COP25 will take place in Chile, between December 11 and 22, 2019
Chile will host COP25 in 2019, with the happy coincidence that the most important Climate Conference in the world will celebrate its 25th birthday in Latin American territory. We believe that after a quarter of a century of fighting climate change, the COP also deserves significant changes, especially in its communication and outreach strategy. Chile has a golden opportunity on its hands to make these changes.
90% of people, including professionals and educated people, are unaware of what a COP Conference is. On the other hand, the environmental aspect is perceived by the general public as a boring subject.
More people need to be involved in the fight against climate change, more so when the coming years look dramatic on Earth. From here on the countdown begins to avoid a collapse of great proportions.
A clash of constellations is clearly looming between deniers and supporters of clean energy. The more people are involved in understanding the problem and making parts of the solutions, the more likely it is to slow down climate change.
What do we propose at SGK-PLANET?
Chile, together with the UN, could turn the opening of COP25 into a great celebration, a Latin party with a global projection, similar to the inauguration of a soccer championship. A media spectacle, of course not so expensive, since the large budgets that handle these mega sporting events are not available. But it is a show full of lights, colors, music, artists and above all Latin creativity, with the aim of capturing the world's attention.
Chileans have accumulated a great experience through the Viña del Mar festivals. The idea is to make people turn their heads towards COP25, in order to raise awareness in the fight against climate change and disseminate the methods that are they must implement for it.
In Chile, the failures observed at COP24 must be corrected. In Katowice, the secrecy and lack of information became notorious, sometimes lasting for several days during the two weeks of the event. As a consequence, COP24 became one of the least newsworthy climate gatherings we have seen. It was disappointing not being able to find information about what was going on there. It was not found either in the mainstream media or in those specialized in ecology, environment and climate change. On the internet, when looking for news about what happened at the summit, the most recent were three or four days old.
During COP25 it would be convenient for an informative press conference to be held after each day on the progress made. Even the obstacles, inconveniences and even clashes between the parties must be communicated daily. Whether the results are good or bad, the public should know. For marketing, all advertising is good, since it mobilizes people to be aware of the subject. The legion of journalists that will gather at COP25 could produce hundreds of headlines in newspapers around the world, invaluable free publicity that was wasted in Poland.
Another aspect that should be reinforced for COP25 is the creation of expectations prior to the event. Let us not forget that Chile 2019 is the prelude to 2020, the year of the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on climate change.
Chile, always in conjunction with the UN, must regularly generate news, information that produces interest in the public in the months prior to the event, obviously intensified in the weeks prior to the event.
The press releases must be personalized and sent to each of the 100 or 200 chosen media. The receiving media will appreciate the information and in the process would become a disseminator and part of the COP25.
Marketing, advertising and communication experts at the UN and Chile can do a great job. To begin, it would be useful to build a timeline or roadmap for the next few months. This timeline should become the fundamental tool for the dissemination and generation of expectations of COP25. Obviously it would contain the what, how and when of the event.
And why not develop the COP brand?
To change people's perception of POPs, the concept of “COP brand” could be introduced. Today not only soft drinks, perfumes and clothes are handled as brands. So do countries. The Argentina brand and the Spain brand are two examples of what a "country brand" is and how it develops. This methodology, with its corresponding adaptations, is perfectly applicable to POPs.
The COP brand would bring the benefit of improving the image of the most important climate conferences in the world. A marketing plan focused on the COP brand would help publicize the problems that loom over the planet and could add thousands of collaborators and activists.
The efficiency of the COP brand, always under the umbrella of the UN, would be immediately noticed. Through the global promotion of the COP brand, it could enter all areas, such as cultural, social, scientific and technological. Universities could play a leading role in all of this if the message reaches them clearly and convincingly.
The COP brand would help to strengthen and disseminate the Chile brand and therefore to the main sectors such as geography, culture, tourism, sports, exports, investments and international relations.
Chile-2019 may be the dividing line between a before and after in the history of COPs. Chileans have a golden opportunity to be the architects of great change and thus go down in history.
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