the rspb has a new logo – have you noticed it on the rspb website?
it’s been long-heralded and it has finally arrived and it’s…well it’s…almost exactly the same as the old one.
the main change is that the letters, r, s, p and b, are now in lower case. that’s very trendy. i like that a lot. i’m thinking that i might become mark avery too.
the rspb has also launched its new campaign and new strapline – giving nature a home. giving nature a home seems to start with asking you and me to do things in your and my back gardens and also to support the rspb doing things on a bigger scale. this seems fine to me as a starting point although the urgent need these days is, in my opinion, to influence governments (there are several) across the UK (sorry, uk) to stop getting things wrong on a big scale. a major role of ngos with mass memberships right now has to be to exert political influence.
i can imagine that this is where the rspb is going with this campaign and clearly a challenge is to engage more of the public in order to increase that political influence. so although the immediate impression that ‘giving nature a home’ makes on me is that it is a bit parochial, if it brings in lots of new rspb members then it is fine with me. And I would be the first to say that I am not a ‘typical’ rspb member – are you?
Your first chance to see an rspb advert on ‘giving nature a home’ is between 2010 and 2020 this evening in the ad break for Harbour Lives (whatever that is – sorry, harbour lives). My advice is do the opposite of what you normally do when you record a tv programme – skip through the programme and watch the adverts.
[registration_form]
Having been a member of the RsPb for over 40 years, man and boy, I’m probably on the cusp of the curmudgeonly percentile. But I’ll keep my cynicism on a short leash. The rSPb carries out some fantastic work and it would be churlish in the extreme to blunder on about ‘style over substance’. Take the Birds Without Borders project that was launched not too long ago, just what’s needed, I think we’d all agree (and speaking of ‘without borders’, there’s the new logo). Can it be less than a decade since the rspB put together the Homes for Wildlife project? Surely that’s an initiative that can be built upon… oh, hang on a minute…
Graeme – many thanks.
With £5 Billion [not million!] spent each year in your gardens it seems the approach is very small if the RSPB were trying to tap into this massive sum. Read about it in the September issue of ‘Birdwatch’. On sale at the Bird fair.
its all bout gettin down with the kids innit ?!
Giving nature a home does seem a little soft – no ‘fight’ or voice or force …. it might even be called wet. The accompanying materiel also seems rather middle class – which disappoints me
Saying that – what the organisation is doing seems on a good tack at the moment …… its grand to see a couple of cases going to the Eu court
Maybe the ‘good cop – bad cop’ approach is the way to go …. But it is the ‘bad cop’ that will win the hearts of the youth and should be brought to the front
I voted for the one that at least looked like it could be turned into a radical-looking raptor. Obviously too radical.
Jane – that’s democracy for you!
Hey, Mark, I now see where I have been going wrong: I have been trying to log into the RSPB Community where I have met friends over the last few years, because the RSPB is the organisation I joined.
I must now look for the rspb to meet with my friendz and discuss the burdz we know and love!
R(r)uth – Welcome! I expect they’ll all be there waiting for you in their lower cases – slightly befuddled but still loving birds (and other wildlife)
interesting changes for an organisation that will always struggle to make itself understood to all when it was an organisation that fought for birds it was backed by members all with a similar interest in birds now it is an organisation that fights for nature (and I don’t disagree with that) it is backed by people interested in nature but having individual views on single issues within that wide field so we end up with complaints that the rspb is pro windfarms or arguments that the rspb is anti windfarms etc wez has picked up about the eu complaint but i suspect very few of the membership actually know things like this are going like ruth i also wish i could get back into the community forums though
I agree with Wez, nature needs ‘radical’ but not just to attract the young. Yes, wildlife is the future of gardening, and no doubt there will be more opportunities to purchase wildlife ‘homes’ from the RSPB brand & catalogue. But surely the biggest conservation NGO in the EU has missed a great opportunity to turn membership into serious political gain: Multi-disciplinary input, democratic involvement from an array of ready-made, supportive nature enthusiasts from education, economics, food…so many sectors where systemic change in ‘values’ and action is needed to ensure nature is protected and conserved in daily decision-making, and despite whether or not absolutely everyone gives a damn.
Ginny – maybe we should give it a while and see what happens? I’ll be interested to see what the TV advert this evening and over the next few weeks will look like.
I am inclined to agree that the new strapline ‘giving nature a home’ does sound a bit parochial, but it’s an improvement on the last one, it may grow on me.
I am very pleased to see the rspb investing in a tv advertising campaign, long overdue in my opinion, I just hope its not wishy washy. As far as raptor conservation is concerned, we need a hard hitting campaign, one that pulls no punches and tugs on the heartstrings of joe public, e.g. the story of bowland betty or alma the eagle would be a good start.
It’s a shame subliminal advertising is illegal, how about an image of a hen harrier (with or without range rover) every prince harry appears on the box ? or even a badger every time Sir Les pops up ? 🙂
Joe W – many thanks – made me smile!
i suppose it depends on your interpretation of ‘home’.
if you look at home as the eco part of ecology (derived from the (G)greek ‘oikos for ‘house’) and you think about people understanding their place and role in the inter-dependency of species in their environment, then it doesn’t feel too parochial
on the other hand, if people engage with nature and nature conservation by first thinking about the wildlife around ‘their home’ then i’d buy parochial gladly as a route to creating a groundswell of support for nature conservation
(M)mark, i’d like to say that the thinking behind the lower case letters in the new logo was inspired by how i remember you signing off emails “MArk” – but i can’t, so i won’t 🙂
jonny – good to hear from you. Yes if you want the ordinary man in the street to do a Greek course then it’s perfectly clear, I agree. The logo is fine and the strapline and new campaign are fine provided 1) they work and recruit lots of people and 2) the rspb doesn’t stay too much in my garden when I want it striding through Whitehall righting wrongs and making progress. And I’m sure it will.
I understand that’s the intention, but surely Jonny, you can also see there’s cause for concern. How many opportunities are there to spend this kind of money on a campaign? We need to tip the political playing field in favour of habitats/sustainability. Most RSPB members are already converted, no? And I find it hard to believe that many Members still feel bird conservation can happen in isolation from the food chains and habitats to which birds belong. RSPB is already the largest conservation NGO in the EU. Do they really need to target raised revenues for buying more land, eploying more staff? Surely, there’s a dire need to look at how existing Membership may influence society where there are always going to be some people who really don’t care. Why not go straight to the heart of what may be wrong with education, economics, the big issues, because time is running short and we have a current gov administration which is almost the antithesis of what is required at the top.
Ginny – great comment! Thank you.
Lets see if the RSPB now that it encompasses everything in the world can solve the problem of animals as diverse as Seals to pets and other wildlife testing positive to BTB.
Somehow think when it matters they are up a gum tree,certainly they have been a complete failure with raptors this past couple of years,my suspicion is they do not want to upset a lot of their supporters.If so how weak is that.
Dennis – you clearly have lost a lot of faith in the RSPB. I think that’s a shame – in my opinion they are still the best of the major UK conservation NGOs. I look forward to grouse moor owners, including Richard Benyon, being sent ‘Give hen harriers a home’ leaflets.
I am now more or less past caring about capitilisation or otherwise, as it’s clearly a losing battle, but I do think it’s a pity that sometimes it destroys comprehension. Recently I read about something that affected some species or other “and common gulls”. For the life of me I can’t work out whether the writer meant that it affected Larus canus, or a ranges of species, including e.g. L. ridibundus, L. argentatus et al.
Peter – that’ll be the Mew Gull then?
Feel sure I am in a minority of wanting the RSPB to stick to birds,after all that has worked very well for over a 100 years I think.
Fact is whatever anyone says every hour RSPB staff spend on other wildlife is one less hour spent on bird protection and there is plenty to be going on with to sort out why birds are declining,getting persecuted.If anything they need to beef up those efforts not let them get watered down.
The people at the top in my opinion are letting all the great staff and volunteers down.
Yes I have lost quite a bit of faith in them but reading the RSPB forum there are quite a lot further down the line in thinking that they are spending money in wrong places,hope the advert gets lots more members because it will need to so as to cover the cost,had a letter last week which I suppose all members got but my guess was it cost a third of a million £s,did it pay for itself?.
Dennis, I think you are mis-understanding the objective. The RSPB needs to increase membership and support to continue to be effective. These are financialy difficult times for all in the charitable sector and threats to wildlife, including birds, have never been more intense and serious. Government cuts have hit hard, grants have been removed and the environment is close to the bottom of their list of priorities, indeed its protection is seen as a block to development and ‘progress’. The RSPB has researched how it can a gain more support and identified a key blockage – the public regard the RSPB as an organisation for keen birdy types and many do not know that much of our wildlife and birds are in serious decline. There are a huge number of people out there who do not know that the RSPB manage land for nature and that all are welcome to visit and enjoy nature on their reserves. By creating links with these people and gradually encouraging them to become involved in nature and bird conservation then RSPB can increase its support and become more effective in conserving birds and habitats and other important species within those habitats. I don’t believe focus is being lost at all and we should all encourage our friends and relatives to watch the adverts and to connect with nature and to join the RSPB to try and save what we have left here and across borders.
Barry – well said.
“Government cuts have hit hard, grants have been removed”
Does that mean that the amount of involuntary taxpayer support for rspb has fallen? What do they get from wind subsidies, and RPA? I think we should be told.
Barry,of course your assumption is correct but they are already down this path someway,they have been beavering away at it sometime.Where your assumption could be wrong is that successful companies find ways of looking after loyal customers or members while gaining new ones.The RSPB could end up worse off if for every expensively gained new recruit they lose two loyal birdy types that were inexpensively kept as members very cheaply by DD payments.
This new rspb system is very risky and maybe the only ones staying loyal in future could be the dog walkers using rspb sites to let their dogs off the lead and have a run causing havoc amongst all wildlife.
Dennis – it is clearly a risk. I’m sure lots of people have thought about it hard. And of course if they lose a few grumpy old supporters (surely not you nor me?) but recruit two new shiny active zealots (in other words the opposite scenario to the one you suggested) then the RSPB will be laughing all the way to the bank – and that means that wildlife conservation will have more resources.
We’ll see. I would guess there are lots of fingers and toes being crossed in Sandy because, as you say, this is a risk. As someone who paid off their mortgage when kicking king won the Cheltenham Gold Cup (2005) I can quite sympathise with the taking of risks provided they are well thought through.
It seems an odd campaign for the rspb to launch. I’m not even sure who they’re trying to reach out to. How many readers of this blog either have a “wildlife” friendly garden anyway or at least a nice green bit of countryside not to far away from them. I look out my back window and nose around the gardens neighbour a) Norton bike parts, tubs of oil here/there/everywhere and a Caterham resting on bricks, neighbour b) who’s paved over his back garden to park his cars, even though the front garden is already paved, neighbour c)decking all over the garden or neighbour d) who’s an elderly couple, entice birds to their garden have a lovely pond etc, which of the above will join the rspb to increase their coffers/political clout? Well none probably, the one who has some sort of interest in wildlife (d) isn’t interested in joining the RSPB as “they’re too political these days”, their words not mine…..meanwhile I watch some swifts overhead from my garden and I haven’t even donated any monies to the rspb.
Sorry to keep commenting and really never thought it would ever happen but logic tells me if I want to support other wildlife rather than birds then I will pay my sub to those organisations.On top of that the RSPB will never listen to what myself and others of similar thoughts say while we moan and pay our subs so the obvious answer is not to renew sub when it is due.Sad but that is how the world the rspb inhabits works.I have said all my life if you cannot change something then use their system to your own advantage.
I wanted my sub to be used for birds ie,bird protection,re-introductions,increasing numbers of species in decline etc and of course I understand there would always be debatable issues they are moving the goal posts miles away from when I joined or am comfortable with.Sincerely hope they get two young bright sparks as replacement which will at least prove they are right.
Dennis – you keep commenting! Many thanks.