How Do You Protect Something Most People Will Never See?
Nice to be quoted in this article in the Revelator about the use of flagship species.
Marketing
Unveiling the ‘Beauty Bias’
In the realm of conservation, the fate of many endangered species hinges not only on scientific assessments but also on public perception and support. However, a troubling phenomenon has emerged in recent years – the ‘beauty bias’ – where aesthetically pleasing species receive disproportionate attention compared to their less visually appealing counterparts. This bias has … [Read more…]
Effectiveness of Value-Framing and Message Valence on Audience Engagement
LINK: https://gep.psychopen.eu/index.php/gep/article/view/11181 Changing public behaviour is an essential step for successful conservation, and can be achieved through effective use of message framing. However, its use in the conservation sector is not well-studied. We first performed a content analysis to assess what types of framing styles environmental non-governmental organisations (ENGOs) often employ for their social media … [Read more…]
Rising with the tide
Last week I was featured on the “Rising with the Tide” podcast. It was a lot of fun talking about how marketing can be used to help keep our planet biodiverse, discuss the impacts of Harry Potter on the trade in owls and why pangolins make great vloggers. Have a listen below:
Marketing Bears in Bolivia
This week I was in Tarija, south of Bolivia, leading a social marketing workshop to design an intervention to promote human-bear co-existence in this landscape. I have not had a lot of opportunities to work around social marketing in Latin America, which together with the fact that this is one of the first projects to … [Read more…]
The role of social science in conservation – Mongabay Edition
I had the change to talk to Mongabay.com about the importance of social science in conservation , and more specifically about the use of marketing techniques to influence human behaviours and achieve conservation goals. Have a listen below!
When donors are distracted, flagships matter (a lot) less
NEW RESEARCH! Non-governmental organisations (NGOs) play a key role in biodiversity conservation. The majority of these organisations rely on public donations to fund their activities, and therefore fundraising success is a determinant of conservation outcomes. In spite of this integral relationship, the key principals for fundraising success in conservation are still guided by expert opinion … [Read more…]
Bushmeat, Radio and Evaluation
Fresh of press is a new article in the journal Animal Conservation (FULL TEXT HERE). In it we describe an intervention to reduce demand for bushmeat in northern Tanzania. The intervention was centered around the 1-h radio show My Wildlife – My Community which included 15-min episodes of the radio drama Temboni, designed by PCI … [Read more…]
Even ugly animals can win hearts and dollars to save them from extinction
The Earth is home to millions of species, but you wouldn’t know it from the media’s obsession with only a few dozen animals like tigers and gorillas. This narrow focus makes the most of popular fascination with large and cute creatures. Conservationists take advantage of these nonhuman celebrities to raise awareness about important issues and … [Read more…]
Increased conservation marketing effort has major fundraising benefits for even the least popular species
Just out in Biological Conservation! Check it out here Conservationists often complain that their study species are ignored by donors. However, marketing theory could help understand and increase the profile and fundraising potential of these neglected species. We used linear regression with multimodel inference to analyse data on online behaviour from the websites of the … [Read more…]