In the dark about Earth Hour

A week ago today the earth went dark for Earth Hour.

In Quebec, the World Wildlife Fund, Earth Hour’s sponsor, turned to ad agency Bleublancrouge for a way to raise Earth Hour’s visibility in the province. In her Persuasion column a week ago, the Globe & Mail's Jennifer Wells detailed what the agency recommended and implemented; a super cool darkened website http://www.ideasinthedark.ca where “visitors scroll across the seemingly black screen, the mouse casts the glow of a subtle spotlight upon the text, a call to Quebeckers to participate in Earth Hour 2009.”

Wells wrote about what the agency calls “eco-creativity”: on Saturday, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. E.T.,  Montreal will play host to Ideas in the Dark, where artists will create with the lights out and then put their works on display when the lights come back on. There will be creative thinking in the dark, and musical performances in the dark, all in aid of a celebration.

Did it work?

You be the judge.

Here are two data points to help you in your analysis:

The Gazette reports a saving of 150 megawatts of power across the province – exactly the same as for last year’s event.

A study released this week conducted by Ipsos Reid on behalf of Canwest News Service revealed that participation rates varied greatly across the country. Overall, Ontarians (74%) were the most likely to report having observed Earth Hour, while a majority in Alberta (63%), British Columbia (62%), Atlantic Canada (59%), and Saskatchewan and Manitoba (57%) also got involved. The lowest reported levels of participation are found in Quebec (35%).

In Alberta (+11) and Ontario (+3) participation rates increased over last year. But in BC (-8), Quebec (-3) and Atlantic Canada (-2) participation dropped, while it remained unchanged in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

A closer look at the results points to the real issue in Quebec.

While only 7% of Canadians have never heard of the event, 1 out of 5 Quebecers (19%) has never heard of it.

WWF might want to rethink its awareness building strategy in Quebec. The site and its related activities may have been super cool but it seems to have kept Quebeckers in the dark about Earth Hour.

Comments

[aleria]

This is, in my view, very reflective of the WWF problems in Canada. I consider myself very aware of environmental issues and I've given to the WWF before, but I haven't seen anything in French from them in months, if not years. For this year's Earth Hour, all the information I got was in English and came from the web. And since it didn't come from my primary sources of information (La Presse, 98.5 FM and Radio-Canada), I wasn't really aware of the event until it was too late. I suspect most of the province is in pretty much the same situation. Until you hear from it from the "real media," it doesn't really register as an actual event.