnerships

Jayne Jenkins

Chief Expedition Photographer

Stephanie Tate

Senior Program Manager

Melissa Smith

Communications Manager

Prunelle Chappert

Designer

Vincent Kneefel

Strategy & Partnerships

Stefan Andrews

Expedition Videographer

Mollie Schulman

Campaign & Communications Intern

Courtney Milley

Research Intern

Rachel Matisko

Research Intern

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Major Projects