Company: Oceana
Agency: The Wade Group
Timeframe: 2005-2006
A world without dolphins would be a sad one indeed; that tragic possibility might have crystallized into reality had Oceana, an international marine conservation and advocacy
group, not intervened. Although the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which protects certain dolphins from extinction, had been on the books since 1972, a deadline attached to it that
required commercial fisheries to significantly decrease the killing of marine mammals had expired. The clock was ticking on Flipper.
It didn't help that, within the last three years, some members of Congress were lobbying to do away with the Act altogether. To protect the dolphin, Oceana launched a "Save
Flipper" campaign that ultimately stopped Congress from passing laws that would eliminate the "Dolphin Deadline." But the road to get there was a long one.
A Pre-Emptive Strike
With a budget of $135,000 for the campaign, Oceana's communications executives applied its resources during a time period that stretched from September 2005 to July 2006.
"We had been following [the deadline expiration] for a number of years, and there had been some minor legislative activities in the past," says Courtney Sakai, campaign
director of Oceana. "It was during the latter part of 2005 when we really started to look at this because there was indicators from the Hill that there was going to be serious
intent to kill the Dolphin Deadline. The first thing we did was build awareness by launching a campaign on [Washington D.C.'s] Metro system. We started to do grassroots coalition
building in some of the key districts, and we launched a pretty comprehensive education and outreach campaign on the Hill through dozens and dozens of office visits."
One of the keys to the campaign was developed early on, and it had everything to do with aggressive, proactive outreach.
"We launched the campaign to be offensive; we wanted to be ahead," continues Sakai. "We knew this was coming, so the purpose of our campaign was not try to change votes at the
11th hour. This was pre-emptive."
An Inconvenient Truth
Oceana enlisted The Wade Group, an outside consultant, to help them implement the campaign and achieve their objectives.
"We are an ocean conservation group," says Sakai. "We focus on a campaign model--very much like public affairs. So our goal is always to affect policy change, whether it be
existing legislation or making new rules. Our approach is to use all the tools available--media, grassroots, mobilization, coalition building--very similar to the tools you would
use in a political campaign."
With that in mind, the team still needed external communications consulting. The first thing they did in association with the Wade Group was conduct research to prove the need
for the Save Flipper campaign and determine tactics.
"The deadline had expired," notes Sakai, "but that also happens sometimes in legislation. The questions here for members of Congress were 'Should we extend it longer? Should we
review it?'"
Thus, the research had a strong political focus. To see where representatives' sympathies (or lack thereof) lay, Oceana reviewed the voting records of certain members of
Congress, such as House Resource Committee Chairman Richard Pombo (R-CA) and Rep. Wayne Gilchrest (R-MD), both of whom had put forward proposals to eliminate the Dolphin Deadline.
"Pombo has a record of being unfriendly toward conservation," says Sakai.
According to Sakai, there was also another group opposed to extending the deadline. "There's a small group of Alaska fisherman who just didn't want to see the rule enforced,"
she says, "and the easiest way to do that was to take out the time mechanism."
Were the Alaskan fishermen lobbying D.C. politicians such as Pombo to kill the deadline? Thought the connection seems obvious, Sakai is unsure of this. "It's a very small
group of commercial interests--hardly widespread," she says. "It's hard to tell if there was a link between them and Richard Pombo. [Some of these politicians] are almost
philosophically opposed to environmental protection and conservation efforts. We don't have an idea if there was extensive lobbying."
To gain further ammunition against politicians such as Pombo, Gilchrest and Representative Don Young of Alaska, the communications team conducted research on their opposition.
They also did a campaign analysis to identify Congressional districts with tough Republican races for additional targeting. Because most of the campaign was implemented prior to
the November 2006 election, when Congress was still controlled by Republicans, Oceana planned their line of defense by arming themselves with the tools necessary to fight possible
opposition.
Treading Water
A prime challenge of the campaign was how to keep this issue prominent in the minds of politicians who were inundated with other concerns.
"There's so much issue clutter on Capitol Hill," says Sakai. "We had to somehow make it pop and to keep it falling from the radar screen in general. You're also competing
against Iraq. So here we were coming into offices saying, 'I want to come and talk to you about the Dolphin thing.' That's how we came up with the 'Don't kill the Dolphin
Deadline' message. But we wanted to make sure they knew what was at stake here."
To refine and test their advocacy messages, Oceana employed voter poll research by Yale University and Case Western Reserve University. Ohio was selected as the state to
conduct this poll because it represents Americana and has been used to test everything from toothpaste to elections. Also, its neighboring states were other key targets for the
campaign, and the Ohio poll results could prefigure similar results in those states.
A key finding from this poll was: Ohio Republican voters support the Dolphin Deadline and do not want to kill Flipper. This emboldened and empowered Oceana to undertake the
next three important steps:
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Increase the visibility of the Dolphin Deadline in Congress, while differentiating it from the others;
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Show strong voter support for protecting the Dolphin Deadline with such messages as "A vote for the bill is a vote to Kill Flipper;" and
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Demonstrate that protecting the Dolphin Deadline has significant policy implications.
To build up support for its Save Flipper program, Oceana employed the following strategies:
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Developed a Dolphin Deadline brochure and outreach kit;
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Placed billboards and newspaper ads in Rep. Gilchrest's district; also displayed ads on the D.C. metro and in the Capitol Hill station to brand the issue;
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Conducted media outreach to major outlets in Washington, D.C. and selected Congressional districts;
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Brought the "Dolphin Brigade," a group of dolphin-costumed lobbyists, to Capitol Hill to ask Congress to protect the Dolphin Deadline;
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Organized phone banks in Rep. Gilchrest's and 13 other Congressional districts to cultivate key voters; and
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Issued a report, "Pointless Peril: Deadlines and Death Counts," which, based on Oceana's scientific findings, concluded that nearly 10,000 marine mammals would have been
saved in the last five years if the Dolphin Deadline had been enforced.
The return on investment on the Save Flipper program was overwhelmingly positive. In July 2006, the U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation that amended the Marine
Mammal Protection Act, taking out language that would have eliminated the Dolphin Deadline.
The campaigned netted significant media coverage to Capitol Hill. Among the publications that ran stories on the Save Flipper program were the Washington Times, Roll Call,
Political Hotline, Washington Post Express and Cleveland Plain Dealer.
"This was very much a conservation/environmental community campaign," says Sakai. "It was effective because there was positive messaging. When we gave out stickers, we saw
congressional lobbyists in expensive suits wearing them because everyone thought they were endearing. The idea of a Dolphin Brigade could crack a smile on the toughest guy on the
street. To be clever and take it in a way that was entertaining as well as sophisticated [were big reasons why the program worked]."
Does Sakai have any tips for other organizations or advocacy groups wishing to implement a similar grassroots, cause-driven campaign? "The key thing is to be clever and unique;
also consider your audience and put it in a context they would be most receptive to." PRN
CONTACTS:
Courtney Sakai, [email protected]; Dan Doherty, [email protected]
Lessons Learned
For Courtney Sakai and the other team players of the Save Flipper campaign, it was an education in itself on what to do and what to avoid when embarking on a public affairs
campaign.
"The key lesson is to really focus on specific objectives," she explains. "We were able to narrow our targets to a legislative and political strategy. For example, when we
originally started out, we wanted as much media coverage as we could get. Not only was that unrealistic [especially with limited resources], but it was not necessary. It was much
more effective to really develop a solid strategy: what was our objective, who would be the best communicators, what would be the best venues for that message to be told, and
staying focused on the outcome to prevent Congress from passing any bill that would kill the Dolphin deadline."
Dressing the Part
To achieve the perfect touch, The Wade Group had to secure the right costumes for the lobbying Dolphin Brigade, says the agency's SVP Dan Doherty. Planning the route was also
imperative, particularly in areas where the friendly mammals might encounter trouble from some cantankerous humans.
"A key challenge for us was getting the costumes to us in a timely manner," says Doherty. "We were operating under a deadline. We had to find the costumes, and then have them
shipped from various vendors around the country in large boxes. Then we had to make sure they were in excellent condition."
And that wasn't all. The proper authorities had to be alerted before the Dolphin Brigade stormed Capitol Hill and other D.C. hubs to deliver their message. "Part of the job of
identifying the route for the Dolphin Brigade was maximizing exposure, making sure which metro lines would be best for them to ride and at which time. However, we also needed to
alert the correct authorities beforehand to make sure they didn't have any big objections as the Brigade got the word out."