PR > Culture & Context
MARURI, Guayaquil / QUITO SIN MINERÍA / 2024
Awards:
Overview
Credits
Why is this work relevant for PR?
The campaign initiated the first citizen mass conversation about environmental conservation in Quito. This was achieved through covering all the most important media outlets in the country. Even having international echo.
Please provide any cultural context that would help the Jury understand any cultural, national or regional nuances applicable to this work.
In Ecuador, the government and mining companies have built an almost unbreakable relationship, where business comes first. And together they created legal weapons, even in the Constitution, to protect the mining industry.
With this scenario, it was almost impossible to stop massive mining in the Andean Chocó, a UNESCO natural sanctuary.
Background
Situation:
The Andean Chocó region in Ecuador, a UNESCO natural sanctuary, is located near Quito, the capital of Ecuador. Its home of thousand of species, clean water and 2,868 km2 of rainforest was under threat from massive mining operations facilitated by a close relationship between the government and mining companies. Traditional activism methods have proven ineffective in stopping the exploitation of this environmentally sensitive area.
Brief:
Develop a campaign strategy and an original idea to halt mining operations in the Andean Chocó region.
Objective:
Stop new mining concession and preserve the natural biosphere, animal species, plant species, clean water and assure decent and sustainable work within the community.
Describe the creative idea
Use one of the legal weapons (article 104) of the Ecuadorian Constitution as our own weapon and create a boomerang effect to hit back mining companies and government.
Describe the PR strategy
Insight:
Government and mining companies created Article 104 thinking citizens would never use it against them.
Key message:
What was once their weapon is now ours. Power back to the people.
Target audience:
Citizens of Quito. People that live in the biggest city of Ecuador and, its majority, never visited and didn't care about the Andean Chocó.
Creation and distribution of assets:
Press releases, media kits, social media content, website content, printed material, films, presentations and speeches.
Describe the PR execution
Implementation:
Legal advocacy, grassroots mobilization, strategic communications, and strategic partnerships to maximize our impact and achieve protect the Andean Chocó region from mining exploitation.
First we collected 380,000 signatures to make the referendum official.
We used film, digital, influencer, guerrilla marketing, events, radio, activations to make them care about the Andean Chocó.
Timeline:
From May 2023 to August 2023.
Scale:
Campaign was targeted to 3.5 million citizens of Quito
List the results
Media outputs:
· Press coverage - articles, news stories, features.
· Interviews - our representatives provided expert commentary, insights, or perspectives in media interviews
· Guest contributions - articles, opinion pieces
· Online Articles - coverage and mentions of the campaign in blogs, online forums, industry websites, and other online platforms.
· Social media mentions - shares, comments and engagements related to the campaign on social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube.
· Broadcast coverage - interviews on television, radio and online broadcast media channels.
Target audience outcomes:
2.1 million people were called to vote
1.7 million voted
68% voted “yes” to protect the Andean Chocó
That means 1.1 million voted “yes”
First time in the history of Ecuador a referendum was called by the people. Quito citizens were not aware or active in the defense of the Andean Chocó, but we managed to turned them into activists and let them fight mining companies. We gave power back to people.
Business outcomes:
N/A
Please tell us about the social behaviour and cultural insight that inspired the work.
Old school activism is not effective in countries like Ecuador, where mining companies and government had an almost unbreakable relationship where business comes first. Frustration inspired us to change the strategy.
Quito citizens never cared about environmental activism because they never knew about article 104 which gives power back to the people.
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