Scratch: CMO Interviews

Ocean Bottle’s Secret to Scaling Impact With 2 Billion Plastic Bottles

Episode Summary

For every bottle sold, Ocean Bottle funds the collection of 1,000 plastic bottles in weight, supporting plastic collection projects around the world. In this episode, Will Pearson, Co-Founder of Ocean Bottle, joins Eric to share how the company has grown from a small Kickstarter campaign into a global brand. Ocean Bottle has collected over 20 million kilos of plastic, the equivalent of 2 billion bottles. Will discusses how a lean marketing team can punch far above its weight, and why, in the water category, the hydration experience itself is the ultimate sustainability strategy. From Ed Sheeran’s tour to collaborations with The North Face, he unpacks how B2B partnerships have become a powerful growth engine for purpose-led challenger brands, proving that purpose and performance can flow in the same direction.

Episode Notes

In this episode of Scratch, Eric chats with Will Pearson, Co-Founder of Ocean Bottle, the brand turning reusable bottles into vehicles for global impact. One of the biggest takeaways from Will’s story is how Ocean Bottle has made impact completely non-negotiable in its business model; every purchase is tied directly to measurable change. Rather than chasing the traditional direct-to-consumer routes, the brand leaned into B2B partnerships as its true growth engine, scaling faster through collaborations like Ed Sheeran’s tour than through paid ads. 

Will also highlights that in a purpose-driven category, the goal isn’t to outcompete others but to grow the category as a whole. Ocean Bottle’s marketing reflects this mindset, relying on storytelling backed by proof, from the Change Collective initiative to transparent reporting on every kilo of plastic collected. Ultimately, the key learning for marketers is clear: purpose isn’t dead; it is evolving. And partnerships are how purpose-led brands grow.

Watch the video version of this podcast on Youtube ▶️: [coming soon]

📚 Chapters:

• 00:00 – Intro & Will’s background
• 03:25 – Challenger brand shoutout: Freaks of Nature
• 04:13 – Ocean Bottle’s mission & impact
• 05:11 – Balancing purpose and profit
• 07:22 – Competition (and why it doesn’t matter)
• 11:12 - Mobilising community for impact
• 12:48 – Launching B+ for leading B Corp brands
• 19:09 – Marketing evolution: from DTC to partnerships
• 22.05 – B2B growth channel (Ed Sheeran & others)
• 23:25 – Lessons learned from 6 years of marketing
• 25:13 – The next stage: scaling from 1M to 10M bottles
• 26:48 – Differentiating through product innovation
• 28:25 – Ocean Bottle’s culture of innovation
• 31:47 – Lightning round (pizza, campaigns, pet peeves)

🖊️Mentioned in the show:

• Freaks of Nature – reef-safe sunscreen brand co-founded by Kelly Slater
• The North Face – Ocean Bottle brand partnership
• Ed Sheeran – Ocean Bottle bottles featured on his tour
• Nike - purpose-led brand reference
• Patagonia – purpose-led brand reference

Scratch is a production of Rival, a marketing innovation consultancy that develops strategies and capabilities that help businesses grow faster. Scratch is hosted by Eric Fulwiler, and he’s joined by Will Pearson, Co-Founder of Ocean Bottle, in this episode.

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Find Will on LinkedIn. 

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