communicating marine issues to the wider public-karen mitchell

Irish Sea Marine Conference

Communicating Marine to the Wider Public

Karen MitchellNatural England

•Target to create a network of MPAs by 2012

•MPAs are ‘place based’

•Politicians need public support to make difficult decisions

•We wanted to be able to call on public support for MPAs

2006

We love the countryside

We know our local landscapes

From a quantitative poll of the public (Feb 08)

• 99% cannot name a single feature or creature associated with undersea landscapes

• 44% think the undersea is ‘utterly, generally or mostly barren in their region’,

• only 10% expect it to have a ‘rich mix of undersea landscapes including plants, animals and features special to this region’

No strong sense of identity of the sea as place

We’ve been calling for MPAs but…

But what do we know about the sea...?

What place ?

Protect what ?

Can’t we just educate people?

“Can we create a map of the undersea,

for the public?”

How people think

How do people make decisions?Reflexive

AutomaticUncontrolled

EffortlessAssociativeUnconsciousGut reaction

Reflective

ControlledEffortful

DeductiveSlow

Self awareConscious thought

Framing

•All we’ve already seen, heard, thought – colours how we make sense of new information

•Hidden mental shortcuts we use to interpret the world

•If the facts don’t fit the frame, the facts are rejected, not the frame

How our needs influence our

behaviour

Self

Act

ualis

atio

n

Aes

thet

ic C

ogni

tive

Self

Este

emEs

teem

of O

ther

s

Bel

ongi

ngSa

fety

AirFood

Water, Sex

Security Com

fort

Love Acceptance

Recognition Approval

Achievement

Beauty Symm

etry To Know, U

nderstand & Explore

Meta-N

eeds, derived from Integration and Transcendence of all needs

Values Modes: based on Maslow

Inner Directed (aka Pioneer)

Outer Directed (aka Prospector)

Sustenance Driven (aka Settler)

CULTURAL DYNAMICS

Aspiration Busy

Fun

Wrong Clothes

Safety

National pride

Adventure

Novelty

Image

Achievement

Premium shopper

Fantasy

Hedonism

Traditional Family

Control

Reserved

Adaptable

No Sweat

ConfidentSexual

UnplannedGreen intent

Inquisitive

Faith

Divided

Catharsis

Propriety

Stimulation

Big business

Two classes

Learner

Showhome

Looking Good Pleasure

Visible Success

Material Wealth

Power

Healthy Lifestyle

Local

HumbleOverspend

Speculate

Visible Ability

Sensitive

Good Time

Certainty

Impulsive Spender

Simmer

Hetero-love

Unobliged

Luddism

Religious

Conformity

Discipline

Acquiescence

Non-reflective

Security

National Security

Insular

Indulgent Diet

Rules

Complacent

Force

Skeptical

Irresolute

Be Satisfied

Socialist

Tradition

WYSIWYG

Coasting

Non-acquisitive

Independent

Universalism

Pessimism

Openness

Justice

Optimism

Free

Artisan

Cheerful

Exhilaration

Aesthetics

Listening

Tao

Self-direction

Buzz

Creativity

Global

Caring

Loyalty

Benevolence

Self-choice

Nature

Solitary

Bodily Ease

Functional SpenderBender

Car Casual

Whip

Afraid

Shangri-la

Stupid law

Budget Bedlam

Patriarchy

Revenge

Conscience

Forgiveness

JoynessPositive green

Distant

Poverty aware

Self-efficacy

© Cultural Dynamics Strategy & Marketing Ltd., 2003-2014. All rights reserved. No part of this document may be copied,published or distributed in any medium without prior written consent from Cultural Dynamics Strategy & Marketing Limited. Email: [email protected]




Settlers - 31% of population

Prospectors - 37% of population

Pioneers - 32% of population

Find your own values mode

www.cultdyn.co.uk

“I’m eating less these days because…”

• Settler: “Food is getting so expensive.”

• Prospector: “I want to wear a bikini on holiday.”

• Pioneer: “I feel so much better for it.”

Using values modes to motivate behaviour change

Small and simple actionsSafety campaignsStop cheatsSave moneyResilienceReturning to traditionCommunityInvolve family

RewardsPrizes, tests and competitionsSocial events to be seen at CelebrityNew stuff, top designs, extreme activities, buzzVisible successGlossy, slick, desirableMake me look good

ACTIVITIES

JusticeLoyaltySaving people/natureYou remake the futureEthical/care campaigns

IDEAS

GROUPS

• Cultural Dynamics, KSBR, Campaign Strategy Ltd

• 16 focus groups

• ~120 people off the street

• Recruited and segmented by ‘Needs’ category

• Facilitated dialogue about ‘Undersea environment’

• Showed participants message boards

Qualitative market research

Trips to the seaside: by values mode

Settler•Cheap•Traditional•Practical•Relatively safe•Wholesome•Simple fun•Something that everyone can enjoy together

Prospector•Fun!•Attractions: pier, food, amusements•Suntan•Opportunity for the kids and adults to amuse themselves (separately)•Enjoy BIG marine attractions (eg shark tank)

Pioneer•Opportunity for educational activities in the guise of family outdoor fun•Together time away from TV and commercial world•Healthy way to wear the kids out while enjoying the natural environment

Disgust Shame Sadness

Dark, unknown, mysterious, can’t

survive, dangerous things live there.Feels cold, wet,

slimy. It’s smelly, looks murky

‘Environment’ means ‘problem’, anything to do with nature or

protection means bad news. Pollution and

litter are horrid.

It was better when I was a kid. It’s better

abroad. It’s better in the South West.

Reactions are fundamentally negative, people feel VERY distant from the undersea. This is compounded by the fact that it is

obscure and inaccessible.

Response of all groups to ‘Undersea environment’

1) ‘The Government’ should fix it

2) ‘Other people’ will take an interest OR it’ll sort itself out

3) ‘Our children’ / the Future will (hopefully) sort it out’

4) Angry rejection

“I would have expected that it would be looked after by Europe” (Pros, M)

A lot of this is an EU issue isn’t it? It needs to be controlled at a mass level not just a local level. (Pio, M)

“There isn’t really anything else we can do, the rest of it is up to mother nature”. (Pros, M)

There’s not that many people you can find who are willing to do anything about it. (Pros, M)

We were repeatedly told by Settlers and Prospectors that we should be speaking to their children. They, we were told, were ‘much more interested’ in the environment and there was a strong sense that any really pressing problems wouldn’t become apparent until the future, at which point the ‘kids’ would deal with them

Sporadically we encountered a more forthright rejection, stemming from eco-frustration!

“D’you know what? I’m getting really sick of people telling me what to do, next car I buy it’s going to do 5mpg!” (Pros, M)

People - especially Prospectors - don’t like feeling shame or guilt

North - respondents deprecated ‘their’ sea. • industrialised • polluted• cold• murky• rough

•Holidays are ideally taken further South

•No expectation there is any interesting marine life

Regional differences: North/South divide

DramaticInspires aweEasy for public to assimilateQuick thrill

Undersea landscapes

They all wanted to go there, feel it, see it, experience it

•Settlers identified with plucky communities struggling to survive. •Pioneers wanted to stick up for the underdog. •Prospectors just not very interested.

Communities under the sea

Beauty spots

•Pioneers loved the mystery. •Settlers and Prospectors did not

Foreign fishermen

‘Stealing’ British fish by over fishing in British waters

Foreign fishing practices more damaging than those of British fishermen

Fishing threats

Fishing quotas

British fishermen forced to ‘throw back’ dead fish if caught in bycatch: waste and a shame

Bottom dredging

Highly damaging but this is the livelihood of brave fishermen - they’ve got families to feed too!

Ghost nets

Seen as a tragedy: animals killed needlessly and expensive nets lost

Technology should exist to locate and recover nets or nets should biodegrade over time

British fisherman are not to blame

To meet the public’s needsWhat we aimed to do:

•Provide multi-sensory experiences•Use familiar language (forest, meadows, homes)•Show (not tell)•Use clear imagery•Appeal to sense of national pride (biggest, best...)•Create regionally specific activities

Targetting:•Families who are motivated to self-explore, parents do things with kids themselves (Pioneers)•Families who prefer to do free, guided activities in extended families (Settlers)•Less so/for later – parents who prefer activities/things to ‘buy’ or ‘get’ (Prospectors)

What we AVOIDED:

•Using the words ‘environment’ or ‘protection’•Talking about legislation•Highlighting damage/losses/issues•Murk

Created events and activities which led people to conclude there’s a regional undersea landscape – by showing and involving

“I never knewthere was so much

in the sea”

“I’ve never seen my children

concentrate so hard”

Related creatures to place

Imagery: take a walk on the seabed

Popular maps – national and regional

Workshops – we made creatures, now they are in our home – part of our lives

Wolf fish on rocky

reef

Workshops – we made a landscape therefore they exist …

Free Beachcombing Guide

Signposting to undersea

landscapes

Puppet shows – stories of sea creatures and their homes

Exploration, stories, signs, views

Lune Deep

Town/parish councils ‘adopt’

undersea landscape

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.accesslanguages.co.uk/pb2k/images/punch_and_judy.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.accesslanguages.co.uk/pb2k/swanage3.html&h=394&w=525&sz=35&hl=en&start=6&um=1&tbnid=hLmKbYYXKn2jvM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=132&prev=/images?q=punch+and+judy&um=1&hl=en

‘Magic Telescope’ to transport you to undersea landscapes

Range 200 nm, direction 270. west, you are looking at the Great Kelp Forest of Cornwall

view here

corals dragons sea bream nurseries reef

Commercial sponsorship

potential

National network at viewpoints of ‘landscape boxes’

•Schools, regional centres, shops, restaurants, pubs - visualisations – murals, mosaics (etc)

MANCHESTERTwinned with

THE LUNE DEEP


potential

Winter/Urban Activities: reinforcing the message

Lune Deep

ou

r course


potential

Undersea landscape locating on boats and ships

Sense of place

… growing public support from around the country for MPAs

It’s amazing what’s down there pet

I called my MP about the Flamby Caves

Our region has more of these reefs than anywhere else

Our petition for ross worm reefs has hit the target !

My school has done a mural of the south coast undersea chalk cliffs

Oh yes the southwest kelp forest is simply the best – we do so agree that we need a protected area

We’re all going to the Lune Deep – we cross over it on the ferry and then go for a meal in Douglas