I think that the RSPB TV advert is a welcome gamble by the RSPB – I’m sure they’ve done lots of research to make it less of a gamble but it’s still a gamble. Rumour has it, though I haven’t checked, that it’s a £2m gamble.
What would a ‘big win’ look like if this gamble pays off? I guess that the RSPB’s membership would start to increase rather than decrease and the new members would bring both lots of money to the RSPB, which could be spent on nature conservation, and lots of extra clout with governments across the UK. I hope that the new brand which includes this TV advert achieves both of those things for the RSPB.
The RSPB’s membership has fallen a bit, about 1% over the last couple of years – hardly something to be wringing ones hands over in a bad recession, but an unaccustomed position for the charity to be in. And in contrast to the progress made by the National Trust (once a conservation organisation but now barely so) in its time under Dame Fiona Reynolds.
But, let us remember, the advert doesn’t ask us to join, doesn’t ask us for our money, it doesn’t ask us for anything (which is one thing that makes it quite appealing). What it does do is to persuade us to watch and then surprises us that this is the RSPB talking to us. ‘Gosh! I never knew they were interested in all wildlife/so nice/cared about gardens/cared about children’ one is expected to say.
What the advert doesn’t do is appeal directly to grumpy old birders (I’m not grumpy, but I am a birder). There are so few grumpy old birders in the real world that this doesn’t matter too much – but it matters a bit as we birders are the natural support group for the RSPB (even if we don’t all act as though we are) and it would be odd indeed if the RSPB stopped appealing to its most obvious audience.
So grumpy old birders have to bite their lips, swallow hard and go with the flow and hope that the RSPB will gain the support of lots of new people who can be turned into grumpy old birders over time.
My nagging doubt about the advert stems from the fact that it is ‘the’ advert – not ‘one of the’ adverts. Yes, I can see the link and the path from caring about birds (oops – all wildlife) in your garden to caring about all wildlife in farmland, the oceans and in rainforests, but it is a leap. If you promote the message, even unintentionally that nature conservation can be done perfectly well in your garden then you are selling short the need for nature reserves (some of which might be re-wilded ones) and policy change. And that is an even bigger risk if you change your strapline to ‘Giving Nature a Home’ at the very same time.
You are selling personal individual action as the solution to a lot of problems that will require collective societal action – which means political action. I am just a little bit worried that the type of member and supporter attracted by this advert will be less motivated to write to their MP or to go on a march than some (not all – crikey, not all!) of the RSPB’s existing membership.
The obvious solution to this would have been to have another couple of adverts perhaps. How about one on nature reserves which points out that the RSPB is giving nature a home on its nature reserves? And another asking governments to do things that make sure that nature has a home to go to in our fished oceans and farmed countryside? I’m not sure how much more this would have cost, or how many fewer times the adverts would have appeared for the same amount of money, so I don’t know how daft an idea this really is.
If you have one advert, saying one thing, that you designed and paid for, it’s fairly reasonable for the world to imagine that that is the image that you want to promote to the world. And the message from the advert is certainly one of helping nature find a home in your garden. How many of those enraptured by the advert will turn into committed nature conservationists, I wonder? Well, we will see, but it will take a while to see.
When you go to the RSPB website you will find much less mention of international work – fewer photos of rainforests etc – that’s interesting too. There is this really, really good video – I liked that a lot. But the RSPB website looks a bit more fluffy and a bit more like a lifestyle organisation and a bit less like a nature conservation organisation. I’ll be watching this like a hawk (I like hawks).
I wish the RSPB well with its gamble. I like a good punt. So, RSPB, just make sure you give government a good kicking now and again and I don’t really care what you put on the TV. And, to be honest, I haven’t yet seen the advert on TV since watching out for it specially on night one – until there’s some football on ITV I may not see it ever again.
Did you not know that the RSPB membership had dropped in the last two years?:
2009 1,060,273
2010 1,076,112
2011 1,096,015
2012 1,090,219
2013 1,085,037
[registration_form]
I recall visiting Martin Mere WWT one busy weekend, getting out of my car in the packed carpark and muttering something about “bloody day trippers” just as some Top Brass walked past. One winked knowingly and said, “Yes, but look at all the money that these day trippers bring. It pays for all the conservation work on the reserve”. I saw his point. The same thing must happen at Brockholes LWT.
Will all these projected new members (hopefully spurned on by the TV adver)t help to fund nature conservation in the future ? Cynical old me, and the RSPB definitely hope so…
As regards membership figures, I wonder how many of the 800,000 plus members of the Wildlife Trusts are also members of the RSPB`s 1,085,037. Do the RSPB think that they can poach membership off the Wildlife Trusts ? Perhaps both organizations have reached saturation point ? The figures never seem to rise dramatically year on year do they ? Another poll please Mark..
An unsurprising sensible analysis. I did not vote in your poll as I felt I had a sort of a vested interest having seen the advert some time ago as a member of the RSPB Wales Advisory Committee. Like you I hope it will be the first of many dealing with the wide range of things the RSPB offers.
What grumpy old birders (that includes me) fail to realise is that we need to widen and substantially increase the support of the population if we are to even chip away at the continued declines of our British Wildlife. Leaving it just to birders grumpy or otherwise would be a disaster.
There will always be things you do not agree with in any organisation but with RSPB they get most things right, they have real influence with Government and working with the other NGO’s is our only hope.
I find it hard to see why anyone passionate about turning round the declines of our wildlife would not join RSPB or any other of our NGO’s. Come on give them all the support we can otherwise things cannot improve.
I managed to catch it between ‘Big bang theory’. Yes, a very scientific programme. not! As your mind is just waiting for the second part and not really wanting to watch the adverts it may be a bit of a shock, even more if you knew you were talking about £2 million! The money put into my series of children’s books would be better spent as it would run into a TV series and be read by millions running for tens of years not just the higher class of people the advert is aimed at.
A great blog Mark and some very (VERY) good points and like you, I am now in a position to praise and criticise now. However, in this case I am quite happy to defend the society and lay the blame (if you can call it that) at someone else’s door.
It is now more than five years since I left Wildlife Enquiries and it was a good time before that when the BBC launched Springwatch (even more so if we consider its predecessor, Bird In The Nest with Peter Holden and Bill Oddie). I am not sure if the BBC wanted to brand the Natural History Unit as a conservation entity but that certainly happened eventually, as the vehicle to drive the website. It would be churlish to say this has been a bad thing because Springwatch has driven conservation from grass roots (nest boxes) upwards but a part of me still feels that this was unfair because the BBC NHU had the funds and media clout to drive conservation…and so it has been. The downside has been that people really are growing up to believe that conservation can be just as well served by putting up insect houses in the garden, especially when the coalition has stealthily introduced culls (and doesn’t listen generally to conservation concerns) and the kind of things that once would have taken a monumental campaign to get across. In modern speak, the conservation initiative to promote and introduce marine sanctuaries has been an ‘epic fail’ and that is just one example. The RSPB has not been out of touch so much as having the carpet ripped out from beneath it and I see the ad campaign as the only logical move to relaunch the initiative…something that could take years.
I agree with much of what you say Mark.
There is also a video about the making of the ad here http://vimeo.com/69697956 if people are interested.
The thing that worries me most is that there is a big leap for many from caring about the world your children will inherit and generally being ‘green’ (recycling etc) to caring about nature conservation and biodiversity. But that is a journey the RSPB needs to take its future supporters on.
The National Trust is doing very well – and it has attracted a huge number of family members. But you only have to go an NT site to see hundreds of families having picnics, throwing frisbies etc etc. Basically, the NT is giving people something they want and they are joining on the back of it. They don’t join per se for the work the organisation does though propbably get a warm feeling on the back of joining knowing they are supporting too.
The RSPB manage sites for wildlife conservation so it is far harder to find sites for this kind of engagement and they have far fewer sites to start with.
So the journey will need to rely more (though not exclusively) on persuading people to support the work becasue of the good that the RSPB does.
And that is a harder proposition.
So, the advert is a gamble. But it seems like absolutely the right gamble to take. Better to try and fail than watch the organisation slowly decline.
The RSPB employs scores of keen birders, both at HQ, in the regions and on reserves. Alongside our major brand work for the past few months a small team of us have been working hard to be more relevant to birders. We set up a twitter account for birders (Please follow us @rspbbirders) from which key birding members of staff are tweeting breaking news such as the breeding little bitterns at Ham Wall and some of the big investigations stories. Our presence at the Birdfair this year is going to be very different to anything before and very birder friendly. We have a great free give away and are hosting the inaugural RSPB Birders lecture – this year the much acclaimed ‘Pushing the Boundaries’ by Martin Garner and Tormod Amundsen on Friday 16th August 4.15 in the main events marquee (500 seats – all welcome). This is followed by a reception thanking birders and celebrating birding – with free Black Grouse Whisky cocktails. We hope to see you there Mark!
Mark,
Eloquently put. I think many of us have tried to say this, but not managed your ‘old birder/potential new member’ balance.
Have you had much feedback regarding the GNaH website?
Regards, Graeme
I am a grumpy birder – mainly because so much wildlife is declining – and I love it. My teenage kids commented on it positively to – and they’re not interested in wildlife. So that’s job done as far as I’m concerned!
One of the things I like is recycling. For what it’s worth, here’s the response I gave when asked “What did you think of the advert, Steve?”
“I’m not in the target group nor a producer of gripping commercials, so my views on the advert itself probably aren’t all that helpful “, I said.
“However….
It’s a bit of a curate’s egg. I like the fact that it shows a need to do things and that doing something positive can make a difference. However, apart from the nicely sinister overtone at the start, it’s all too twee. Millions of people are going to see the thing and think that a little bit of backyard offsetting is all that’s needed ‘to give wildlife a home’ and go right ahead and tarmac their front garden, build that extension and not worry about the loss of that local allotment site with all the sparrows because little Dorothy has made a nestbox. It’d be interesting to know what the alternative pitches were when the advert was being devised.
It’s also difficult to know whether the money that went into the advert might have been spent more effectively – Viral videos anyone?
Could something have been done that actually got across the State of Nature message as well as promoting RSPB. e.g. Grandad on the farm with little Tommy, 20 years ago. “Once there were skylarks all round here, Tommy m’boy”. Tommy grows up and takes over the farm. Does his HLS. Hey presto! One, small positive step, emphasising the need for habitat and ongoing land management. Grandad would be proud. The larks ascending! And Kerr-ching on the membership front!
But someone needs to convey to senior bods at RSPB that when the time comes for State of Nature II – there needs to be one collective voice for nature. That’ll be in the RSPB’s best interests too.”
I am left wondering why there was such a disconnect between the State of Nature “call to arms” and the RSPB membership drive around the advert/new slogan.
As I said, I like recycling. Re-use and reinforcement are even better – but sometimes neglected.
I am lead to understand that adult membership of the RSPB has declined markedly since 2008, but that this has been masked by increases in junior membership, perhaps in part due to memberships being provided as birthday and Christmas gifts by relatives.
Many of us felt that cold selling of memberships door to door would not produce lasting memberships and I think that this has now been accepted, at least in part, as the case.
Mark,guess I am a grumpy old birder and proud of it.
Guess also my reading of those figures of membership will also be grumpy and controversial but genuinely what I feel and probably the reason that myself and others are going.About 2/3 years ago it seems to me two major changes at the top of rspb took place and without consulting the million membership changed policy completely in my opinion.
It is interesting although perhaps not connected that membership was on a upward trend.
I was brought up on the saying if it is not broke leave it alone.
Welcome return to your thought provoking blogs Mark, yes I voted because you asked and yes I was a member for around twenty years and I am a potential member after a healthy break.
Ever a realist, there does appear to have been a political shift away from holistic conservation to building biodiversity and or promoting garden benefit for wildlife. I appreciate that the vast majority of the public have other worries to contend with to be interested in lobbying MPs or wrestling with the planning system etc. Perhaps it’s a good alternative to Government ensuring SSSIs / Natura 2000 sites are in favourable condition status. The NGOs joining in, intentionally or otherwise in their attempts to interest the general public in wildlife also helps Government to help developers and agri-industrialists continue to pick off the areas they covert. By promoting compliance rather than championing or challenging they still collect the crumbs from Defra schemes and mitigation funds for short term biodiversity building projects.
If we garden for wildlife there’s no need for Natural England to safeguard SSSIs / Natura 2000 sites or enforce when deliberate damage is done by publically subsidised agri-industrialists. I’d like to think this wasn’t on the RSPB advert agenda, but politics is a devious species.
The State of Nature was indeed a call to arms as Steve Whitbread suggested, but there is no banner to rally to, no charismatic leader emerging supported by a coherant and collaborative movement (a bit like party politics at the moment, with the s** the state of the nation approach, MPs for a pay rise). Iolo for PM?
Mark
Interesting post and comments. I want to pick up on your observation that whilst inspiring personal action is a Good Thing, strong social and political action is necessary to tackle many of our environment problems.
The advert is part of a campaign, and judgements on its success are better based on knowledge of the campaign objectives.
To grow support for an organisation you must establish a relevence to a wide constituency. If Nicholas Ridley had not made public access a primary purpose of the Forestry Commission, there would have been less opposition to the proposed sell off recently.
Building a wide group who experience a benefit from the organisation will protect it from future threats to that organisation’s work. You can encourage this connection with TV adverts, but I think there are big difficulties in establishing social or political change through them. As the Chumbawamba lyric goes:
“TV tells us what to be, what to say and what to do, how to act and how to lie, but never question why.”
I hope the RSPB build supporters from the advert, but I hope the campaign it is part of will also have clear objectives for achieving social and political change on the environmental front and there will be actions in the pipeline to get this. I’m not sure the National Trust’s campaign for “Everyone to Feel Like a Member and 5 Million are” has such social change objectives as its end, though its commendable Natural Childhood agenda clearly does.
Finally I want to pick up on your RSPB membership figures. I regard a 0.5% per year decline in membership as stagnating, rather than decline. Now that may be reason enough for action, but it needs to be taken in context. I know people who did not renew their membership with the National Trust last year because it rained so much they did not go to the beach very often. So how can they get 5 Million members? make the sun shine more!
I look forward to reading your thoughts on the Autumn edition of Birds, which I have just received.
The new logo is striking and clearly worth every penny, although I reckon they should now consider renaming the publication too.
(Yes I am a grumpy old birder and look forward to visiting the RSPB stand at the Bird Fair.)