LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--MrBeast and Mark Rober, two of YouTube’s most-viewed creators and philanthropists, today launched environmental initiative #TeamSeas, with a goal of raising $30 million by the end of 2021 to remove 30 million pounds of trash from oceans, rivers and beaches worldwide. Jimmy “MrBeast” Donaldson, a prolific social media creator with over 186M subscribers across social platforms and 18.5B total views on YouTube alone, partnered with former NASA and Apple engineer turned top creator Mark Rober, who has garnered over 20.2M followers across multiple social platforms and over 2.5B views on YouTube alone.
As the irreversible impact of climate change has become more apparent than ever, plastic pollution is a major contributor to environmental harm that needs immediate intervention. Over 300 million tons of plastic is produced each year, and at least 8 million tons of that plastic end up in the ocean yearly (according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature), making plastic pollution the single most widespread problem affecting the marine environment, and has become a major health crisis for the entire planet.
This campaign builds upon MrBeast’s #TeamTrees effort, which launched in late 2019 and focused on planting 20 million trees and to date has planted over 23 million trees and counting. Following the success of this initiative, audiences globally cried for MrBeast to leverage his time, energy, and resources to do something that would change the world. “Just like we did for Team Trees, I want us to dominate the trending tab, and I want every video uploaded that day about the ocean,” said MrBeast. “Because if we actually want to make a dent in this problem, we’ve gotta do something crazy. On October 29th, nothing besides videos about the ocean are allowed to get uploaded.”
In order to spread awareness of this effort, creators are encouraged to create their own #TeamSeas content and post on social media starting today at 1pm PT to officially kick off the campaign. Creators are spreading awareness about the campaign by using the #TeamSeas hashtag across social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch, and more. #TeamSeas is expected to continue until the end of 2021. All of the proceeds raised through the #TeamSeas campaign will be donated directly to the campaign’s nonprofit partners, The Ocean Conservancy and The Ocean Cleanup.
The #TeamSeas effort is one that will create a lasting impact. “With all the division in the world, this feels like something we can all see eye to eye on,” says Rober. “Everyone on the planet agrees that trash and plastic just don’t belong in our beautiful oceans.”
MrBeast recruited his vast international network to join the #TeamSeas movement. Thousands of creators with wide-reaching audiences across the globe — including Hank Green, Safiya Nygaard, MatPat and more — are expected to take part in the campaign. MrBeast also called upon BEN Group, an entertainment AI company known for its deep global creator relationships and custom-built AI, to galvanize the creator community and identify the right creators and audiences who would care about this cause.
Both BEN and sister company, TubeBuddy, were enlisted to help spread awareness of this initiative and drive engagement via their community of 8M+ global creators across all verticals including gaming, beauty and lifestyle — bringing creators of all walks to join together and help make a difference to our world. Leveraging its AI audience similarity app, BEN prioritized highly relevant creators whose audiences have a high affinity and passion to those of MrBeast and Mark Rober, which according to the data would show the most commitment to the cause.
“At BEN, we’ve seen firsthand that today’s creators have the power to make a meaningful impact in the world, and they have encouraged others to make a difference,” said Ricky Ray Butler, CEO of BEN. “MrBeast’s philanthropic endeavors have been inspiring to watch over the years, and he’s become a pioneer in encouraging others to give back to their communities. We’re proud to support him on this crucial effort to clean up our world’s waters.”
For more information on the #TeamSeas campaign, please visit the #TeamSeas website.
