We translated an endangered language to help save an endangered species. And gave every single person the ability to speak elephant.

Hello in Elephant is a world-first human-elephant translator – part utility, part sharing generator, part donation mechanism and translates text, emoji, and their voice, into the corresponding elephant emotion or expression.

We launched on World Elephant Day. It’s a noisy time to be talking about elephants, but it was the perfect moment to shift the conversation and raise awareness.

An online film introduced the idea, demonstrated the humanity of elephants through their language and pushed people to the campaign site. The website gave people the opportunity to translate their message and speak in elephant, donate, adopt an elephant, and learn about the causes of elephant population decline. Over the course of the month further assets - videos, imagery, gifs, sounds - were pushed out across DSWT’s social channels.

We launched on World Elephant Day. It’s a noisy time to be talking about elephants, but it was the perfect moment to shift the conversation and raise awareness about the unfamiliar elephant conservation issue.

An online film, entitled Hello in Elephant, introduced the idea, demonstrated the humanity of elephants through their language, and pushed people to the campaign site. Over the course of the month further assets - videos, imagery, gifs, sounds - were pushed out across DSWT’s social channels.

In just one month, with no paid/donated media, the campaign generated global impact, garnering 400 million impressions, worth $6.53 million in earned media. And crucially 75% of our media coverage included the human-conflict elephant conservation situation – a huge turnaround from the existing 2% share of online coverage.

Global impact

In just one month, with no paid/donated media, the campaign generated global impact, garnering 400 million impressions across 53 countries, worth $6.53 million in earned media.

The idea was so powerful that 20 of the world's leading conservation organisations - including the UN, United for Wildlife, and Born Free - got involved, shared the idea and message, and their influence was used to start to change the conversation beyond solely poaching.

Revenue growth of 34%

Donations increased by 34%. Not only did we stop the dramatic slide but the growth represents a 234% uplift above the target.

Adoptions increased by 35%.

Hello in Elephant created an uplift in new supporters that are a critical to DSWT’s future. They’re not only new advocates for the charity and the cause but also a steady income stream.

Hello in Elephant launched on World Elephant Day where other conservation organisations were hijacked to change the conversation from poaching to the growing problem of human-wildlife conflict.

The idea was so powerful that 20 of the world's leading conservation organisations - including the UN, United for Wildlife, and Born Free - got involved, shared the idea and message, and their influence was used to start to change the elephant conversation beyond solely poaching.

In just one month, with no paid/donated media, Hello in Elephant generated global impact, garnering 400 million impressions across 53 countries, worth $6.53 million in earned media.

We had no paid or donated media available to create reach for the idea. DSWT had a following of supporters, but not enough scale to generate the impact needed to reignite the passion to save elephants and bring the real issue to the fore.

We therefore looked to hijack the platforms of people and organisations leading the anti-poaching discussion. The idea was seeded with influencers and leading conservation organisations, priming them to share the campaign and create a burst of noise on World Elephant Day that helped shift perception. This meant we not only got exposure for the idea but got a greater chance to educate about the unknown situation.

The idea was so powerful that 20 of the world's leading conservation organisations - including the UN, United for Wildlife, and Born Free - shared the idea and their influence started to change the elephant conversation beyond poaching.

For decades, conservationists have rallied against poachers in order to save elephants from extinction. The well-publicised decline of the ivory trade has left the public with the impression that the problem was being solved and elephants are being saved. This false sense of success has slowed the need to care.

Our brief was to re-energise the fight against elephant extinction when everyone thinks the fight has been won.

Our objectives were three-fold:

- Ignite a new mass conversation – shift awareness about the plight of elephants beyond poaching.

- Increase donations by 10% and reverse the slide revenue so DSWT can fund its effort to save, raise, and release elephants back into the wild.

- Increase elephant adoptions by 10%. These relationships were incredibly hard to secure but extremely valuable – they gave money for multiple years and spread word about the cause.