The Wilson ball stars in this ocean awareness campaign

Wilson, the volleyball from the film *Cast Away*, stars in this story about ocean pollution.

NGO advertising campaigns are often quite impactful. These organizations usually give creative agencies free rein to express themselves. This allows us to enjoy powerful campaigns that raise global environmental awareness.

That’s the case with the latest campaign created jointly by UNESCO, the Onda Azul Institute, and Vivo, which brings back Wilson the volleyball from the popular film *Cast Away*, starring Tom Hanks.

“Wilson, 450 Years Adrift” is the title of the awareness campaign by UNESCO, carried out in collaboration with the Onda Azul Institute and the telecommunications company Vivo. The agency Africa Creative is behind the interactive campaign.

The campaign is an interactive audiovisual experience that begins at the moment Tom Hanks says goodbye to his volleyball Wilson, unable to rescue it from the ocean. Undoubtedly, one of the most emotional moments of the film *Cast Away*, released in 2000.

The campaign traces a fictional journey from the moment the ball fell into the sea to the year 2450, the estimated date of its complete decomposition. During this virtual journey, we become aware of various real climate events and their impact on the oceans: the sinking of the Prestige in 2002, the millions of tons of plastic dumped into the sea in 2009, or recent records of disappearing ice surfaces. It also projects disturbing future scenarios, such as the extinction of marine species or extreme tidal changes.

According to André Luis Esteves, director of the Onda Azul Institute: “This project aims to humanize science. By following the journey of a simple object, we illustrate decades of invisible damage caused by plastic waste and why it urgently needs global attention.”

Meanwhile, Raphael Vandystadt, Vice President of Sustainability at Africa Creative, said: “Science alone doesn’t move people; stories do. By turning complex data into a powerful visual journey, we help make the invisible visible.”

See the interactive experience | Wilson’s Odyssey