Our Kierunek Bałtyk ('Headed for the Baltic') online platform is going from strength to strength. Over the last two summer weekends, we decided to bring our project closer to people.  We wanted to attract the interest of those who were not yet familiar with our idea and to draw their attention to the problems highlighted by Grupa LOTOS through the platform.

'Polaroid frame'

On the closing day of St. Dominic's Fair, which was also the last day of the Solidarity of Arts Festival (August 16th), and during the Tauron Nowa Muzyka Festival in Katowice last Saturday, our special envoys walked around with a 'monidło' frame, featuring the project's logotypes and website addresses, and invited passers-by to take a photo of themselves in the frame. Each picture was automatically printed together with a sticker bearing the project's logo. The pictures were published in the photo gallery of our Instagram profile through a special application. Those interested could also upload the photos of themselves taken with a mobile phone. Overall, we took 250 pictures, got many new fans for our facebook page, and disseminated information on our educational online platform to the public.

The photo gallery can be viewed at: www.facebook.com/kierunekbaltyk and instagram.com/kierunekbaltyk, as well as on our social board at: www.kierunekbaltyk.pl/46/social_media. 

Dead whale on the beach?'

“At around 10am on August 23rd, the body of a marine mammal was washed ashore at the Nadmorski Boulevard in Gdynia. It resembles a giant harbour porpoise” – was the information spread by national and local media after news of the unusual finding was distributed to journalists.

In fact, it was a large spatial form shaped so it would imitate the body of a maritime mammal. It was made by artists from the Academy of Fine Arts in Gdańsk: Marianna Marszałkowska and Marta Mittlener  as part of the Kierunek Bałtyk campaign organised by Grupa LOTOS in cooperation with the Marine Station of the University of Gdańsk’s Institute of Oceanography. The campaign aims to draw the attention of residents, tourists and the media to threats which exacerbate the mortality rate of the endangered species. The hoax produced the expected effect – journalists reported the unusual finding and the attempts to identify the carcass, as well as the request for correction sent by the Kierunek Bałtyk team several hours later. In just two days the beach in Gdynia attracted more than 1,500 visitors, who were provided with information on threats faced by the harbour porpoise and advice on how to help an animal washed ashore. The sculpture will be permanently displayed in Hel, next to the Porpoise House museum.  For more information on the event, visit (click here).

Kierunek Bałtyk is a website (www.kierunekbaltyk.pl) and a facebook fanpage (www.facebook.com/kierunekbaltyk), used as channels for communicating important environmental protection and awareness programmes and initiatives run as part of the Grupa LOTOS Corporate Social Responsibility Strategy. The focus is placed on information concerning the Baltic Sea, as well as day-to-day activities of our key social partners who team up with Grupa LOTOS to implement the environmental projects. The website, apart from news on environmental awareness projects, provides video streaming from a camera installed in the Seal Centre in Hel, a partner of Grupa LOTOS in the 'LOTOS protects the Baltic Sea’s wildlife' programme (www.sledzfoki.pl).

Communications Office, Grupa LOTOS S.A., ul. Elbląska 135, 80-718 Gdańsk, Poland, tel. (+48) 58 308 87 31, (+48) 58 308 83 88, e-mail: media@grupalotos.pl