Society for Conservation Biology

Human behavior drives all major threats to the environment, yet, influencing it remains a major challenge for conservationists. Inspired by the use of marketing in fields such as health, conservationists have started looking at marketing techniques to help achieve their goals. However, many are still uneasy about relying on the ‘dark arts’ of marketing that are also used to sell products such as cigarettes and alcohol. Moreover, some may feel that conservation ethic is powerful enough without relying on glossy brochures or celebrity-endorsements. However, the current extinction crisis suggests otherwise. 

 

Standing room only at a symposium on conservation marketing at ICCB-ECCB

The Society for Conservation Biology's 2015 International Congress for Conservation Biology and European Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB-ECCB) included for the first time a session fully dedicated to the use of marketing in conservation. The symposium brought together academics and practitioners from the commercial and non-profit sectors to discuss how marketing can best support conservation projects. The topics covered were equally diverse, from wildlife trade and marine conservation, to the use of celebrity endorsements and fundraising. Our goal was to reframe what marketing means in the context of conservation, away from the ‘dark arts’ perception and towards its adoption as a new path to more effective behavior change. The symposium was very well attended, as attendees crammed into the 140-seat room, revealing an untapped interest in conservation and marketing.

To address this demand, and following a successful event last year at the SCB Marine Section International Marine Congress for Conservation (IMCC) in Glasgow, Scotland, emerged the Conservation Marketing and Engagement Working Group (ConsMark). ConsMark has several key objectives. One is to promote the use of marketing techniques and strategies to tackle environmental issues. Another is to improve access of conservation practitioners to marketing tools and build capacity for their effective use.