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.

Powered by four decades of research into elephant communication, it uses artificial intelligence and voice recognition technology to translate voice, text & emoji 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 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. The website gave people the opportunity to translate their message and speak in elephant, donate and adopt an elephant via sheldrickwildlifetrust.org, 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.

The campaign was covered in 53 countries and generated a media reach of 230 million

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.

The campaign was covered in 53 countries and generated a media reach of 230 million. And it wasn’t just covered, it was revered: “Incredible new tool translates human phrases into elephant calls.” via Mail Online; "The translator is a delightful site.” via Cnet.

The idea took the story out of the traditional environment friendly places into internet culture. Social media impressions were 170 million; social views of the campaign were more than nine million.

And importantly, it brought the unknown issue to the fore. The majority of our media coverage covered the human-conflict / habitat-loss situation we needed to tell the world

A decades-long relentless focus on the issue of poaching for ivory couldn’t be changed in an instant, it would take time. But Hello in Elephant was so powerful that more than 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.

By translating the endangered language, Hello in Elephant reignited passion for this fading cause and will earn over USD$1.1 million for DSWT to continue to save the endangered species.

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.

And it wasn’t just covered, it was revered: “Incredible new tool translates human phrases into elephant calls.” via Mail Online; "The translator is a delightful site.” via Cnet.

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.

An interactive experience was created to let people experience the hidden humanity of elephants to create empathy and reignite urgency to save them from extinction.

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.

For decades, conservationists have rallied against poachers in order to save elephants from extinction. This well-publicised decline has left the public with the impression that the problem was being solved and they do not need to donate to the cause. This false sense of success has dramatically slowed donations to David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust – they had slumped 17% year-on-year.

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

Our objectives:

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

Increase donations by 10% - reverse the 17% slide of revenue so DSWT can fund its effort to save, raise, and release elephants back into the wild through its conservation efforts.

Increase elephant adoptions by 10% - these relationships are extremely valuable as they gave money for multiple years and spread word about the cause.