Africa Creative DDB

The Last Pororoca

Vivo, Telefônica Brasil
Brazil

The Challenge

Vivo, in partnership with ISA (Socioambiental Institute), created a campaign rooted in environmental urgency and cultural storytelling. The brand brought global surfing icon Gabriel Medina to the Amazon to surf the endangered Pororoca, a natural wave phenomenon vanishing due to climate change. The campaign faced the creative challenge of translating a disappearing natural event into a national call to action. By leveraging Medina’s popularity and aligning with the upcoming COP30 climate summit in the Amazon, the initiative merged entertainment, purpose, and news value. The results were immediate and impactful: the stunt generated wide media coverage, trended on social platforms, and placed the Amazon’s climate threats in the national spotlight. The campaign shifted the sustainability narrative from abstract discourse to emotional reality, successfully positioning Vivo as a future-facing brand with a meaningful environmental agenda.

The Solution

The creative idea was to turn the disappearance of a natural phenomenon—the Pororoca—into a national symbol of urgency and environmental action. Vivo invited world champion surfer Gabriel Medina to surf the endangered wave deep in the Amazon rainforest. It was more than a surf stunt; it was a poetic collision of culture, sport, nature, and technology. The idea defied boundaries by taking an Olympic athlete out of his comfort zone to connect with Brazil’s most powerful ecosystem. It sparked surprise, media interest, and emotional engagement while visualizing the brand’s purpose: a future only possible with a living Amazon. This wasn’t about showing a problem—it was about feeling it. Surfing the “Last Pororoca” reframed sustainability in a deeply Brazilian and emotionally resonant way, creating a striking and memorable symbol that captured the public’s imagination and gave rise to Vivo’s new platform.

The Results

978%
Surge in 'Pororoca' Google searches
500M
Impressions
10M
Views

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