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Summer means a few things – getting a chance to spend time with your friends and family – and of course eating food. As you begin to plan your picnics it’s worth keeping in mind the message that the folks over at Dogwood Alliance have been spreading with their Kentucky Fried Forests campaign – another example of a Campaign We Love.

The Dogwood Alliance is a group dedicated to protecting forests in the American south by encouraging corporations whose paper products originate there to support sustainable processes. They’ve had a lot of success in the past working as negotiators and have convinced companies like Staples, McDonald’s and Georgia-Pacific to commit to changes. Currently they are making a full court press against KFC to adopt a sustainable packaging policy.

So why do we love this campaign? 

Great Focused Issue – In all of their materials Dogwood Alliance has made sure to show the local connection between KFC’s inaction and the damage to the Green Swamp in North Carolina. Demonstrating these kind of ties is a great way to engage your target audience – when it is tangible, people are more likely to see it as actionable.

Persistence – They started this campaign back in 2010 and here 2 years later they are still fighting strong. It can be easy to lose steam but we love that they haven’t. Part of their success in maintaining the fight comes from fine tuning their message over time – a lesson that is worth learning.

Engaging Actions – All spawning from the centralized Kentucky Fried Forests idea Dogwood Alliance has helped coordinate a variety of different kinds of actions, from call-in days, to demonstrations to the production of some great targeted grassroots materials. It’s important to try a variety of tactics to engage audiences in different ways – something Dogwood Alliance is particularly good at.

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