How Advertising Techniques Shape Conservation Marketing Campaigns
Exploring the Power of Advertising in Conservation Efforts
Think of your favorite advertisement you’ve ever seen – why was it your favorite? Do you actually know why? Advertising strategies tap into our conscious and unconscious in order to cultivate emotion and compel us to act as consumers.
Nonprofits rely greatly on marketing efforts as a primary source of how they receive donations, pitch to stakeholders, and raise awareness for the public to support their cause. However, there is a great lack of research on the specific area of conservation marketing – a completely different ball game. Conservation messaging needs to be crafted strategically, drawing on traditional advertising techniques while piquing people’s interest just enough to enable their hero complex and create the desire to help.
Adapting Top Campaigns for Conservation
As I researched more into this topic, I made some fascinating discoveries while analyzing top advertising campaigns like the Dumb Ways to Die and Share a Coke campaigns. Do you remember when these broke the internet? I sure do!
By analyzing these campaigns, I’ve critiqued the advertising techniques used and found a way to apply them through the lens of conservation marketing by crafting my own mock campaigns.
What’s even more interesting is that all great advertising campaigns share the same key element, resulting in my new definition of a successful campaign: ‘when a message reaches a targeted audience in an innovative manner that piques curiosity and fosters a personalized relationship.’
Feel free to read my full paper here to learn more about how this definition can be applied and how it has been used in some of your favorite advertisement campaigns.
Additional Resources
While more research is certainly needed, check out some of these great conservation marketing toolkits and online resources that can guide any NGO or business in crafting successful campaigns around conservation. The even better part? They are FREE!
Here are some of my favorites:
1.) Rainforest Alliance – Marketing Toolkit & Resources
2.) Association of Fish & Wildlife – Marketing Campaign Toolkit
3.) Why We Need Conservation Marketing
Future Projects
In the future, I hope to develop my own version of a complete conservation marketing guide and course to help NGOs and business. If you know anyone who would be interested in collaborating on this future project feel free to message me! If you’re an NGO that needs help crafting a campaign, feel free to contact me as well!
Until next time,
Cassie 🙂
