WWF-Canada and MRM Use Retail Marketing Science to Fight Biodiversity Loss and Climate Change

World Wildlife Fund Canada (WWF-Canada) and MRM Canada’s “SAVE BIG!” leverages the urgency of traditional retail marketing science with the conversion power of creative commerce to not only highlight the high price Canadian wildlife are paying for biodiversity loss and climate change — but also drive support for WWF-Canada’s bold 10-year plan to Regenerate Canada.

While not the first brand to leverage retail scarcity tactics to highlight the ongoing climate crisis, “SAVE BIG!” takes a novel approach by pushing the idea deep into a commerce execution. Most importantly, the campaign leans positive, highlighting WWF’s 10-year Regenerate Canada plan to expand habitats, reduce carbon in the atmosphere, lower industrial impacts and, as a result, reverse wildlife loss and fight climate change.

With commerce at its core, the campaign draws on retail strategies during every step of the journey from awareness to conversion. For example, the donation ask is cleverly reframed via retail pricing strategies like price reductions and left digit bias pricing for monthly donation subscriptions, low and new inventory notifications for plant and animal species, and more.

The campaign cleverly leverages the messages of urgency and action typically reserved for retail campaigns as a means of spurring donations and action for nature. Imagery of “new arrivals” (such as trees or healthy species) are tangible examples of what Canadians are really ”saving” with their support of WWF-Canada.

Finally, the donation ask is boosted with innovative payment tactics such as social media donation stickers, real NFC-powered stickers on wildposting, and, of course, a retail-style reframing of donation amounts themselves (e.g., $4.99, $9.99 and $19.99).

The launch films include an innovative mix of stock imagery and generative AI (Runway AI) to bring still images to life.

The campaigns’ new landing page, social, digital, and OOH adverts are now live nationwide throughout Canada. As part of McCann Worldgroup’s broader global relationship with WWF, this initiative follows McCann Germany’s viral “X-Tinction Timeline,” a real-time response that turned twitters rebrand news into a rally for species conservation.

“We’ve taken that strong core commerce-minded idea and pushed it across the entire conversion funnel, from awareness to consideration, retargeting and to donation (sale) – all with the goal of reducing the friction required to transact with this important not-for-profit,” said Ian Mackenzie, chief creative officer of McCann Worldgroup Canada.

“We’re grateful for our relationship with WWF-Canada and the collaborative efforts that led us to this campaign.  With “SAVE BIG!” we have the exciting opportunity to apply MRM’s creative commerce expertise directly to WWF’s all-important cause and highlight the incredible ambitions of their Regenerate Canada plan,” said Jennifer Steinmann, president of MRM Canada.