Ocean Photographer of the Year

Manatee swimming underwater a hero image from the Ocean Photographer of the Year exhibition

Project

Ocean Photographer of the Year

Organisation

Australian National Maritime Museum

Industry

Museums & Galleries

Overview

Ocean Photographer of the Year is an annual photographic competition created by the Oceanographic magazine located primarily in London.

For the first time this exhibition is on tour with the Australian National Maritime Museum chosen as the the exclusive first location in the world to host the full exhibition.

  • Marketing Strategy
  • Campaign Strategy
  • Graphic Design
  • Social Media Strategy
  • Content Production
  • Creative Direction

Creative

The Ocean Photographer of the Year (OPY) creative direction hinged on using the breathtaking images featured throughout the exhibition. The museum regularly hosts Wildlife Photographer of the Year so it was essential to select images that encapsulated ocean photography and were distinct from Wildlife Photographer.

As such we chose images featuring humans as can be seen with the boy diving and the deep sea ice diver, we also chose an image of a manatee which we felt was unique enough to inspire curiosity in our audience and provide cut through in a busy digital landscape.

To complement the static visual assets we worked with our production house to develop a hero video asset using animation and kinetic graphics along with a soundscape that invoked awe and wonder. This video formed the foundation of our digital campaign and ran heavily across social and targeted digital channels and networks.

Ocean Photographer of the Year website page mockup on a laptop
Phone mockup of Ocean Photographer of the Year campaign on mobile

Strategy

At the conversion layer of the funnel we ran a comprehensive social and digital campaign across Meta, Instagram, Tik Tok, Youtube, Reddit, Google Network and PMAX.

We complimented the incredible images with evocative copywriting highlighting the awe inspiring nature of the images, the exclusive nature of the exhibition and the limited time it was showing.

Organic social media was key in maintaining interest in the exhibition, and focused on sharing the stories behind the images, interviews with the photographers and visitor experience content to highlight must see elements.