INTERNATIONAL DAY FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE

 Since 1972, we celebrate the International Day for Conservation of Nature on 18th October. The history behind this date remotes to 16th March 1972.

That day, while he was exiled in Madrid, Spain, the Argentinian general Juan Domingo Perón, wrote a letter to Kurt Waldheim, who was secretary from the UN (United Nations). In that letter the general said:

“it´s been the time to every nation and government to raise awareness of the suicide walk that human had undertaken through the atmosphere and planet pollution, the waste of natural resources, the unstoppable growth of the population and the technology overestimation. Is necessary to revert this situation through an international join action”.

UN reply to the letter set up 18^th October each year as the International Day for Conservation of Nature. The main objective of this initiative is promoting the environmental responsibility for protect and care for, green areas, flor and fauna… which are threatened for many different causes.

In this post we are going to show some marketing campaigns that different brands have been recently promoting. Even though all the companies want to promote different products or services, they have something in common: all of them concern their clients about taking care of our environment and has the objective of make consumers think about the consequences of not protecting nature and worldwide wildlife.

Apple TV: THE YEAR EARTH CHANGED

 

One year after the global lockdown Apple TV launched a documentary named “The year earth changed”. It was produced by BBC Studios, directed by Tom Beard and narrated by David Attenborough. Both, the documentary, and the marketing campaign that went with it shows how nature responses to a human lockdown.

Apple TV posted this trailer as an ad in their YouTube channel on 29^th March 2021 and they told all their subscribers that the documentary would be launch on the Earth Day from that year. They promote the documentary to find out how the planet could be affected by human behaviour.

The main objective of this campaign was to show people how little changes such as reducing traffic or closing beaches some days a year, could had a significant impact on nature. This campaign showed us how humans and wildlife could co-exist and give us hope for the future.

 

P&G: EARTH IT’S OUR HOME

The group P&G (Procter & Gamble) launched this corporative campaign in April 2021. This campaign was named “Small Actions at Home Can Make A World of Difference”.

The campaign wants to concern the consumers about doing more for the planet, for example with the little things we can do at home. The group promote that these actions can make a huge impact in our environment.

This ad was launch to the public with a hashtag (#ItsOurHome), which has a great number of views and posts on social media.

The group also seems compromised with the cause of protecting the planet. In September 2021, the company set a new project to achieve net zero greenhouse gran emissions in all its operations, from material to retailer.

In addition, they main objectives now are:

·       Inspire responsible consumption and drive a positive impact on the environment and society through their leadership brands.

·       Ensure their packaging will be reusable or recyclable globally by 2030.

·       Reuse and refill more bottles by offering an aluminium bottle that can be refill with recyclable pouches made with less plastic (around 60%) than the regular ones.

·       Building consumers trust through transparency.

·       Enhance and protect the forests they depend on.

·       Protect eater for nature and people by their water-saving program.

·       Find smart packaging solutions.

 

MC Donald’s: BILLBOARD HOTELS

This campaign debuted on September 2019 on a billboard in Jarfalla, that is about 20 minutes from Stockholm’s downtown. According to the company, all the franchisees in Sweden had the opportunity to order their billboards and customize the message in the front side. In the one installed in Jarfalla it can be read “Always open”, referring both McDonald’s and the bee hotel.

McDonald’s posted a promo video in English on the Sweden YouTube channel from the company. That video reveals the process to create the billboards. Six permanent and large wooden bee hotels were assembled on the back of sign. On the front, there are a lot of different holes drilled in the words of the message.

According to Chalmers Institute of Technology, there are 274 species of bees in Sweden. Although, more than a 30% percent are expected to decline if we don’t make an intervention. Those are the consequences of big changes in agricultural practices and the growth of urbanization, which one more time are threatening their natural habitats. The good new is that most bees species can adapt to urban habitats, like bee hotels.

 

The fast-food franchise has put effort in other environmentally initiatives in the country, such as install charging station for electronic automobiles in 55 McDonald's locations across Sweden. "More and more people are choosing to travel by electric vehicles, and we want to be a part of this trend by inspiring good choices.", said Christoffer Rönnblad, McDonald's Sweden marketing director.

 

Lacoste: SAVE OUR THREATENED SPECIES

Lacoste left behind its iconic crocodile logo to replace it for 10 threatened species in 2018. This initiative from the brand was launched through a partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The number of polos the company produced for each specie corresponds to the population sizes of each animal in the wild. Clients who buy one of the limited-edition polos (1175 units) would participate in helping IUCN in the fight for conservate wildlife worldwide.

As a part of a three-year collaboration, the campaign was launched again in 2019. On 22^nd May (International Day for Biological Diversity) 10 Lacoste stores across different continents (America, Europe and Asia) and online put the spotlight on some specific species, selling again limited-edition polos related to those animals.

“This is an exciting collaboration which is already making a difference; we are delighted that funding from last year’s campaign is helping to conserve Critically Endangered Burmese roofed turtles in Myanmar, for example,” said Thierry Guibert, CEO of Lacoste.

All profits from the sale of the 3,520 limited-edition polos and other items sold on that day in the ten stores supported IUCN’s efforts to conserve threatened wildlife.

In the last years, we are becoming more conscious of our actions and how they could impact our environment and the wildlife. That’s the reason why so many companies and brands are trying to show their consciousness to their customers.

The main message in all these campaigns is that we could make a better world if we protect it and take care of all our actions, even the small ones.

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

·       EcuRed (s.f.) Día Mundial de la protección de la Naturaleza. Consulted on 15th October 2021. (https://www.ecured.cu/D%C3%ADa_Mundial_de_la_Protecci%C3%B3n_de_la_Naturaleza)

·       Procter and Gamble (s.f.) Environmental Sustainability. Consulted on 16th October 2021. (https://us.pg.com/environmental-sustainability/)

·        Daniel Avery (16^th September 2019): McDonald's in Sweden Converting Billboards into 'Hotels' for Bees. Newsweek Digital LLC. (https://www.newsweek.com/mcdonalds-sweden-bee-hotels-1459333)

·       International Union for Conservation of Nature (16th May 2019): IUCN and Lacoste team up again to insipire support for threatened species. (https://www.iucn.org/news/species/201905/iucn-and-lacoste-team-again-inspire-support-threatened-species)