I'm sure at least 50% of us did. Even if we didn't, most people knew about Earth Hour. Organized by the WWF, Earth Hour was initiated in 2007 in Australia when 2.2million people switched off their lights to make a stand on climate change. In 2008, it went global.
Earth Hour 2011 Official Video
So how did people all across the globe find out about it? Technology had a big part to play in this highly successful marketing campaign. Aside from using traditional media like print and broadcast, it also harnessed the power of viral marketing.
Creating a good marketing campaign that goes viral is the dream, the grand masterpiece of any marketer's career. In the internet age, viral marketing is made easier; sharing a video from Youtube on your Facebook is a prime example of viral marketing. It breaks through the constraints of communication in time, distance, speed, bandwidth. Information can be viewed at any time, from anywhere in the world at a faster speed (depending on internet connection of course).
Earth Hour makes use of humour to make their message go viral. Take a look at one of their ads created for 2010's Earth Hour:
Does that not at least put a smile on your face?
Web surfers would not hesitate to share such a cute play on pop culture with their friends. With technology, it facilitates personal communication since information can easily be shared through email, blogs and social networking sites. Earth Hour leverages on such technology to spread the word about their campaign and improve communication to their target audience.
In this day and age, the internet has become part of our everyday lives. Not only does it appeal to our personal identity, it also plays on the fact that we feel a need to belong to a community. WWF understands this and thus makes use of Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Flickr, YouTube and blogs to reach out to its massive audience.
I'm sure you use at least one of the above sites to keep in contact with friends or just for entertainment. You can become a fan of Earth Hour on Facebook, follow its tweets on Twitter, request to be friends on MySpace, view photos of the event on Flickr, watch how different nations celebrated Earth Hour on its YouTube channel and subscribe to the RSS feed of its blog so that every update gets delivered right to your inbox. By entering the spaces of the public and championing a worthy cause that employs good humour, WWF is ensuring the success of its computer-mediated communication.
Though it is hardly a revolutionary breakthrough use of technology in communication, Earth Hour does it well and with class, and they deserve a pat on the back for making such excellent use of technology in mass communication.
