So I am moving away from my Coke theme for a week because something recently happened that I thought I would get some help on from my fellow marketing superstars.
We have seen a number of Non Profits get involved with SM to some great and perhaps not such great success. As an individual (with by now at least some knowledge of marketing) who has been personally hit by something that I really do not stand for, I thought I would see if we could get 40 marketing brains together and see if we can change something in the world. This something is more powerful than gold in some places.
For those who don't know me, I was born and raised in South Africa, I moved to Australia in 2003. In South Africa it is not uncommon for people to own or be part owner of "Game Farms" (I have since found it is better to refer to them here as Safari Parks as it describes what it is better). Basically a game farm is a piece of land where animals roam freely and live naturally.
My dad is (I think he now was, not sure if he sold his share yet) part owner of one of these game farms. It was the best place on earth! We would go there quite a few weekends a year and you are just forced to relax. My two favourite animals on the farm....well here they are:
Unfortunately these two amazing creatures were killed three weeks ago by poachers who took their horns and sent it overseas. This becomes a major problem for the survival of the species as no longer does my dad have his two rhinos, the world has two rhinos less, and this means with the spike in demand for rhino horn, no breeder is going to bother any more because they spend millions of dollars on research and breading programs just to have the animals killed.
The reason I'm posting this???
Well, how about we look at how we can use SM and our Marketing superpowers to see if we can change attitudes towards this elusive product. No company, no NFP, just between the group, see if we can throw ideas around how individuals armed with knowledge and our SM weapon could make a difference.
I am going to list a number of difficulties we will face:
- The main importer of rhino horn is China, this brings with it obvious language issues
- We have so far learned that the more common SM sites we use in Australia are banned in China
- The poachers are extremely poor people, hence taking risks and doing what they are doing, these people have no idea what an SM site is
- The trade is amazingly big and valuable (some suggestions even go as far as to say that rhino horn may be worth more than gold in some areas)
So, if you know of more difficulties, let me know, but I would also like to hear how you think we could do this, what cool ideas you have to could be effective.
Ross
Great post Ross. I think the best tool to use is exactly what you've done here. Talking about it in an environment that encourages response. You read a lot about these issues but it's not until someone in your online network brings it to your attention that you fully engage and become more aware.
ReplyDeleteSo I think the most effective means is to let messages spread gradually through networks, spreading from person to person, rather than shouted at you from one source.
What a great initiative, Ross!
ReplyDeleteThe obvious answer is Sina Weibo! We heard a little bit about this site on Tuesday from Tourism Victoria. It's the equivalent of Twitter, but you can say a whole lot more in 140 Chinese characters, than in English!
So, which of our group is familiar with Weibo? Could we somehow put together a SM campaign targeting the main market for this product? ANy other ideas?
This is a sad post and worth some consideration. I think part of the beauty of social media is that the power and influence can be built from the ground up. Social media gives us a way to act now and feel that we are being heard and know that others share our passion. I've signed a few petitions over the years and really I just signed them because someone asked me to and I felt like I was helping them out, never really feeling like it was going to make any difference or push any social change. I hope there are some ideas as to what action could be taken. There are people who are passionate about animals and the live trade issue is one great example as to how people used social media as a way of self expression and action.
ReplyDeleteRoss use SM to bring it to the attention of the people who can make a difference - Government, humanity groups etc, to drive awareness of the issue.
ReplyDeleteRather than trying to infiltrate China's black ban on sites, use SM as the tool for knowledge so that a broader audience in a position of power i.e. Aust Gov are armed to take it to the Chinese officials.
Do you know who the other importers are? Do these countries offer a softer target to get to? If so use them as the ground swell to develop a global voice so that China will feel the pressure from more than one source - not dissimilar to the activist against whaling.
Really interesting post Ross. I think you touched on a valuable issue here which is that the people doing this are not aware of SM. And even if they would come across SM it probably wouldn't change them. Most likely they know that this way they'll get money and food and don't even care about the risks. It's a rare and valuable product which means that it's expensive and something for the 'upper-class'. Maybe SM should be used to target the buyers of the product since they are most likely more educated people and would be involved in SM.
ReplyDeleteIt's also harder to change the opinions of adults compared to young people. Therefore maybe a campaign should be launched targeting the youth to be against their parents buying the product (assuming that it's the older generation who is the target market). Reducing the demand should reduce the hunters
Hi Ross, thx for your post. This is the greatest post I ever read since this semester. honestly, I feel sad after reading your post >.<
ReplyDeleteI think that you should try to contact PETA and tell them about your story. They may help spread the message to the world through their social networking sites
or you can try to contact Chinese students clubs around Australia... as I know Chinese students often use REN REN or Weibo. surely some Chinese students are willing to help spread the message on Chinese networking sites.
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Hey all
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments and ideas, there are some real interesting thoughts here. This situation is quite unfortunate and will require a lot of work to be fixed. But I think what is said here, could be some great starting points to start getting the message across, to use our skills as marketers and knowledge of SM to try and change some attitudes around the world.
Ross