Testing branding techniques on species common names to improve their fundraising profile for conservation

Abstract

In the search for new ways to bring attention to the conservation of neglected species, marketing is increasingly recognised as offering new insights. Brand creation frameworks provide guidelines to create names or symbols for products that will differentiate them from the competition. In this paper, we examine if species common names that follow these guidelines can improve their fundraising potential. Using a novel choice experiment format that employs a budget allocation task, we evaluate if species common names influence donor preferences, where participants were given real money to donate to the species of their choosing. We model the data collected, which is fractional response data, using a Hierarchical Bayesian Dirichlet regression. Our results indicate that while all attributes are positively related to making a donation, Appeal and Familiarity coefficients are statistically significant but Name is not. There were also no statistically significant interactions between Name and any of the socio-economic variables. Our results on the importance of Appeal and Familiarity follow past research but contradict past research on the importance of common names, although the latter looked at common names in isolation. This suggests that species traits should not be tested in isolation when trying to understand the drivers of donations to wildlife conservation, as some traits that may appear important when tested separately become comparatively irrelevant when placed in a more realistic context where respondents have to consider multiple species traits. Future research into the influence of common names should investigate the possible impact of name sentiment as well as whether names with geographic references increase support from donors from those areas.

Impact on species' online attention when named after celebrities

“…Therefore, perhaps public consumption and recreational behavior has more impact than naming on fish species’ Wikipedia attention. Overall, our results support suggestions that conservation marketing techniques (here, naming) can particularly affect species that are typically less popular than others (Díaz‐Restrepo et al., 2022; Veríssimo et al., 2017). Moreover, they add to the notion that celebrities can help generate public attention (Anderson, 2013; Goodman & Littler, 2013), especially for less recognized brands (i.e., species [Udo & Stella, 2015]).…”

“…Additionally, even though Díaz‐Restrepo et al. (2022) and Blades (2020) found that species names do not significantly influence conservation support for them, they focused on mammals (whose favorable aesthetics may have overshadowed any influence of naming). Thus, it should be explored whether the potential impacts of naming remain insignificant across other taxonomic groups.…”

Naming the menagerie: creativity, culture and consequences in the formation of scientific names

“…R. Soc. B 290: 20231970 common names can affect opinions about conservation worth [82]; but see [83,84]).…”

Flagship individuals in biodiversity conservation

“…2020; Díaz‐Restrepo et al . 2022), the possession of a name seems to be important for the effectiveness of flagship individuals. For example, Cecil the lion's popularity has been partly attributed to use of his personal name instead of his research code number (MAGM1) in marketing (Macdonald et al .…”

“…The assigned name allows flagship individuals to become recognized, be referred to as unique individuals, and be attributed a status not unlike personhood (Levin 2015). Although links between the common name of a species and the success of conservation efforts remain unclear (eg Carvell et al 1998;Gregg et al 2020;Díaz-Restrepo et al 2022), the possession of a name seems to be important for the effectiveness of flagship individuals. For example, Cecil the lion's popularity has been partly attributed to use of…”