The Ogilvy Cape Town Agency created an interesting analysis of a new strategy developed in a social media campaign for our sister organization, the Wilderness Foundation South Africa.

The members of the Wilderness Network, which includes the Wilderness Foundation (South Africa), Wilderness Foundation (UK) and WILD are taking urgent action to address steadily increasing levels of rhino poaching in South Africa. You can support our efforts by signing the Forever WILD petition.

The Forever Wild campaign aims to gather support from the public and various stakeholders to help fight against rhino poaching in South Africa and save the rhino from extinction. “It is only through a GLOBAL campaign and POLITICAL will that we can save this remnant of the dinosaur age – the rhino,” Dr Ian Player–founder of The WILD Foundation.

“Rhinos will be extinct within 10 years due to the escalating illegal international trade in rhino horn. Forever Wild, a non-profit initiative with no budget, wanted to convey how critical the rhino poaching situation is, and get people from around the world to sign their petition that would be presented to the US Congress.

Our insight was that people say they have no time for serious stuff, yet they spend hours on silly online distractions. So we created “YouTube Interventions” – over 60 YouTube clips that were remixed versions of frivolous trending videos (and some classics). Targeting people who actively searched for stupid viral videos, these Trojan Horses forced them to confront the reality of how they spent their time online.

We gained over 300 000 YouTube views, over 11 000 Facebook likes, and petition signatures increased by almost 400%, enough to present a strong case to Congress later in 2012. And all this with $0 spent.”

>>Watch the Forever Wild YouTube Intervention

>>Learn more about the Forever Wild Rhino Poaching Initiative

**Please note: these links contain material which those of a sensitive nature may find upsetting**

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