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Protecting the deep sea with Blue Marine Foundation: turning digital advocacy into government action

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Success by numbers

1.3m+

people reached across Facebook and Instagram

26k+

petition signatures generated during the campaign

1

UK government moratorium commitment secured

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Paid social that builds public pressure for deep-sea mining safeguards in the sustainability sector.

 

The partnership

Blue Marine Foundation is a charity dedicated to restoring ocean health by tackling overfishing and protecting vital marine ecosystems. Its long-term ambition is to secure effective protection for at least 30% of the world’s oceans by 2030, with the remainder responsibly managed.

To accelerate progress, Blue Marine launched a UK parliamentary petition calling for a precautionary pause on deep-sea mining, aligning public concern with emerging global policy. After early momentum slowed, the team recognised that organic awareness alone would not deliver the 10,000 signatures needed for a government response – let alone the scale required to influence debate.

Blue Marine engaged Clarity to convert diffuse public interest into focused action, building sustained pressure on policymakers while strengthening the charity’s profile as a leading voice on ocean conservation.

Clarity designed a data-led framework to turn social engagement into measurable political pressure. Using Meta’s audience tools, the team built three core segments of ocean, wildlife, and conservation enthusiasts whose values aligned with Blue Marine’s mission. Creative narratives and visuals were tailored to each segment, linking deep-sea mining to tangible risks for marine life and coastal communities.

To reduce wasted spend and fragmentation, Clarity overlaid platform data with live petition insights, concentrating investment in postcodes with the highest demonstrated intent to sign. Budgets and messaging were continuously adjusted against real-time signature growth rather than vanity metrics, ensuring every impression worked harder towards the petition threshold.

This disciplined approach transformed disconnected interest into coordinated action, providing a repeatable model for how digital marketing can underpin advocacy, fundraising, and long-term policy objectives.

 

Achieving global growth

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With the support of Clarity we were able to significantly raise awareness for the deep sea and secure the signatures needed to trigger a debate in Parliament. The petition closed with over 35,000 signatures. A month later, the UK government joined 24 countries from across the globe in calling for a moratorium on deep-sea mining. The success of this campaign, which ran concurrently alongside press media and policy work, shows how compelling visuals, narratives and marketing can be leveraged for conservation gain and turn government policy on its head.
Jo Coumbe
Director of Communications, Blue Marine Foundation

Internal alignment

  • Brought Blue Marine’s communications, policy, and digital teams around a shared petition goal and single source of performance data.
  • Used regional signature insights to prioritise outreach, media activity, and stakeholder engagement where support was strongest.

Commercial momentum

  • Increased awareness with more than 1.37m Facebook and Instagram users exposed to campaign creative.
  • Drove over 130,000 ad clicks and 6,670 post shares, turning interest in ocean protection into meaningful engagement.
  • Generated over 26,100 petition signatures during the campaign period, helping the petition close above 35,000 signatures overall.

Global growth

  • Triggered the threshold for a formal government response and supported a debate in Parliament on deep-sea mining.
  • Contributed to the UK government joining 24 countries calling for a moratorium on exploitation licences for deep-sea mining by the International Seabed Authority.

More results

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