Dawn Saves Wildlife -- Online

Wildlife Conservation Effort Taps Power of Social Media

Posted by Karen Egolf on 09.16.09 @ 10:24 AM

The Dawn Saves Wildlife campaign has been helping animals online, thanks to Pieces of Flair, a shareable online button created by RockYou, a Redwood, Calif.-based Web content creator and distributor. The online program encourages people to join the wildlife conservation effort through Dawn's Everyday Wildlife Champions Facebook page.

The program is centered on the Procter & Gamble Co. dishwashing liquid brand's donation of $1 (up to $500,000) for every special edition Dawn bottle purchased and "activated" online. Donations will be split evenly between two not-for-profit organizations: the Marine Mammal Center and the International Bird Rescue Research Center.

"By providing the user the ability to clean, share or adopt a variety of impacted animals, we were able to tell Dawn's wildlife story in an authentic and engaging way that has built-in viral appeal," said Ro Choy, chief revenue officer, RockYou, in announcing the project's success so far. "We always put the user at the center of our campaigns and are thrilled with the results."

Since debuting in July, the Dawn-branded Flair "buttons," which show animals that had been covered with oil and now have been cleaned up with Dawn dishwashing liquid, are reaching more than 5 million people a month, according to RockYou. The buttons can be shared with friends as well as posted to users' Facebook walls and to newsfeeds. Users can also choose among a variety of animals to "adopt" as pets, which they can display on their profile pages.

In the campaign's first three weeks, more than 1.3 million Pieces of Flair were shared, more than 500,000 were posted to profile pages and almost 1 million people in the brand's target demographic were reached by the "pieces." According to RockYou, an estimated 1 million additional Facebook users were exposed to the campaign online.

"Working with RockYou has helped Dawn raise awareness of this wildlife conservation effort and invite consumers to join the Everyday Wildlife Champions movement," said Susan Baba, external relations manager for P&G. "In two months, 11,000 fans have joined the page and are actively discussing wildlife issues and events across the country. In addition, over $50,000 in donations has been activated online."