ALFA NERO Hosts the Launch of Ocean Bottle’s Philanthropic Club at Cannes

On 19 May 2026, during the Marché du Film at the Festival de Cannes, the iconic 82-metre Oceanco superyacht ALFA NERO played host to a cause close to the water it sails. The yacht became the venue for the launch of Ocean Bottle’s new Philanthropic Club, welcoming guests from the worlds of film, fashion and philanthropy aboard its expansive decks and beach club spaces.

A cause born at sea

There is a neat symmetry to the setting, because Ocean Bottle itself began on the water. Co-founder Will Pearson — who studied engineering before spending a year at sea in the Indian Ocean — was working as a deckhand, aged 21, on a superyacht voyage from the Maldives to Malta when the moment that would define his career arrived. The owners had brought around a thousand plastic bottles of drinking water aboard; his job was to crush the empties, which were then taken ashore and burned on an island.

You’re in one of the most pristine places in the world, one of the most biodiverse habitats, and you’ve got plastic being burned and just drifting off into the ocean.

— Will Pearson, co-founder of Ocean Bottle

Back in London, Pearson met Nick Doman while studying at London Business School, and in 2018 the two founded Ocean Bottle. When the reusable bottle launched the following year, orders arrived from 88 countries.

How it works

The idea is disarmingly simple. The sale of every Ocean Bottle funds the collection of 11.4kg of plastic — the equivalent of around 1,000 ocean-bound plastic bottles — before it reaches the sea. And the collecting is done by people: in coastal communities, collectors gather plastic and exchange it for money or digital credit that can be spent on essentials, from healthcare and school tuition to microfinance, lifting some incomes by as much as 60 per cent.

The totals have mounted up. Ocean Bottle says it has funded the collection of more than 24 million kilograms of ocean-bound plastic, supported over 8,300 collectors across more than 400 communities, and, since 2019, helped prevent more than a billion bottles from reaching the ocean. A certified B Corp, made from at least 65 per cent recycled materials and carrying a ten-year guarantee, it was named Reusable Water Bottle of the Year at the 2025 Outdoor Innovation Awards.

At home on the water

For all its London roots, Ocean Bottle has always been most at home at sea. It was the Official Bottle Supplier of The Ocean Race 2022–23, the round-the-world offshore sailing race — a partnership that funded the collection of some 4.5 million single-use plastic bottles’ worth and produced a commemorative edition sold at the race’s stopovers. An evening aboard a superyacht at Cannes, then, was less a departure than a homecoming.

A fitting stage

And few yachts make a more striking stage than ALFA NERO. Delivered by Oceanco in 2007 with interiors by Alberto Pinto, the 82-metre motor yacht is best known for the aft-deck infinity pool that rises on hydraulics to become a helipad, and for the sweeping sun decks and beach club that open onto the sea — the spaces that carried the evening’s guests.

None of it happens without the crew. ALFA NERO is looked after by a professional team of 26, and it was they — under the yacht’s captain — who turned her decks and beach club into a venue for the night, keeping the evening running as smoothly as the cause deserved.

Launching the Philanthropic Club

Hosted by Ocean Bottle with its collection partner CleanHub, the evening marked the debut of the Philanthropic Club, bringing together guests from the worlds of film, fashion, business and philanthropy in support of the brand’s mission to stem the flow of plastic into the ocean. Set against the backdrop of the Festival de Cannes, it paired one of the film world’s most glamorous moments with a message about protecting the water it plays out beside.

For a yacht whose element is the sea, it was a fitting cause to raise a glass to.