World Wildlife Fund Canada’s (WWF-Canada) latest campaign aims to highlight the high price Canadian wildlife is paying for biodiversity loss and climate change. Through messages of urgency and action more usually reserved for retail campaigns, the conservation charity aims to stimulate donations and action for nature.
The campaign donation request is reinforced with paid tactics such as social media donation stickers, NFC-enabled stickers on postings and a retail-style rethinking of the donation amounts themselves (e.g., $4.99, $9.99 and $19.99).
Initiative, which led the media buy, says they have planned a full-funnel media strategy that places the retail-focused message in environments where consumers typically see CPG brands or retail offerings, as well as in placements that give greater prominence to the environmental message.
The idea was to appeal to 18- to 48-year-olds, so the organization focused its media plan on digital tactics, as this demo are frequent online shoppers, according to Initiative. The organization has run contextual ads on retail apps and websites such as Amazon, Walmart, eBay, Kijiji and Flipp, with placements typically associated with consumer goods marketing such as YouTube for Action with Product Feeds and Meta Carousel Ads.
The campaign is also supported by OOH and DOOH in retail plazas, forested areas and recent real estate developments, with stickers for users to visit WWF’s website and donate. In addition, spots have been deployed at transportation and retail hubs with heavy foot traffic, such as Union Station and the PATH network in Toronto.
According to Mark Charles, VP of marketing at WWF-Canada, the campaign relies on retail marketing tactics because they are successful in promoting awareness and conversion. “Instead of generating a purchase, we’re using that language to engage people…in a whole suite of ways. This includes testing retail-style price points for donations and offering no-cost ways to make a difference, such as asking people to grow native plants, take part in advocacy and expand their conservation knowledge by joining us [online],” Charles told strategy, Media in Canada’s sister publication.
The campaign also boosts WWF-Canada’s 10-year strategic plan to Regenerate Canada, which was launched in 2021 to expand habitats, reduce carbon in the atmosphere, reduce industrial impacts and, as a result, reverse wildlife loss and combat climate change.
MRM Canada developed the campaign.
