Great Lakes Forever: 2004 Wisconsin Pilot Project Evaluation Report

This 140-page report details the background, research, planning, and implementation of the Great Lakes Forever Wisconsin pilot - a public education and advocacy initiative designed to raise awareness of the value and vulnerability of the Great Lakes, a chain of freshwater lakes located on the Canada/United States of America (USA) border. Launched by the Biodiversity Project, the pilot project evaluated here drew on information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the media to share information, spur community-based action, and stimulate public policy changes in order to protect the Great Lakes from land- and water-based pollution. The 4 broad issue areas addressed by the campaign (which has continued, and expanded, beyond the pilot phase) include: water pollution, water export and overuse, habitat loss, and invasive species.

The report is organised into 6 sections. First, the authors detail the research and evaluation that took place prior to developing the campaign strategy; this process included a public opinion research project in the Great Lakes states, a review of current public education activity and investments in the region, and interviews with Great Lakes policy leaders. The second section describes the process by which Biodiversity Project used this research to develop a campaign strategy. As detailed here, organisers asked an advisory group comprised primarily of leaders from Great Lakes policy groups to review a draft campaign strategy. Informed by their recommendations, organisers developed a communication strategy that featured a clear statement of the problem addressed (the 4 issues cited above), intended audiences, messages, messengers, mediums and pathways for reaching intended audiences, and evaluation approaches.

In the third section, the authors elaborate their approach to evaluating the pilot campaign: the "Logic model", which is an outcomes-based evaluation model. In addition to describing the model and how organisers applied it to the Great Lakes Forever campaign, this section of the evaluation highlights some of the challenges associated with quantifying impacts from communications campaigns. The authors also provide an overview of the methods and measures used in the evaluation of the pilot campaign; for instance measures that served as indicators of their success with connecting with intended audiences included activity on the informational, interactive website, post card responses, and participant surveys. Section Four discusses the role of campaign advisers and partners in developing and implementing the campaign. Section Five provides a review of pilot campaign products and events, which included media outreach (a media kit and news releases), paid media (advertisements in select magazines and radio), a poster, point-of-experience products (signs in state parks and drink coasters in Great Lakes coastal restaurants and bars), targeted mailings, public events, the aforementioned website, and electronic newsletters. In Section Six, the authors share their overall impressions of the campaign, its cumulative impact, the major lessons learned, and recommendations for next steps and future work. The final section details implications for future work in this field, based on experience with Great Lakes Forever.

According to the report, this pilot project reached more than 1 million Wisconsin residents and visitors, and generated more than 40 Great Lakes-related stories in the Wisconsin media - including newspapers, magazines, radio, and television stories.

Here is an excerpt from Section 6 of the document:
"...The media firm, smartMeme, provided the following assessment of the broader campaign: 'The [Great Lakes Forever] campaign has been successful and Biodiversity Project is at the forefront of the environmental community's efforts to rethink approaches to media work and messaging. The Web site is a model for advocacy communications work...engaging values and telling the stories of sympathetic characters. The campaign has produced high-quality collateral materials (beer coasters, T-shirts, etc.) that have made an impression on the landscape of discourse around the Lakes, and their message has been amplified in the press. In the future, the messaging can build upon the public opinion that has been created to push more specific messages about what must be done to protect the Lakes. The [Great Lakes Forever] communications campaign has clearly influenced the 'idea space,' around Great Lakes issues and will help set the terms of the debate for future work on Great Lakes protection. To expand the campaign's successes it may be necessary to think more carefully about how ongoing communications work can help build an engaged conservation constituency with the muscle to change policy. In our assessment of the state of this work it is clear that a powerful foundation has been laid for future advocacy work on the Great Lakes and water issues in Wisconsin."

The paper concludes with multiple appendices that provide additional information on the campaign, evaluation techniques, and products. Materials that are referenced in the report, but not included in the appendices, are available on request from the Biodiversity Project (please see contact information, below); many items are also posted on the Great Lakes Forever website.