As I got off the tube at Camden to negotiate the early evening traffic and commuters returning home, I realised I’m late and run to get to the Huxley Conference Centre at London Zoo. I am greeted by two girls who are determined not to let me in. They confirmed that the hall was packed and all standing spaces taken. Another man arrives after me and explains that this has never happened before there are always spaces, so it must be the popularity of the Saving the Tiger event. So we try our luck at pleading once more, until one of the girl’s breaks and asks the other ‘do you think we should let them in?” Our luck is in, and we gain entry to the auditorium to hear the speeches of four men and women who are dedicating their lives to making a difference to save the tiger.
The most interesting speech of the evening was delivered by Adam Barlow, East and South-East Asia Programme Manager, ZSL, who has lived in Bangladesh for the last eight years. He described how the Sundarbans in Bangladesh is home to the largest mangrove in the world. I imagine a lush tropical forest dense with exotic flora and fauna. Where the python, crocodile and the Royal Bengal Tiger prey and sleep.
Royal Bengal Tiger. Image from Bindaas Madhavi
A business man recalls facing a tiger in Bangladesh, image by BBC World Service Bangladesh Boat.
It is tragic for anyone to lose a friend or relative this way, and in turn, tigers that do stray in to villages are nearly always killed. There are around one to three tigers killed a year for this reason. Although this sounds a small number in comparison to human deaths, there is reported to be only around 3200 tigers left in the wild in the world, so it is important to both provide safety for humans as well preventing any unnecessary deaths, as each tiger counts.
Social Marketing Approach
What was fascinating about Adam’s speech was that he brought a social marketing approach, to solving this human-tiger conflict.
He knew that changing people’s behaviour was a difficult challenge. Wanting to change, deep rooted traditions and behaviour that may have been held for hundreds of years, was going to be a difficult task, especially one led by a stranger in the community.
So Adam and his team set about talking to the groups involved, aiming to really understand their behaviour. He found that obvious assumptions are often wrong. If tigers strayed into villages, he expected that people would kill them from fear or revenge, but it was often more complex than this. He found it was often related to men wanting to appear brave and special in their communities. They wanted to stand out. The fear of looking weak from hiding and staying indoors was an important element. So how could they change that so that people would work together to frighten the tigers away with sticks instead of killing them?
Their team used a social marketing approach of: identifying their audience, contacting them, and trying to change their motivation through three steps:
| 1) Education / awareness | |
| 2) Regulation (laws) | = Social change |
| 3) Alternatives |
And social marketing is a combined effort of these three elements to get long term change. And as Adam reflects, change is often painful, emotional and people don’t like it, but it has worked. For example campaigns to increase the use of contraction or to reduce smoking. So his team helped set up:
Village Tiger Response Teams
The teams would be responsible for saving the tigers and scaring them back with sticks in to the forest. The teams would need brave individuals as the activity was quite dangerous and they were asked to do it voluntarily. At the moment there are now 30 teams spread out across the forest and some 250 volunteers.
Media Attention
They also made sure there was lots of media attention to celebrate their successes. It was obviously exciting for the people to appear in the newspapers and read about their bravery.
Momentum in the campaign
Villages are now setting up their own response teams. They now ‘own’ this initiative. Adam describes one of the most emotional moments was when one of the bravest villagers who was part of the response team was in fact killed by a tiger, but very soon after this event, his son signed up for a team too, as he believed in his father’s work.
Positive and celebratory
So the awareness campaign was positive and celebratory and focused on the collective elements of; ownership, commitment, norming and maintenance.
Marketing Approach:
Their campaign logo was based on ‘Mother’ which they found out was the most important person in the Bengalis lives. They had posters and sign boards and stickers often seen worn on children’s backs.
There were also road-shows that were big events and were fun and celebrated man’s relationship to tigers. Often there were 2000 people in the crowd and there were games and music bands that toured the areas. There was even a local theme song that the crowd sang to. They also have a ‘celebrate tiger day’ with sporting events, like cricket and football.
So his team’s approach was careful never to say to the communities ‘don’t do this’. It was all about building trust and gaining a new respect for tigers. But as Adam said; ‘we still have a long way to go’.
There were also road-shows that were big events and were fun and celebrated man’s relationship to tigers. Often there were 2000 people in the crowd and there were games and music bands that toured the areas. There was even a local theme song that the crowd sang to. They also have a ‘celebrate tiger day’ with sporting events, like cricket and football.
So his team’s approach was careful never to say to the communities ‘don’t do this’. It was all about building trust and gaining a new respect for tigers. But as Adam said; ‘we still have a long way to go’.
