Integration Afternoon (5 of 7) RSPB Letter to the Future 6 july 2010

Karen RothwellDirector of Marketing

What I’ll cover...

• Brief overview of the campaign• What it integrates• Challenges created by integrated approach• How we sought to overcome them• Were we successful?

An idea…

Climate change and biodiversity targets

RSPB objectives: advocacy, income, brand

Govt. recession responses:pre and post election

I’m writing this now to make sure our children have a chance of growing up in a world worth living in.

Today there’s still time to save nature.

If we act now, our children may yet be able to share their world with sparrows and polar bears, eagles and tigers. There’s still a chance that they’ll inherit a world where the engines of life – the air, sea, rivers and forests – are healthy. Where bluebell woods and rainforests won’t be lost forever.

Yes, I accept that recovery from recession has meant spending billions of pounds – one way or another future generations will have to pay for this. The least we can do is to use this money to create a future they’ll thank us for.

I want governments to invest in a healthy economy and a healthy environment. As well as protecting jobs, I want them to tackle climate change and to protect our seas, countryside and wildlife.

I’m signing this letter to show that I care deeply about nature and the world we are creating for our children. In years to come I hope they’ll be able to see that their world is a richer one because of the action we took today.

I’m hoping that many thousands of people will join me in signing it.

Together we can be a powerful voice for nature.

Yours in hope,

Campaign Timeline

S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M

Staff

Members

Public launch

F2F

GE advocacy

Budget advocacy

Devolveds

Signatures will help show politicians that people care

Organisational development

Membership, brand and getting our ducks in a row

Barriers 1

“...but what’s it’s main objective????”

“...wafty conceptual stuff – we need something specific that we’re likely to win.”

Not invented here.(Silent but loud!)

Barriers 2

• Not on the plan – what can we drop to fit in?• Not on the plan – what does it mean for

current campaign?• Will it be too political and scary for current

members?• Are we in danger of being exploitative of

children?• Will it work? – and advocacy risk of failure

What we did – tangible barriers

Sorted them!• Stakeholder persuasion and consultation – CEO,

Board, key people• Chose Head of Advocacy to lead the campaign• Got agreement to a ‘pilot’ with clear objectives• Conducted market research• Referred to positive Market Research and Pilot

results in subsequent internal conversations

What we did... ctd

• Agreed positive exit strategy for current campaign

• Cleared work overloads ....just• Loads of internal communications – CEO video

launch, f2f presentations by senior sponsors, intranet, emails etc etc etc (but never enough)

• Structured, cross-departmental Campaign Steering Group and delivery team

What counted most?

• Strong, determined leadership• Belief• ‘Can do’ attitude

239,360....... and counting

Reasons to be cheerful – Part 1

• We will produce a White Paper on protecting the natural environment, including a focus on restoring habitat

• We will introduce a new strategy to bring back on target to halt the loss of habitats and species and as far as possible restore biodiversity by 2020

• We will introduce measures to promote green spaces and wildlife corridors in order to halt the loss of habitats and restore biodiversity

Reasons to be cheerful – Part 2

• We will reduce UK greenhouse gases and increase our share of global markets for low carbon technologies

• We create jobs by making Britain greener...• ..EPS for coal, per flight duty, home energy

improvement, increase renewables target, establish Green Bank, no third runway at Heathrow or expansion at Gatwick/Stansted.

412 Parliamentary Candidates

95 MPs

1 Chief Secretary to HMT

Income objectives

• Member appeal beat conservative target – over £250k

• Well received by members• Good conversion rates by telephone• Successful lead generator – peak season is

through summer

Brand objectives

• Highly relevant– spot on for the times• Good demonstration of RSPB as a movement• Scope of RSPB work demonstrated through

the 6 key policy asks• Emotional elements ‘faded’ over time• Pandemic hasn’t happened yet• Integrating Campaign ‘follow-ups’ into

‘normal’ communications is a struggle

What have we learned?

• Remember the Change Curve – and time needed in ‘doubt’ stage

• Strong, positive leadership is essential• One element will tend to dominate