Sharks take over UK streets in bold conservation campaign

Bite-Back Shark & Marine Conservation has launched the UK’s first advertising campaign dedicated to shark conservation, working with independent agency GOOD. The out-of-home campaign aims to highlight the essential role sharks play in keeping the oceans – and life on earth – alive.

An estimated 73 million sharks are killed annually, leaving one in four species threatened or endangered. The Sharks Save campaign illustrates how the loss of sharks could cause ocean ecosystems to collapse, with consequences for all life. Featuring 26 executions – one for each letter of the alphabet – the creative uses photography from award-winning photographer Christian Vizl.

The campaign is running across 10 UK cities and more than 50 sites until the end of September. It is supported by a media grant from Ocean Outdoor as part of its Drops in the Ocean initiative, which donates two percent of annual revenue in advertising space to charities. Bite-Back is one of six recipients of this year’s grants.

Lee Boulton, Creative Director, GOOD: "From the 50th anniversary of Jaws to the stars of a Netflix reality show, this is the summer of sharks. It was a privilege to further celebrate the impact of these vulnerable, vital, and let’s face it, very cool animals with a message that deserves and needs to be seen. After all, what self-respecting creative agency wouldn’t want to work on the shark brief?"

Graham Buckingham, Campaign Director, Bite-Back: "Our ‘Sharks Save …’ campaign directly answers the question ‘why should I care about the survival of sharks’ with a clear message that – regardless of profession or pastime – we’re all in debt to sharks and the oceans. Saving sharks isn’t just about saving a marine species, it’s about protecting the world’s largest ecosystem that makes our planet liveable. We want this advertising campaign to be the moment that people start to regard sharks as heroes and not villains. Put very simply, we need sharks to survive."

TV presenter and Bite-Back patron Steve Backshall MBE: "This campaign isn’t about making people fall in love with sharks, it’s about making people understand that we need them. The hope is that, once people know and appreciate how important sharks are to life on earth, they’ll be more motivated to participate in their survival. Bite-Back has done some amazing things to champion shark conservation and I urge everyone to get behind its campaigns."