WebStages for Sea Shepherd: Influencers give Antarctic penguins a feast
Because the main food source for penguins, fin whales, and seals in Antarctica is being depleted by massive krill super-trawlers, these animals are struggling to survive. WebStages is supporting Sea Shepherd with a volunteer-driven Christmas campaign to change this. Thirteen influencers are using their reach to raise awareness—also on a volunteer basis—for Sea Shepherd’s fundraising campaign.
The campaign's hook: with a donation, a penguin, a seal or a fin whale can symbolically be given a feast. be donated. The proceeds from the donation will be used to co-finance the Antarctic Defense Campaign - which is committed to ensuring that the krill supertrawlers do not fish away the food source for the animals in the Antarctic.
Franziska Paukert, Communications Officer at Sea Shepherd Switzerland, explains: "Here in Switzerland, we quickly forget how important the oceans are to us and overlook the fact that our consumption contributes to their destruction. There are many products containing krill in Swiss stores, the production of which endangers the Antarctic ecosystem. With creativity and passion, the WebStages team has put together a powerful campaign that highlights these connections. The donations raised will flow directly into our next campaign: in early 2024, we will sail to Antarctica with our ship Allankay to highlight the ruthless exploitation by krill super trawlers."
Donors receive a gift certificate with the chosen animal, which in turn makes a perfect Christmas present. A personal video message from the Sea Shepherd crew directly from Antarctica will also follow in January.
"Every year, we support a charitable project with the agency. This year, we were able to get involved in the concept right from the start and, with Sea Shepherd's mission in Antarctica, we were able to make the perfect connection to a Christmas campaign. The aim was to spread a positive message with the symbolic feast - despite the sad topic - and thus reach people who had not yet heard of Sea Shepherd," explains Tanja Herrmann, Managing Director of WebStages.
13 influencers from the fields of sustainability, food, family and travel responded to the call from influencer marketing agency WebStages. They all created stories, carousel posts and reels in which they drew attention to the problem in Antarctica in line with their topic.
How the Zurich-based sustainability influencer @aninamutter jumped in her contribution straight into the deep end, explaining why the campaign is so important to her.
@chrisjaeger_ showed the effects of krill fishing in a informative carousel post and the French food influencer @cheftosca prepared a vegan alternative to scallops and, parallel to the preparation, explained her commitment to for the campaign.
Many animals in the Antarctic are increasingly malnourished and are sometimes unable to cope with the long distances to their breeding grounds or suffer breeding failures. Researchers suspect a strong link between krill fishing in the Antarctic and a significant decline in pregnancies in fin whales, weight loss in fur seals and the decline in the population of chinstrap penguins.
The globally active NGO Sea Shepherd, known from the Netflix documentary Seaspiracy, campaigns against the destructive effects of global fishing. With over 20 independent local groups worldwide, the organization protects habitats. Its fleet of twelve ships operates from the Antarctic to Africa to stop the destruction of the oceans and protect ecosystems sustainably.
Responsible at Sea Shepherd: Franziska Paukert (Communication manager), Joel Engler (Social Media). Responsible at WebStages: Tanja Herrmann (Concept & Strategy), Alexandra Zihlmann (Project Management).
