USING A SOCIAL MOVEMENT IN HUMANS, TO HELP THE ELEPHANT

The ivory trade is worth $10 billion/year, ranking alongside drugs, arms and human trafficking as one of the world’s most lucrative trades.

By 2015, the slaughter of Elephants for their ivory had taken them near the tipping point into extinction.

Grey London partnered NGO WildAid to make a definitive difference, fast.

Our contribution was to bring the mindset and techniques of modern social marketing to a group of disparate, small and field-focused conservationists.

A new, global campaign changed the focus - getting the ivory trade banned.

The idea was #JoinTheHerd.

Using social media as its backbone – simply a Twitter hashtag - it united disparate NGOs, global influencers and the mass public.

One global pressure group. One campaign. One agenda. One hashtag.

Now, with the scale to be heard.

Despite zero marketing or media budget, the message spread virally:  2 billion people were reached, 500 million included in a virtual supporters’ network, 3 million took action. We evidenced that support to legislators – in public, in person, and in numbers.

In 9 months a UN Resolution to close the ivory trade was agreed. By the end of 2016, even China – the world’s biggest ivory market - announced its timetable for total ban on the trade.

The Elephant has been given a lifeline. Here’s how it happened.