The Marine Conservation Society has unveiled a refreshed strategy – an action plan for healthy seas – highlighting the charity’s work towards a better protected, cleaner and healthier ocean, for everyone.

The strategy pulls together the charity’s yearlong project exploring its values, tone of voice and visual representation, resulting in a new brand, website and refocused mission.

Sandy Luk, CEO of the Marine Conservation Society: “We’re facing an ocean emergency; the ocean is in poor health because of human activity. We’re polluting our waters and destroying precious habitats, not only harming the species that live in our seas, but reducing the ocean’s ability to help us fight the climate crisis. We must act now to turn the tide and restore its health, and to do this we must inspire social, political and cultural change – the way we represent ourselves is crucial to this.”

To reflect the urgent action needed to tackle the ocean emergency, the Marine Conservation Society has realigned, focusing on a central mission: to breathe life back into the ocean.

Amanda Nobbs, Chair of Trustees at the Marine Conservation Society: “We need healthy seas to tackle climate change. Our new action plan, website and brand focus on the urgent action we can all take to turn things around.  The choices we make every day – the food we eat, the clothes we wear – have an impact on our ocean.”

As a result of significant funding, the Marine Conservation Society has worked with Bristol-based digital agency, Torchbox, to design and build a new website. The charity’s new website is an extension of its strategy, putting people-powered action at the heart of the Marine Conservation Society’s digital offering.

Maya Gibbs, Product Director, Torchbox: “We’re proud of our role in developing a website that can help any of us play a part in the fight for our ocean. From helping you to organise and run beach cleans, to teaching you about the most and least sustainable fish in the Good Fish Guide, there’s something for everyone.”

In tandem with the development of a new website, the charity enlisted the help of world-renowned advertising agency, BBH, to consider how the Marine Conservation Society should look to reflect the charity’s mission. BBH volunteered their time to create the initial ideas and concepts through their brand agency, Zag.

Natalie Doto, Designer of the charity’s new brand said: “People often think about the land and the ocean as separate entities, when in reality how we choose to live on land has a direct effect on the ocean and vice versa. When creating the new brand, we were inspired by this symbiotic relationship between these two worlds that is essential to sustaining life on earth.

“We created a logo that was all about balance; equally weighted between two sides, with letterforms full of ocean-y character to capture the spirit of the ocean and all the life that lives in it. It was important for us to create a brand with universal appeal, able to both reinvigorate current supporters as well as attracting the next generation of ocean activists.”

The charity’s logo has also been brought to life with a series of animations featuring marine creatures including shoals of fish, a crab and jellyfish. See them all in action across the charity’s digital channels.

Read the Marine Conservation Society’s action plan for healthy seas and visit the charity’s new look website.