Competitive outreach in the 21st century: Why we need conservation marketing

Abstract

a b s t r a c tAddressing impacts from human activities requires the change of current practices. However, reaching a target audience about conservation issues and influencing their behaviour is not easy in a world where people are continually bombarded with information, and distractions are permanently available. Although not typically considered to be part of the conservation science toolbox, marketing techniques were designed in the commercial sector to identify and influence human preferences and behaviour by placing target audiences at the core of the marketing process. It thus seems reasonable that the same marketing principles and tools could and should be used to address pressing conservation issues. In this manuscript, we provide an introduction to the main objectives of marketing and illustrate how these can be applied to conservation and animal welfare issues. To that end we offer two examples: Project Ocean, where a major UK retailer joined forces with the Zoological Society of London to influence consumer behaviour around seafood; and Blackfish, which coupled social media with an award-winning documentary to create a discussion around the welfare of large cetaceans in captivity. Without the ability to influence human behaviour, a conservationists' role will likely be limited to that of describing the loss of biodiversity and the decline of the environment. We thus hope that conservation practitioners can embrace marketing as a fundamental component of the conservation toolbox.

Conservation social science: Understanding and integrating human dimensions to improve conservation

“…Overviews: (McKenzie-Mohr et al, 2011;Verissimo et al, 2011;Wright et al, 2015) Examples: Martinez et al, 2013;Saypanya et al, 2013) Conservation and Development Conservation and development research focuses on the relationship between conservation and/or development processes and related environmental and socio-economic outcomes in different social and ecological contexts at scales ranging from local initiatives to the globe. It aims to understand the conditions that lead to ecological or social success or failure and the features of successful policies or projects.…”

“…Conservation marketing adapts marketing strategies, concepts and techniques to influence the target audience towards the adoption of more sustainable behaviors that benefits the individual as well as society (Wright et al, 2015). The field of research emphasizes the center stage role of the target audience, making sure that the values, perceptions and social norms of this group underpin any marketing campaign (Verissimo et al, 2011).…”

Charting the course for a blue economy in Peru: a research agenda

“…However, by undertaking a more global assessment of seafood campaigns, more could be learned about local and regional successes that may have the capacity to be up-scaled to a national level. Finally, if social marketing and increasing efforts of conservation marketing (Wright et al 2015) are to be successful in achieving the positive changes to seafood consumption they seek, factors linked to general environmental citizenship (Hawthorne and Alabaster 1999), marine citizenship Fletcher 2010, 2012), and public attitudes will also need to be investigated.…”

“…This information could feed into targeted awareness raising campaigns, development of more effective protected area designations or even championing success stories linked to conservation and management success to engender greater public connection with Peruvian seas and coastal areas. Additionally, PPR could support the growing activities associated with social and conservation marketing (Wright et al 2015), which would be of benefit to the efforts currently underway to engender a shift in consumption of the Peruvian anchoveta (see Sect. 2.5).…”

The Kraken in the Aquarium: Questions that Urgently Need to be Addressed in Order to Advance Marine Conservation

“…Resolving these challenges requires more creative solutions to prevent legal or political agreements that grant sub-value access to resources. This is likely to require structured and comprehensive outreach to educate the affected public about the issue and then solicit an environmentally responsible response (see Wright et al, 2015).…”