A key cultural aspect of this was Lawyers' feelings about Ecuador and the new constitution.

They feel part of a small country - generally unable to resist large multinational companies (e.g. mining and oil), whose revenues may dwarf even the GDP of a small country. Hence being able to fight back and protect is a powerful call to arms.

The new constitution was a matter of considerable pride among lawyers (and nation) - not only for the environmental rights but for providing a sound basis of the rule of liberal law after a long period of instability, military interference etc. Thus being seen as a champion of this was a strong motivator.

#NatureRepresented

Direct response, B2B recruitment campaign: video, website, with PR, social media; directly targeting lawyers, via the Bar Association.

We asked lawyers to be Ecuadorian Nature’s Representatives, giving hours pro bono - to ‘adopt’ and protect specific Ecuadorian forests, rivers, mountains and species.

Based on 3 motivating insights, learned in a test campaign:

1. Ecuador’s lawyers’ image problem.

Lawyers sometimes have to defend unsavoury characters, which can lead to cynical Ecuadorians thinking of them as bad guys. The work allowed to be seen as fearless, selfless heroes of the nation and its natural heritage,

2. Lawyers motivated to ‘own’ favourite parts of nature.

We offered them the chance to ‘adopt’ particular elements of nature to protect, leveraging or creating personal emotional connections to places, species etc.

3. Lawyers crave professional respect.

The work ran with the support and authority of the Bar Association, making it valuable to their professional identity.

We considered mass activism, demonstrations, social media campaigns. These are good ways to pressure politicians etc. But what more could they do? We already had the world’s best constitution!

We changed direction, looking as marketers not activists, analysing the ‘funnel’ to find where change could impact most.

We had great laws, but the bad guys weren’t afraid of breaking them.

We saw the problem was downstream - giving the constitution ‘teeth’ by converting the possibility of prosecution into actual prosecutions.

OUR INSIGHT: bad guys aren’t afraid of laws – they are afraid of lawyers, who are the “teeth of the laws”, able to bite the bad guys.

Which meant the key group were lawyers, not politicians or public.

If Sambito had enough lawyers, perpetrators could be prosecuted, punished and deterred. But that would cost millions of dollars Sambito didn’t have.

BREAKTHROUGH ROLE OF CAMPAIGN: ‘What if we use communications to persuade lawyers to do it for free?

This would redefine environmental activism.

It was a bold idea, fraught with difficulties. It relied on thousands of well-paid lawyers sacrificing income, to take on lengthy work as unpaid advocates for nature.

Yet the alternative was to sit by and watch Ecuador die.

TBC

At no cost to Sambito, the campaign brought in pro-bono* legal services worth over $202 million.

• recruited 5,536 lawyers - over 70% of all Ecuadorian lawyers. Each committed at least 200 hours pro bono.

• International reach – 36 international lawyers based in the US committed hours.

• As a direct result, 533 individual species, rivers, mountains and forests in Ecuador now have lawyers prepared to fight for their survival.

• 2 key test cases won – white tailed deer hunting and group case against 200 companies polluting the Salado Estuary

Broader effects:

• Deterrence: “Our [multinational] clients see this as a threat” Peres and Bustamente law partner

• Increased reporting and activism amongst local officials and members of the public, e.g. protection of Guayaquil river.

• A new environmental protection model: #NatureRepresented shared at UN; uptake by further countries/ areas (e.g. Colombian Amazonia)

(*Est pro-bono value: US$58,000)