The archive · Marketing & Growth · Marketing decision · 2021–2022
Hope Reef: Sheba rebuilds a coral reef that spells HOPE
Mars's Sheba brand turned 150 feet of dead reef into a living coral sign visible from space, and its restoration programme took two Cannes Grands Prix.
Sheba (Mars Petcare)
What it had to solve
In May 2021 Sheba, a Mars Petcare cat-food brand, launched Sheba Hope Grows: a commitment to restore 185,000 square metres of coral reefs around the world by 2029, which it billed as the world's largest coral restoration programme. The campaign built on a decade of Mars research in the Coral Triangle, where scientists predict that without action 90% of tropical reefs will be gone by 2043.
How it works
In May 2021 Sheba, a Mars Petcare cat-food brand, launched Sheba Hope Grows, a commitment to restore 185,000 square metres of coral reefs worldwide by 2029 — billed as the world's largest coral restoration programme. The campaign's centrepiece is Hope Reef, a 150-foot-long restored reef on Salisi' Besar in Sulawesi, Indonesia, whose coral spells out the word HOPE and is visible from space.
The project built on a decade of Mars research in the Coral Triangle, where the reef site had been barren in 2019. Working with agency AMV BBDO, Mars Sustainable Solutions, media agency MediaCom, Google and the local Bontosua Island community, Sheba created what it described as the first piece of outdoor media visible from Google Earth.
At Cannes Lions 2022, Hope Reef won two Grands Prix — in Industry Craft and Media — the only campaign to take two that year among 24,456 entries from 87 countries. Mars Sustainable Solutions stressed the science behind the work: without action, scientists predict 90% of tropical reefs will be gone by 2043.
The campaign turned a brand-purpose claim into a physical, measurable intervention. Rather than asking consumers to save reefs, Sheba restored one and designed the restoration itself to be the advertisement — legible to anyone with a satellite map.
Why it lands
- The restored reef was real, not imagery: Sheba's promise of hope was a physical structure that could be measured, photographed and verified.
- Spelling HOPE made a slow ecological process instantly legible — the letters work as a symbol from space and as an outdoor medium unlike any before.
- Mars's decade of coral research and the Bontosua Island community's involvement gave the project scientific and social credibility an ad could not borrow.
- Two Grands Prix at Cannes turned a reef in Sulawesi into a globally covered case study, amplifying the restoration message far beyond the reef itself.
What it did
At Cannes Lions 2022, Hope Reef won two Grands Prix — in the Industry Craft and Media categories — the only campaign that year to take two Grands Prix among 24,456 entries from 87 countries. Mars Sustainable Solutions noted that fewer than 0.11% of all entries win a Grand Prix, and pointed to the once-barren 2019 reef site as living proof of the programme's progress.
What you can take
The brand promise was the product: Sheba paid for real restoration whose HOPE lettering was built to be seen from orbit — purpose as measurable, shareable proof.
Since then
After the Cannes wins, Mars Sustainable Solutions described the recognition as proof of progress for the whole Hope Grows programme and its partners, including the Bontosua Island community. The once-barren 2019 site had grown into a visible restored reef, and work continued toward the 185,000-square-metre commitment by 2029. The campaign also became a reference point for purpose-led marketing: a brand making its environmental claim tangible rather than rhetorical, with the living letters as evidence.
Sources
- Cannes Lions Grand Prix Winners in Industry Craft, Digital Craft, Film Craft, Design, Entertainment, Entertainment for Media and Entertainment for Sport
- Cannes Lions 2022: Sheba Hope Grows Recognition
spotted an error? The archive wants to know.
Your turn
You just read one. Describe the brief you are staring at, and see who has been given the same problem.
Free account · 3 free questions · no card