What if we put the 'immense beauty of our planet' at the heart of a campaign?
The Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) collaborated with creative agency Camino to launch the Presentes project which was created with a hope-based approach and highlighted human-centric stories. The project created more relatable and inspiring narratives around environmental justice that increased engagement and fostered a deeper connection with audiences across Latin America.
For over 25 years, the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (Asociación Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente, or AIDA) has been dedicated to protecting the environment and communities across Latin America. With the regions vast biodiversity and numerous environmental challenges, engaging with diverse audiences across the region has been a significant hurdle. The complexity and breadth of the environmental challenges can make it difficult to create compelling narratives and inspire climate action.
Previously, AIDA’s campaigns relied on scientific data to convince audiences of the importance of environmental protection, such as using data around job creations and environmental impact to explain the benefits of the green energy transition. This data-driven approach, while informative, was not resonating with their target audience as effectively as hoped.
For a new project called Presentes, AIDA realized they needed to develop a new type of campaign that would achieve more effective results.
AIDA worked with Camino to develop a new hope-based communications strategy for Presentes, which included a major narrative shift from previous environmental justice campaigns they’ve worked on. The new strategy focused on highlight success stories of the green energy transition, featuring community heroes and sharing positive news. This approach focused on what individuals and communities can do, rather than solely on the climate crisis. The content maintained an informative and pedagogical focus, with the aim of informing and teaching in more human-focused and hopeful ways.
Presentes is a civil alliance that brings together organizations, communities, environmental defenders, and people from all over Latin America to address the new reality resulting from the climate crisis and the responsibility we have to mitigate it. This coalition projects itself as “a voice of hope” in the face of the most urgent challenges of our time, and includes organizations based in Mexico, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, and other pan-regional groups devoted to causes such as environmental justice, gender equality, human rights, and sustainable development.
Recognizing the need for a more engaging approach, AIDA collaborated with Camino agency to develop the communications strategy for the Presentes project which was underpinned by hope.
“We’ve had a lot of clients, especially around topics such as climate justice and the green energy transition, who have needed to communicate some kind of narrative change. But it was a challenge to tackle those big issues with traditional communications methods,” says Laura Sandoval, Editor-in-Chief at Camino. She found that traditional methods centering on presenting facts and figures often failed to engage the public on an emotional level, making it challenging to foster a deep connection and inspire meaningful action.
According to Camino, the visual identity and messaging underpinning the campaign were based on were “crafted around hope”, portraying, “the immense beauty of our planet, the footprint we have left throughout our existence as a species, the work of people who dedicate their lives to protecting the environment, and the relationship we have with the Earth.”
Creating more relatable, inspiring narratives
One notable campaign shift involved featuring real people and the work they’re doing in their various communities. This included personal stories of individuals who had successfully adopted renewable energy solutions, transforming their communities and providing sustainable futures for their families. By focusing on these positive examples, AIDA was able to create a more relatable and inspiring narrative.
AIDA’s audience in Latin America responded more positively to the hope-based messaging. The hope-based strategy led to a significant increase in engagement on social media platforms, with AIDA now having 70K followers on Facebook and 24K followers on Instagram and reaching over 3 million interactions from a 28 million-person reach in 4 Latin American countries. Their campaigns have seen increased interaction and sharing, demonstrating deeper engagement with their audience. By showcasing relatable, community-centric stories and tangible successes, AIDA’s messages resonated more deeply with their audience.
“We observed a significant increase in engagement and a stronger emotional connection to our campaigns,” Laura notes.
Using hope-based approach helps tell stories that resonate more deeply, which is essential for environmental advocacy and for creating narratives that lead to more impactful and enduring outcomes for campaigns.
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