The California Coastal Commission came to us asking for help in finding a persuasive reason for Californians to purchase a Whale Tail specialty license plate. For the last several years, they had run advertising touting how the $50 license plate “jazzed up” a car’s appearance, and was a badge of how the driver wanted to be perceived. We thought that missed the point. The real insight was in how deeply Californians cared about the ocean. After all, as Californians, we all feel like we live by the coast. And it's this relationship to the coastline that helps define who we are. By repositioning the license plate as a reward for donating $50 to the cause—instead of as a decorative accessory—we could appeal to Californians in a deeper, more emotional way. In other words, they were not just buying a plate, they were helping to protect our coastal culture. The plate expressed the sentiment: “The ocean. It's in our soul.” The campaign launched with a small online effort, directed to a microsite that we designed. We changed the target from people shopping for car accessories to people more inclined to give the cause. Although the campaign was small in scope, it worked. For instance, on the Surfrider Foundation website, we achieved a clickthrough nearly six times the industry average.