2. GLOBAL CITIZEN X NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COU N CIL | 2017 CAM PAIGN 2
Starting in August 2017,
Global Citizen and Natural
Resources Defense Council
(NRDC) partnered together on a
millennial-focused environmental
engagement campaign.
This partnership was an ideal opportunity for each
organization to learn from each other’s strengths. Global
Citizen has credibility among millennials—an audience
NRDC wants to more deeply engage on its environmental
campaigning, and NRDC has a long-respected expertise
in environmental advocacy—a topic Global Citizen is
interested in adding to its campaigning platform.
With this opportunity in mind, Global Citizen and
NRDC developed an engagement campaign using
a Global Citizen-style editorial content series,
digital promotion, and a corresponding action.
Introduction
& Background
“This partnership enabled
NRDC to connect with a
passionate and powerful
new generation of
activists. We’re thrilled
to work together with
Global Citizen to engage
thousands of young
people in our shared
goal of building a more
just and livable future.”
Rhea Suh
President
NRDC
3. GLOBAL CITIZEN X NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COU N CIL | 2017 CAM PAIGN 3
To get to these results,
the campaign was
structured in two phases.
∙∙ The first phase focused on
learning what environmental
topics resonated best with
the Global Citizen audience.
∙∙ The second phase
encouraged global
citizens to take action
on the top performing
topic from phase one.
Running the
Campaign
Topline Campaign Results
4. GLOBAL CITIZEN X NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COU N CIL | 2017 CAM PAIGN 4
Phase 1
∙∙ Topic Ideation
NRDC and Global Citizen collaborated on potential
editorial content topic areas by comparing NRDC’s
campaign priorities with the performance of historical
Global Citizen environmental content topics. The three
chosen topics were:
1. Climate change and extreme weather
2. Environmental regulation rollbacks
3. Community impact of commercializing public lands
∙∙ Content Creation
Global Citizen’s editorial team used NRDC’s existing
environmental research, staff experts, and third party
sources to write three long-form content pieces on the
chosen topic areas. Each piece listed NRDC as a partner
and included at least one quote from an NRDC staff
expert.
∙∙ Content Testing
The three content pieces were published on the same
day of the week over the course of three weeks. Each
piece received two social media posts on Global Citizen’s
Facebook and Twitter channels, as well as a modest paid
boost.
∙∙ Campaign Topic Selection
Taking into account social media engagement, content
page views, and average time on page, the top performing
content topic was chosen: community impact of
commercializing public lands.
An example of a socialized piece of content
created for NRDC
Sample of long-form content piece created for NRDC.
5. GLOBAL CITIZEN X NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COU N CIL | 2017 CAM PAIGN 5
Phase 2
∙∙ Campaign Components
Global Citizen, with the help of NRDC, wrote an additional
content piece on the public lands campaign topic and
created a corresponding action. The launch of the content
piece and action was timed with a relevant news cycle.
∙∙ Campaign Marketing
Global Citizen published five social media posts and sent
two emails to promote the content piece and action. A
select number of social media posts were boosted to
increase their reach. Additionally, NRDC promoted the
content and action using its social media platforms.
∙∙ Results
Global Citizen and NRDC assessed the metrics from the
campaign—comparing content and action engagement with
similar campaigns on the Global Citizen platform.
The action page that Global Citizens used to take action on the issue. An example of a socialized piece of content created for NRDC.
6. GLOBAL CITIZEN X NATURAL RESOURCES DEFENSE COU N CIL | 2017 CAM PAIGN 6
What We
Learned
Global Citizen and NRDC set out
to test campaigning and topic
strategies, and learn from each
other’s strengths throughout
this campaign. Here are the key
takeaways from both organizations:
∙∙ Young People Care About Topline and Complex
Environmental Issues
Engagement was equally high on both content about
lighter-touch topics like monuments and public lands,
and content about more dense topics like scientific
research on pesticide regulations.
∙∙ Global Citizen’s Brand Offers Organizations a Way to
Talk About Issues In More Familiar Language
Expert legal organizations like NRDC are often more
restricted on how they can speak to their audience.
Global Citizen’s millennial-focused platform provides
organizations an opportunity to speak to a new
audience, while still remaining factual, authentic,
and impactful.
∙∙ Broadly-Focused Nonprofits Can and Should Lean
on Issue-Area Experts
Global Citizen’s movement to end extreme poverty
means working across many issue areas. Having a
trusted partner like NRDC gives Global Citizen constant
access to learning from experts in the environmental
space.
∙∙ A Committed Partnership Means Leaning into
Opportunities as they Arise
Whether it meant using NRDC experts for “breaking”
environmental editorial content pieces, including NRDC
leadership in Global Citizen events, or supporting other
NRDC initiatives on Global Citizen’s social channels,
both organizations were nimble and proactive around
new opportunities that leveraged each other’s strengths.
“Collaboration and
partnerships are
crucial aspects of
building our movement
to end extreme
poverty. That’s why
we’re so grateful to
have learned from
the environmental
leaders at NRDC.”
Simon Moss
Managing Director,
Campaigns at Global Citizen
7. Both Global Citizen and NRDC are eager
to share the success of this campaign
with other organizations and discuss
opportunities for additional partnerships.
To get in touch with Global Citizen,
please reach out to Simon Moss
(simon.moss@globalcitizen.org).
For inquiries to NRDC, please reach
out to Nora Mango (nmango@nrdc.org)
or Ashley Elles (aelles@nrdc.org).
GLOBALCITIZEN.ORG
