Originally published December 2020 by WP Engine’s Velocitize. Sally’s author page is here.
Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, Americans will produce an extra 1 million tons of trash every single week, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
That would be an additional 25 million tons of trash entering landfills and the ocean every holiday season, according to 4ocean, the company that uses the sale of its bracelets and other products to fund ocean cleanups. “If every U.S. family reused two feet of holiday ribbon this year, we’d save enough of it to tie a bow around the planet, just like the gift it is.”
Such is the helpful, eco-friendly tone in every communication from 4ocean. It was founded in January 2017 by Andrew Cooper and Alex Schulze, two surfers who found their life’s purpose after a trip to Bali.
Take Out the Trash
Aghast at the rampant pollution in this Indonesian province, they set out to find a solution: Their Boca Raton, Fla.-based for-profit company. For every product the 200-person company sells, it pulls at least one pound of trash from oceans, rivers and beaches. The process has been certified by the Better Business Bureau. Professional crews have pulled more than 11.6 million pounds of trash off the coasts of South Florida, Guatemala, Indonesia, and Haiti.
In 2019, Forbes named Cooper and Schulze to its 30 under 30 list of social entrepreneurs. Earlier this year, 4ocean became a Certified B Corporation, an international standard for companies committed to positive social and environmental impact.
But it’s Steve Lamb, the company’s head of global digital marketing, and Patrick Carney, director of customer experience, who steer the company’s communications ship. In an exclusive interview with Velocitize, Lamb and Carney explained their digital strategy for the holidays, shared tales of how the company has weathered the Covid-19 pandemic, and provided their unique perspective on how business can make the world better.
Know Your Customers
“Our end point is to rid the ocean of plastic, and we want to take the customers on our journey—not just highlight the wins, but the process of doing that,” Carney says. “It’s an arduous process, and we want to invite them into it. When you come on board with 4ocean you’re becoming part of that mission.”

Target the Consumer

Happy Eco-Friendly Holiday

“Quiet Activism”
4ocean employs a wide array of communications strategies: Digital radio, TV, social media, banner ads, paid search, email, and text. “We pretty much do everything under the sun to drive awareness of what we do and stay connected to people who already know what we do,” Lamb says.
Tony Sgro, a hair stylist at Olivier Salon in Fort Lauderdale, is one such person. He was motivated to research the company after seeing the ad featuring “two attractive surfers” talking about the amount of plastic in the ocean. He went to their website and purchased two bracelets. Wearing the bracelet is a “quiet way of activism,” he says.
We Saw You Checking Us Out
When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, Lamb and Carney decided to pull away from the more expensive channels, TV and YouTube.
They increased the frequency of their emails from one or two times a week to five or six times a week. After the writer of this article left the site without buying anything, the company labeled her an “abandoned browser” and sent her an email titled, “We saw you checking us out.”
“We want to be as personalized as possible,” Lamb says. “[There are] different stages of triggered emails that go out to the customer based on their point in the journey. We wanted to encourage you to come back to the site and continue the journey, and remind you that every product purchased pulls a pound of trash from the ocean to really drive home the message.”
To be authentic at 4ocean is to be fun and lighthearted. Copy writers, for example, get to use the word “stoked” to convey the company’s B Corp accomplishment.
“We try to keep it casual and engaging,” Carney says. “We are an ocean company founded by a couple of surfers who love being on the water. And we all do, too. We want that to come through in the messaging.”
Think Positive

Cleanup Time
Now that he’s part of the company, he and his team are building The Clean Ocean Club. The subscription plan will accelerate ocean cleanups and fund educational programs in the U.S. and abroad. Say you’re a subscriber and you buy the bracelet of the month. Your $20 will pull two pounds of trash from the ocean. It’s a feat made possible by cleanup processes that are growing ever more efficient.
Through the eco-friendly Pound+ program, you can buy ocean cleanup as a service, without buying a tangible product. It’s a way to pay 4ocean to keep working “to pull pounds,” as they call it, when you don’t need more stuff.
“We do good in the world, and we do it well,” Carney says. “It’s an economy around the ocean.”
All photos courtesy of 4ocean