Moen is more than just a shower or faucet company. We are champions for all things water – not just inside the home, but planet-wide. Mission Moen is our brand's pledge – and series of tangible commitments – to protect and innovate for the water of tomorrow. On Earth Day 2021, Moen added its latest commitment under this platform: repurposing 2,000 tons of ocean plastic to make parts for products and packaging, transforming a threat to our oceans into a sustainable resource.
Our challenge was to create a breakthrough brand activation that brought awareness to Mission Moen and motivated our audience to not only pay attention but join us in solving this global issue before it's too late.
Launched on Earth Day, Own the Ocean was a digital activation that brought the ocean plastic pollution issue close to home. Through 5 unique NFT’s, each representing areas of the ocean overwhelmed by plastic, the audience experienced the problem through digital art, compelling them to take responsibility for it and make their bid to own the ocean.
When you own something you take better care of it. You protect it. But the ocean isn't owned by anyone. That's why our Earth's water is in such dire straits; polluted with over 50 trillion pieces of microplastic, increasing by 8 million more tons every year. This insight came to us at a moment when the very concept of ownership was being redefined by the explosion of new technology: Non-Fungible Tokens; unique digital artworks minted, sold, and owned on cryptocurrency blockchains. Using this breakthrough technology, we created Own the Ocean: five NFTs each representing an area of the ocean threatened by plastic pollution. We created a way for people everywhere to literally invest in the future of water by making a bid to own a piece of it. When purchased, proceeds went directly to 5 Gyres, a philanthropic research organization leading the way to find a solution to this global problem.
The buzz surrounding NFTs revolves around personal gain through digital ownership. We disrupted this platform by creating pieces of art that redefined that ownership for a charitable cause– turning self-gain into a mutually beneficial exchange. We focused our campaign on two key subsets of Moen's audience: NFT enthusiasts and environmental advocates. NFT enthusiasts are a new, rapidly growing community of trend-setting digital art traders, with newly found cryptocurrency to spare for a good cause. We activated on key social platforms where both the NFT and the environmental conversation were already thriving, along with broader social platforms and media sites to scale reach. All touchpoints drove people to our NFT auction page, where they could learn more about Mission Moen, the ocean plastic problem, and bid on the Own the Ocean NFTs.
Own the Ocean brought awareness for Mission Moen to a whole new level, while at the same time raising funds and attention for a worthy cause. The campaign exceeded expectations:
We didn't just talk at our target audience, we invited them into a thought-provoking conversation, and they eagerly jumped in:
And most importantly, our NFTs sold for 300% more than our asking price, raising thousands of dollars for our beneficiary, the 5 Gyres Institute.
