Hope - An Inconvenient Marketing Idea

 I'm posting this in participation with Blog Action Day.  This is, as their site states "an annual event that unites the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day."

The goal is to raise awareness about a certain topic, and centralize everyone's topic on one day.   Bloggers are encouraged to incorporate whatever it is they normally talk about into the theme.  This year's topic is climate change.

So... I wanted to write about hope.... 

No matter what side of the argument you fall on - and this isn't what this post is about - I think we can all agree that Climate Change as a topic has been somewhat on our collective back burner (forgive the pun).  Looking at Google Trends, we can see the search term peaked in early 2007, a few months after Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth opened.  It has since been a fairly flat trend over the last three years - spiking occasionally.  "Global Warming" as a search trend, has an even more pronounced decline since its peak in 2007.

As marketers, we're in the middle of a seismic shift into a conversational, analytic, interactive and content driven practice.  So, it would seem that it's an opportunity for those that are driving the marketing message behind "climate change" to overhaul the message.

Climate Change Marketing As Conversation

I did a quick (very unscientific) look at Tweets on Wednesday afternoon.  I did a search for "Inconvenient Truth" and got alot of results.  I went through the first two pages (so about 30 results).  Of those 33% had nothing to do with climate change - but were rather using the title for other purposes.  Of the other 60%, that were actually talking about the movie, a full 40% of those were posting about it in a negative way (e.g. 'Al Gore's a hypocrite', or arguing against the science).  And, the others weren't really engaged in the conversation - but were rather talking about the movie (e.g. I'm flying across the country watching An Inconvenient Truth).

So, yes, definitely unscientific - and yes, definitely a "convenient" search term (see what I did there).  But search "climate change" - and you'll see.  Okay, maybe not today - as I'm sure that BlogAction Day posts will saturate the trending topics - but I promise you yesterday the trend was the same.  There was no directed conversation. And that which was, seemed like a bad corporate marketing effort with no reaction to the negativity.

Now, in all fairness this is of course a decentralized topic, not a corporate marketing strategy, and there are also great and wonderful things happening in social media as well...  There is the #4change tags and group that are using social media for change (and they are focused on Climate Change for sure).   But, in general, it just seems that "climate change" as a topic has lost it's mojo.

Here's the point: To date, everything we see about Climate Change is FUD. 

Moving Beyond Fear Uncertainty And Doubt

As marketers, we know to be very wary of FUD (Fear Uncertainty and Doubt) as a marketing tool.  It's definitely a double-edged sword.   In our world as marketers, FUD is rarely backed up with scientific evidence - and you are basically trying to frighten your customer into buying your product.  It's a very tenuous way to start a relationship.

One of the main themes of FUD marketing is that you MUST provide details and evidence of the consequences of not buying your product or service.   In order to make it work at all, you've got to be able to stand up and say it proud - not whisper it in a back alley.

Now Climate Change as marketing strategy certainly doesn' t have that problem.   An award-winning documentary, and a Nobel Peace Prize later, and we can all say that the evidence is there.    The problem the message does have - is the other side of FUD marketing - and that's the immediate adversarial relationship it engenders - which makes people uncomfortable from the very beginning.

In other words, compare how you feel about buying that home warranty or your first life insurance policy as opposed to your new iPhone or your first car.

Let's face it, with Climate Change most of the popular messaging and conversation has been "change or die".   And, if we can't agree on whether we can stop it or not, why should we really change anything?   So, from the very beginning the conversation we're having is set up to not be about arguing how to create a better planet - it's about avoiding some Roland Emmerich movie where we watch Manhattan get swallowed up by a Tsunami, and then immediately freeze over.

In the immortal words of George Carlin.  "Save the planet, we don't even know how to take care of ourselves yet. We haven't learned how to care for one another, and we're gonna save the *&* planet?"

Why Not Hope?

Why not take this opportunity to shift the brand positioning and marketing message of Climate Change to one of Hope.  This, in my mind, takes all the argument out of it.  You can argue whether or not the planet is warming because of human contribution (although at this point, with the lines so starkly drawn it's typically not a terribly productive conversation).    What you can't argue, however, is that the world will be better if we start making changes to not spoil the nest we live in.  The planet material is finite. And, no matter how hot it gets, if we continue to mess it up - humans lose.  End of argument.    Okay, now that this is settled, let's build the dream.  Hope has to be the motivation behind the generation behind us.  If it's hopeless, why should they care?

In researching this post, I came across just that very suggestion from Edutopia.  In a blog post called "A Climate of Hope: Helping Children Respond Productively to Global Warming" Denise Kersten Wills asked "How do you make students understand the urgency of the issue without paralyzing them with fear?"  Her post goes on to discuss different programs that teachers are using to give students the power to feel like they actually can change things.

Here's the thing - that post came from 2007.

If we're going to convince the next generation that things are worth saving, we need a huge dose of HOPE in our message - and a re-engagement of the conversation.

We're here to live the dream.  Not avoid disaster.

I don't know about you guys - but I'm on this planet to live the dream - not just defer some Mad Max apocalyptic nightmare where I have to drive around in a souped up Ford Falcon Coupe and kill punk rockers.   Living the dream means just that; we live in a world that's better than the one we grew up in, and we're constantly improving it to make it better than it was yesterday.

It's time to motivate instead of scare the next generation.  Let's teach kids using interactive tools like the Climate Change Kids Site by the EPA.  Let's bring together social media experts and conversation marketing - and talk about hope for the future.   Let's empower teachers and kids with tools that empower them to have conversations and make change.

Just to conclude - I thought I'd throw in a few things that I found during the researching of this post.  These are things that I didn't know before this post -and am glad to know now.  I hope in the future - I don't have to search as hard for these things -but they are rather front and center:

• A blog post in September from Africa - Good News says that planting trees in the Sahara could slow climate change.
• China's President Hu Jintao has continued a series of pledges to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Some scientists think that "natural processes may prevent oceans from warming beyond a certain point, helping protect some coral reefs from the impacts of climate change"

Now, of course I realize that what we do about Climate Change is about MUCH more than a simple messaging, or marketing strategy.  And, I'm not advocating a pollyanna approach to this.  The conversation and what we do about climate change shouldn't be sanitized to the point of making it unimportant or less controversial.

But to me, the idea - and the inspiration for  this post - came from one 11 year old who was watching An Inconvenient Truth.  The movie ended, the lights came back up and he said it better than anyone....

“Why did he wait until the END of the movie to say we can still help?”

Comments

[Aizen]

Anyone doubting climate change please read my blog action day post. It answers 21 claims and objections about climate change. It is also a good place to send your skeptical friends and colleagues — at least as a starting point for whetting their intellectual appetite to learn more (or, as a quick answer to blog comments).

http://enviralment.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/responses-to-questions-objections-on-climate-change/

[Robert Rose]

Patrick,
Thanks for the comment and the extraordinarily informed blog post. Great info. Best of luck.

~rr