NATURE'S LANGUAGE

NATIONAL TRUST

We’re losing our mother tongue – nature!

CHALLENGE

EVERY YEAR WE NEED TO FIND FRESH WAYS TO APPEAL TO MEDIA AND PARENTS.

We’ve worked with the National Trust charity for nearly a decade, on perception-changing and fundraising campaigns that have helped demonstrate the impact of their places on people and established them as one of the nation’s top story-telling brands.

One such campaign is their 50 Things to do before you’re 11 ¾ initiative – 50 free and easy ideas to help kids connect with nature. The list isn’t about ‘teaching’ kids or just getting them to observe – it’s about helping them think, feel and relate to nature, doing things that really help them connect. Strengthening their connection with nature can strengthen the benefits to wellbeing, like increased happiness and self-esteem and reduced anxiety. Every year, we need to find fresh ways to appeal to media and parents.

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SOLUTION

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF WHEN YOU HEAR THE WORDS: TWEET, WEB, STREAM AND CLOUD? DO YOU THINK OF BIRDS, SPIDERS, RIVERS AND SKIES?

Engine | Mischief identified language for the natural world is being lost or overtaken. That’s worrying when language represents what’s important to a culture or society – it means our kids could be missing out on a connection to nature and the benefits that brings to nature and to them.

We worked with Dr Robbie Love, linguistics fellow at Leeds University, to compare data across three generations and show today just 1% of the word tweet related to birds, 7% of web to spiders and 36% of stream to ‘a little river’. Supporting YouGov research pinpointed 10 as the average age British kids lose nature meanings from their speech, but sometimes as young as six. A striking, unscripted video showed this vs the joy of them reconnecting with the natural world, to further illustrate the story and the benefits of ’50 Things’.

IMPACT

We created a national (and international!) talking point, with editorial across 14 national titles including The Guardian, Independent, Telegraph, Mail, BBC News, BBC Radio 4, the Jeremy Vine show. 100% of editorial was positive, with all four strategic key messages for the organisation delivered.