Fighting climate change with widget power
We like making friends here at NixonMcInnes, especially with new clients that have cool projects we can get involved with.
Above all we like making friends who are doing remarkable things. That is why when we were approached by CIDSE we knew we wanted to get involved in their campaign.
Therefore we would like to introduce you to our latest new client CIDSE.
CIDSE is a coalition of Catholic development organisations from across Europe and North America who has invited us to work with them in developing a joint international campaign to help continue the fight against climate change in general and its impact on poor people in particular.
CIDSE, who is cooperating closely with its Catholic sister network Caritas Internationalis in this endeavor, wants to bring awareness to climate change and the effect that it has on the world’s poorer nations. The current climate change agreement is set to expire in 2012. CIDSE and Caritas have asked NixonMcInnes to help with a campaign to lobby national governments into agreeing a post-2012 agreement which takes the needs and perspectives of poor countries and their people into account. Currently 150,000 people already die every year from the effects of climate change, the majority of them in the developing world.
We are proud to be putting our energies into to such a worthwhile challenge.
Oh and it isn’t a religious thing either, we agree wholeheartedly with CIDSE and Caritas who essentially believe that all human beings have a right to dignity and respect, and that the world’s resources are a gift to be shared equally by all men and women, whatever their race, nationality or religion.
So, how can social media help I hear you cry?
Two words my friend, two words; widget power and the fact that we recently designed and build a successful campaigning widget for Oxfam to accompany one of their campaigns which delivered really positive results so I guess you could say we’ll bring a little bit of brainpower to the table ourselves.
We plan to create a widgetised virtual landscape inviting people to sign up to an online petition. As more and more people sign up, virtual seeds will be planted to represent their voices. The seeds then grow into a plant and with more and more signatures the landscape begins to fill with colour and life.
We’re building an admin system that lets Member Organisations (MOs) customise the widget size and translate language fields themselves so that the widget can be installed across the multiple CIDSE & Caritas Internationalis’ websites and published in different languages.
The campaign will also be accompanied by an offline exercise which will involve us designing postcards to ensure the brand is carried through all the different areas of the campaign. The postcards will invite readers to sign the petition on the reverse enabling CIDSE and Caritas supporters to send them on to world leaders.
Each element works independently but when the two come together there is a physical manifestation which is more than just a list of names and addresses; it is a global response – the idea that together we are stronger, sending out a powerful message to world leaders that ‘we are doing our bit – now world leaders you do the same’.
Photo courtesy of CAFOD.
Ruth wrote this on 01.10.08 – 1 comment
It's filed in the NixonMcInnes, Social media, Web technology, Widgets box
On January 26th, 2009 at 3:36 pm, Ruth Baker responded:
See photos from the launch at the G8 Summit here – http://www.flickr.com/photos/cidse/sets/72157610913439026/
The photographer’s name is Danuta Witkowska and the rights are with CIDSE/Caritas Internationalis.