Forever Reef Project aims to preserve marine biodiversity with coral ‘ark’

Rising ocean temperatures continue to put the Great Barrier Reef at risk of further coral bleaching. A team of scientists hope to preserve its coral, and ad agency M&C Saatchi has thrown its creative support behind the initiative.

Dr Dean Miller is managing director of Great Barrier Reef Legacy

The key to securing the future of the Great Barrier Reef’s coral species may be found in a dedicated “coral ark”, a collection of living coral species being gathered and studied by independent not-for-profit organisation the Great Barrier Reef Legacy.

In June, the organisation launched a new brand via advertising agency M&C Saatchi Group titled The Forever Reef Project, to highlight its work.

Through the development of the “ark”, the project aims to preserve coral biodiversity indefinitely, as the coral samples it collects are critical to advance reef research and aid reef restoration efforts for generations to come.

The coral samples are thriving in the dedicated “biobank”, located at the Cairns Aquarium, but their habitat in the wild hangs in a delicate and precarious balance.

The initiative comes as Australia braces for an El Nino summer, bringing with it higher chances of hot, dry conditions on land. Meanwhile, warming ocean temperatures also continue to pose risks to marine life, including coral bleaching.

Coral bleaching has devastating effects on sea life. Globally, coral reefs support 25 per cent of all marine life, which provide essential foods and services to around one billion people around the world. The Great Barrier Reef is home to the world’s largest collection of coral reefs.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, bleaching events can occur during the weather patterns of El Nino, La Nina or neutral years. In recent decades, mass bleaching events have occurred during each of those three phases of the El Nino-Southern Oscillation.

The last significant coral bleaching event in Australian waters occurred in 2016, and affected nearly 93 per cent of reefs on the Great Barrier Reef. These types of events are becoming more frequent and severe globally.

Since its inception in 2019, the Great Barrier Reef Legacy, led by scientist and conservationist Dean Miller, has collected 181 coral samples of the 415 that live in the reef required to complete the collection. Through the initiative, the ambition is for all 800-1000 species that exist globally to eventually be retrieved.

The work is urgent. As rising ocean temperatures further threaten the reef’s future, the window is narrowing to collect the coral needed to complete the biobank for the Great Barrier Reef. To complete this phase of the project, Dr Miller and his team need to raise $500,000 within the next two years.

The mission to complete the collection offered a compelling creative challenge in the eyes of advertising agency M&C Saatchi Group, which took on the project pro bono. It launched the new brand and campaign to raise awareness and drive donations.

The agency gave The Forever Reef Project a permanent digital home with a dedicated website, social media content and a video ad campaign to reach audiences.

The story of the collection has already resonated with audiences. In 2021, a 30-minute program about the organisation’s work appeared in an edition of ABC’s Australian Story and drove more than $200,000 in donations from viewers.

“The Forever Reef Project, aptly named, is here to provide a long term insurance policy for coral biodiversity, not just on the Great Barrier Reef but worldwide,” Dr Miller said.

“I feel like the public likes this because there’s a tangible outcome. It’s possible, it’s relatively time- and cost-effective. I feel for that reason we’re getting a lot of traction.”

Sharon Edmondston, group creative director at M&C Saatchi

Sharon Edmondston, group creative director at M&C Saatchi, said “it was really quite an emotional journey for us as a creative team”.

“It’s so powerful. And it’s so simple. So we called it the Forever Reef because it’s the genuine outcome. It’s a really distilled and succinct articulation of what the promise is,” she said.

“Even though it’s a quiet piece of language … it’s so potent and disruptive, because within the context of where it appears, it is a complete opposite narrative to anything else you hear.

“It’s disruptive, but it’s also very calm, at the same time.”

A 1½-minute video was created as part of the campaign, and offers audiences a window into the delicate world of the Great Barrier Reef, how the corals are preserved, as well as the mission of the project.

Ben Cooper, group innovation director at M&C Saatchi, said of the biobank: “The penny drops when you see it.”

The website, video and logo created by M&C Saatchi Group were designed to bring people closer to the project, regardless of their location.

Ms Edmondston added: “We’ve created this design world that is very true to the infrastructure of the biobank.”

M&C Saatchi group innovation officer, Ben Cooper

The images used on the website show how the corals are stored in all their colourful, luminescent glory – a stark contrast to the often bleached visuals seen of the majority of the coral found in the Great Barrier Reef.

The logo was hand-rendered to reflect the natural qualities of coral, which combined with the video and website also communicate a sense of hope and optimism.

When Ms Edmondston talks about the Forever Reef Project, it is clear her passion for the subject matter is strong.

She speaks of the coral samples at the Cairns Aquarium as akin to rare gems in a jewellery box. While the corals’ natural beauty offers wonder and awe, the corals serve a greater purpose, according to Ms Edmondston and Mr Cooper, who point out the crucial environmental purpose; to fuel scientific endeavour.

“It’s the fact that actually we can help with (reef) restoration. It’s the fact that biodiversity, at the end of the day, is actually what we should all be preserving,” Mr Cooper said.

“I think often we only react to the bushfires near our homes, or the floods in our basements. And we don’t always look below the ocean.

“What’s amazing about this project is the fact that the ocean has come to land, ironically, to be preserved. But at the same time, it’s a fighting chance to actually get ourselves together to at least mitigate some of the wrongs we’ve done to the planet.”