Santa Cruz is home to a growing set of studios and agencies that treat their work as a force for something larger than the next campaign. Mountains Wave GTM, a Santa Cruz County–based branding and go-to-market agency, is one of them — and over the past few years, its partnership with Save The Waves Coalition has become a quiet case study in how a local business can help amplify global conservation work.

Founded by Alex George, Mountains Wave is a certified B Corporation, a 1% for the Planet member, and a resource for SCW startups. The agency helps mission-driven organizations build their brand and go-to-market strategy, bringing AI-native thinking and tooling to work that still leads with craft and story. The agency's identity is stamped right in its name: the mountains and the ocean, the two landscapes that anchor how Alex and his team think about rhythm, balance, and the work itself.

The relationship with Save The Waves began the way most of Mountains Wave's partnerships do, with shared values. Save The Waves is an international nonprofit that protects surf ecosystems around the world, along with the coastlines, communities, and cultures that depend on them — and they are based right here in Santa Cruz. Alex had followed their work for years, and after starting his agency, and becoming a 1% for the Planet member, the agency made Save The Waves one of the primary recipients of its annual 1% for the Planet revenue commitment.

A few weeks later, the Coalition came back with a question: would Mountains Wave be interested in helping relaunch the Save The Waves Film Festival? The agency and its Friends Collective took on the full rebrand in 2024, developing a new style guide, poster system, digital assets, and sizzle reel that supported the festival's shift to a "Film Fest in a Box" model — a format any community in the world can host on its own. In 2025, the second year of the partnership, the festival saw more than 50 screenings in 14 countries across the globe, bringing thousands of conservation-minded viewers together.

Art direction and design by @chase_folio

What started as a 1% for the Planet commitment has since grown into an ongoing partnership. Mountains Wave has volunteered at Coalition-showcased events like the Coldwater Classic, sponsored the 10-year anniversary of the Santa Cruz World Surfing Reserve, and is back on the creative for the 2026 Film Festival. It's happening alongside real momentum for the Coalition itself: a new World Surfing Reserve was dedicated in Puerto Escondido this March, and the Surf Industry Member Association will name Save The Waves its Environmentalist of the Year at the Waterman's Ball in Laguna Beach this July.

*Image courtesy of Save The Waves Coalition*

That work lands close to home, too. Save The Waves has been building an economic case for coastal protection through Surfonomics, a body of work that quantifies the value of surf ecosystems and connects coastal protection directly to tourism, small businesses, and local jobs. That thinking now powers its new Surf Ecosystem Insurance initiative and a Santa Cruz Surf Break Vulnerability study — together earning the Coalition a spot on Fast Company's 2026 Most Innovative Companies for Economic Development list, an award it will accept in New York this May. For a town whose identity and economy are inseparable from its waves, it's the kind of analysis that reframes conservation as an economic conversation as much as an environmental one, and sharpens what's at stake as sea level rise and coastal change accelerate.

Nik Strong-Cvetich, CEO at Save The Waves

“If businesses are wondering how to support the cause, look to Mountains Wave. They came in on day one and treated our mission like their own. They rolled up their sleeves, offered their expertise, and gave their time. Alex showed up at both community events and zoom-box creative sessions. It's a real partnership with real impact, and a good example of how other local business owners can take action.”

"What SaveThe Waves is doing with Surfonomics changes the question from 'why protect this?' to 'how can we afford not to?'” shares Alex. “That reframe is going to matter everywhere, but it matters here first."

The Mountains Wave story is a Santa Cruz story: a founder shaped by the coast, an agency built around its rhythm, and a partnership that now helps protect the very breaks that inspired it. For a community like Santa Cruz Works, it's a reminder that impact doesn't start with a campaign, it starts with what you already believe in, and what you're willing to commit to every year.

For anyone ready to act on that today, Save The Waves is a good place to start. Volunteer at an event, help spread the word about Surfonomics, or think about where your own 1% could go. Learn more at www.savethewaves.org.