2012 Community Conference
Reaching New (yet old) Audiences
James White: Guide Dogs
@tweetfromchaff
james.white@guidedogs.org.uk
Hugh am I?
Campaigner with Guide Dogs since 2011
Just back from 3 weeks at the party conferences (and Majorca!)
www.engagingnetworks.net
Problem: Attacks on guide dogs
http://youtu.be/ZeIPsv4NAg8
The number of guide dog owners who are reporting dog attacks on their
dogs is increasing. There are over eight guide dog attacks a month.
Dog attacks can have a devastating impact on both the people and dogs
involved. Guide dogs have been permanently withdrawn. The other
major impact is that blind and partially sighted people are left without a
guide dog, their mobility aid, and become housebound until they can be
matched with a suitable dog.
www.engagingnetworks.net
The solution
We want the law changed.
1. Compulsory microchipping of all dogs
2. Attack on an assistance dog
to be treated as seriously as an
attack on a person.
www.engagingnetworks.net
Our targets
Defra
MPs
We’d been asking our campaigners to send emails to their MP for
some time, but no real impact.
Fairly regular meetings with Minister, but again, no evidence we
were getting anywhere.
www.engagingnetworks.net
Our opportunity
Parliamentary Reception booked for June 13th which we decided
to use to draw attention to this issue. Usual invites to MPs etc
sent.
Decided to launch our latest dog attack research on June 11th
which received lots of media coverage.
Stroke of luck…Government Consultation due to close on June
15th…we didn’t know this when we booked our reception
www.engagingnetworks.net
What we did
Sent a short email to everyone on the Guide Dogs mailing list,
asking them to invite their MP to attend our reception.
First time this had been done, and had to explain why it was
important to others internally.
Kept the email simple.
Didn’t split test the title, which I would do.
www.engagingnetworks.net
www.engagingnetworks.net
What happened
Only 5% of people opened the email
But everyone who opened it clicked through to the Engaging
Networks form.
The majority of these people completed and submitted the form.
This meant over 3,000 emails were sent to over 620 MPs in about
24 hours.
Our best ever result.
www.engagingnetworks.net
What happened
On June 13th, 150 MPs attended our Parliamentary Reception,
including Caroline Spelman (Defra Sec of State at the time).
Crucially, many said they were there because they
had been asked to attend by constituents.
The previous year, only 40 MPs attended our
Parliamentary Reception.
www.engagingnetworks.net
What happened
Also, as well as asking people to invite their MP to the reception,
we also asked them to check an Opt In box to find out more about
Campaigns.
Over 60% of those who opened the email and clicked through to
the Engaging Networks form checked the box.
This meant that we doubled the number of people on our
Campaigning email list overnight.
www.engagingnetworks.net
A success? Yes, but…
•Most actions taken for any of our campaigns
•Doubled number of campaigners
•We engaged with MPs who we had never spoken to before
•79% of MPs are aware of the Dog Attacks campaign (NfP Synergy
survey). These are our best ever results.
But…
The Government still haven’t announced what they are going to
do, so the campaign is not over.
www.engagingnetworks.net
Any questions?
www.engagingnetworks.net
@tweetfromchaff
james.white@guidedogs.org.uk