Greenpeace challenged Kimberly Clark, a well known corporation that produces tissue products of 100 percent virgin fiber, to stop destroying thousands of Canadian old-growth forests at alarming rates. Kimberly Clark’s recent advertising campaign, “Let it Out,” challenges consumers on the street to sit down on the couch, take a tissue, and talk about what makes them cry or better yet: actually cry. A Greenpeace volunteer on MySpace messaged Greenpeace when she heard that Kimberly Clark was shooting the commercial in Times Square in New York City. Greenpeace felt it was the perfect opportunity to get their message heard, too.
Undercover Greenpeace representatives effectively hijacked Kimberly Clark’s ad campaign and made a video for Greenpeace on MySpace in the process. Instead of creating new messaging, Greenpeace used Kimberly Clark’s language and media against them by participating in these man-on-the-street interviews. Greenpeace reps “let it out” by talking about the things that made them sad: how Kimberly Clark is clear cutting forests. Their resulting video, “Kleenex Gets Punk’d,” got serious traction on MySpace, with 77,000 views and 272 comments. Later Greenpeace used the same video and banners at Kimberly Clark’s annual shareholders meeting to demand a more forest-friendly tissue.
The result? According to Economopoulos, not only was it good for Greenpeace’s brand, it upped their “cool quotient.” It also proved to her that it’s better to push exceptional content less frequently than to bombard the market with “too much stuff.” In addition to the video, she then reached out to blogs, prankster and art sites, and environmental and progressive news sources.
Economopoulos advises “when entering a community, shut up and listen.” Know your audience, figure out who the influences are, and reach out to them. Who is writing comments on your site? Who are the users shaping the debates?
She also suggested the following strategies:
- Grassroots recruitment: recruit people to send in photos and get involved in your cause (make it fun)
- Make good use of your bulletins
- Motivate your base: encourage users to tag their photos on Flickr, so they can see themselves online and be more involved in the cause
