Case study: Waves of change - collaborative design for tomorrow’s world

Mankind depends upon the oceans and its marine resources for its very survival. Oceans account for: 71% of our planet’s surface and contain 97% of our planet’s water. Seas are essential for oxygen production, CO2 absorption and play a key role in weather and climate. They provided 98.2 million tonnes of fish and shellfish in 2011; transported nearly 95% of all world trade and 60% of the world’s population lives within 60 km of a sea (Joyce, 2013, pp. 5-7). Yet as McKenzie Mohr et al. (2011, p. 109) signify ‘sadly, ocean life today is threatened as never before. People are fundamentally reshaping the marine environment, and no area of the oceans remains unaffected by human activities, ranging from commercial fishing to global climate change’. Despite the vital role and importance oceans play in markets and marketing, consumers are not conscious of how their consumption behaviours are threatening the durability of our oceans; while stakeholders have conflicting understandings of what constitutes a sustainable marine resource. For social marketers, inherently conflicting consumer and stakeholder behaviours that are difficult to define represent a wicked problem where ‘change is socially complex, with many interdependencies and no universal solution’ (Lefebvre, 2013, p. 5). Such wicked problems could potentially be tackled through a more integrated social change approach that incorporates consensus building through coordinated and collaborative efforts.