Wilder Future

The Context

With 800,000+ members across 46 trusts and 2,300 nature reserves, The Wildlife Trusts is the UK’s largest voluntary organisation dedicated to conserving UK habitats and species.

Despite a century of great work and immense credibility, they’d taken a backseat in the public’s consciousness and were suffering from a lack of relevance.

They needed to create a unifying ambition that tied all their fantastic work together, giving this household name a much needed refresh and providing a sharp focused direction of travel for the future.

97%
The percentage of lowland meadows and the wildflowers, insects, mammals and birds they supported that have completely disappeared Since Grahame put pen to paper.

The Opportunity

At the same time, the UK had been named as one of the most nature depleted countries in the world and, to make matters worse, our departure from the EU meant the scant legislative protection wildlife did have, would be lost.

Environmental issues can often feel distant and unfamiliar to a broader audience, but this was quite literally happening on our doorstep, in our back gardens and along our favourite walks.

We had a prime opportunity to tap into shared values and galvanise the general public, turbo-boosted by a sense of urgency.

The Strategy

Focusing on the problem wasn’t enough. Though it was important to remind people of what we were losing, people don’t react positively to bleak, guilt-inducing or preachy messaging. Instead, our message needed to remind people what they loved about UK nature - tapping into nostalgia and shared experience. It also needed to be backed up by small, achievable solutions to evoke hope and give a clear role to the supporter.

We needed to forge a new, diverse and progressive vision of our wildlife and its future, ultimately uniting new audiences in collective action.

The Campaign

Our ‘Wilder Future’ campaign, branding and cohesive comms strategy united The Wildlife Trusts; giving them a platform to promote a forward-facing, hopeful and, most importantly, engaging narrative to a multi-generational audience.

And by utilising a well-known story that’s stood the test of time as an epitome of British wildlife, we reminded the public of what we stand to lose, using nostalgia and some familiar voices to inspire action.


Making it Famous

We took inspiration from Hollywood. After all, they know how to draw a crowd of all ages by reimagining classic children’s books, such as Paddington Bear and Winnie the Pooh.

Like any Hollywood movie, we teased the launch with film posters up and down the country, before releasing our ‘trailer’ with over 125,000 screenings in 500 cinemas across the UK.



190
Pieces of media coverage with a potential readership of 59 million
7k+
New member sign-ups at a cost of £80 per sign-up
60%
Engagement rate

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Wilder Future

We re-imagined The Wind In The Willows in 2019. The product was a far cry from the nostalgic, pastoral haven of Kenneth Grahames original tale, revealing the damage we've done to British wildlife.

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Don't Panic

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