In Brazil, wildlife exploitation is an increasingly serious issue, one we suspected was fueled by social media. To confirm this connection, we dug deep into the data––and the results were astonishing. Social listening showed the initial connection and the full extent of the problem, and search data helped identity potential buyers and their behaviors. Finally, data modeling techniques tied it all together, showing how social media views actually do connect to purchase intent. Taken together, it formed the basis for radical new strategy aimed at turning the problem––social media––into a weapon to help fight illegal trafficking.

Context:

Wild animal trafficking in Brazil has seen a tremendous increase in recent years.

Ampara is the largest and most important animal protection and defense organization in Brazil, recognized by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice as a OSCIP (Civil Society Organization of Public Interest).

Its goal is to change society by taking action to support, educate, and raise awareness about animal rights.

Brief:

Come up with an original idea to help alleviate the problem of wild animal trafficking.

Challenge:

Wild animals are popular! They make great content. Many people spend countless hours on TikTok and Instagram liking and sharing videos and photos of wild animals. A large portion of which includes content of wildlife that has been humanized or raised as pets.

Objectives:

Raise awareness of the issue

Help Ampara play a part in the reduction of animal trafficking

Brazil has one of the largest and most diverse biological ecosystems on the planet, home to 13% of the world’s largest animal and plant life. It also possesses one of the most active and dangerous illegal wildlife trade markets, with snakes, fish, primates, songbirds, frogs and parrots among the many species that are routinely exploited.*

Despite extensive efforts to advocate for animal rights, wild animal trafficking in Brazil has been growing exponentially, reaching an alarming 35 million individuals annually. And the problem has been compounded by a combination of factors, including a lack of quality data, data sharing, and enforcement coordination between state and federal authorities.* It’s an issue that is core to the mission of Ampara, the largest and most important animal protection and defense organization in Brazil, recognized by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice as an OSCIP (Civil Society Organization of Public Interest). Its goal is to change society by taking action to support, educate and raise awareness about animal rights. And given the recent increase in trafficking, the challenge for our organization has never been clearer or more urgent.

*https://www.traffic.org/publications/reports/brazils-widespread-wildlife-trafficking/

Illegal wildlife trafficking is an increasing problem in Brazil and needs to be reined in––to us, that challenge is clear. We also know that Ampara enjoys a reputation as Brazil’s largest and most important animal protection organizations. If anyone has authority and power to enact positive change, it’s them.

So we worked with Ampara to analyze the cultural landscape, and identified an increase in social media posts featuring domesticated wild animals. We thought there might be a correlation between this increase in wildlife trafficking, and research proved it.

From there, it was a matter of crafting a comprehensive response that relied heavily on social media (with the backing of Ampara) to reverse the tide through a reset of the social media algorithm that was exacerbating the problem.

Since our strategy was rooted firmly in data, we outlined a four-stage plan to guide us. It began with an Inception stage, where we crafted hypotheses, pinpointed essential data and formats, and set analysis parameters. Then on to Social Data, where we deciphered trends of video content featuring threatened species. Next up: Search Data, where we crafted search strings allowing us to precisely gauge the evolving purchase intent in trafficked animals. Finally, Data Modeling helped us quantity the interplay between Social and Search Data, and led to the “Aha!” moment: social media posts of trafficked wildlife were indeed directly fueling an algorithm that was exacerbating the issue. To disrupt this algorithm, we created a simple process that anyone could use to reset it, which we then paired with increased public education about the dangers of illegal wildlife trafficking.

Most advertising is about increasing purchase intent––but our goal was the exact opposite.

To decrease people’s willingness to buy trafficked wildlife, first we had to verify the connection between social media posts and the trafficking market itself (a two-year data collection and analysis undertaking).

Then we had to:

Call attention to the problem

Reset the social media algorithm that was fueling the increase

Introducing The Wild Algorithm (Reset)

We launched a data-driven social-first campaign, highlighting the cause-and-effect, and encouraging people to reset their social algorithms with a 4-step process, to be part of the solution.

An exhibition in São Paulo, showing trafficked animal images on phones trapped in trafficking cages, drove interest in the issue and offered sharable content.

Then, on National Animals Day, we launched the Wild Algorithm Reset, enlisting some of Brazil’s biggest influencers to spread the simple process to effectively reset the problematic algorithm.

Our creative strategy of taking the problem––social media––and turning it around to help solve the problem proved to be vital. Millions of people took part in the Wild Algorithm Reset, and the results were real and powerful:

12.1 million people re-educated their algorithms

111 million total impressions

A twofold increase in conversations and mentions related to animal trafficking in Brazil

A significant global reduction in searches for purchasing intent: 15% less for monkeys, 6% less for parrots, and 5% less for snakes

A 12% decrease in engagement with social media videos featuring wild animals on Instagram

"The campaign 'Wild Algorithm' helped to expose the contribution of "followers" to the increase in wildlife trafficking," said Juliana Camargo, founder of Ampara Animal Institute. "With the data and exposure of the algorithm's functionalities, we were able to show that our behavior needs to be reeducated."