| Summary: | This project describes The Wildlife Trusts (TWT) and the strategic question that remains unknown in regard to the effectiveness of their 30 Days Wild (30DW) experiential campaign.
There is an increase in experiential marketing forming key parts of successful strategies within organisations across the sectors. Experiences’ have been proven to facilitate differentiation from competitors by responding to consumer demands and increasing their perceived value of the brand and offering. This is achieved through incorporation into the consumer’s holistic perception of their environment. However there remain to be many complex variables and unknowns with the business application of these theories, including metrics and reduced organisational control. There is also limited research applying the strategy to the Not for Profit (NFP) sector.
Acknowledging the existing experience and engagement literature, predominant theories were put towards the charity sector and TWT specifically. Recognition of the nature of the concepts shaped the research methodology; using qualitative semi-structured interviews allowed consumers to use their own words and describe their personal experience of 30DW. Template analysis of the transcripts showed that consumers did display behaviour that evidenced engagement with 30DW, however there were factors that had a strong influence on this, including the consumer’s goals, their sense of self and their knowledge and perception of wildlife, TWT and 30DW. Whilst TWT reported in their own analysis that the 2016 30DW campaign did not meet membership conversion expectations, this research shows that the campaign contributed to the achievement of alternative organisational objectives such as consumer engagement, introducing the organisation to a wider audience and nature connectedness. Therefore, with a few refinements that use these consumer factors to their advantage including segmentation, longer-term consumer journey mapping and gamification, TWT can increase the effectiveness of any subsequent engagement campaigns to assist in their long-standing mission and advance the impressive organisation.
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