The Challenge.

Naturally, having such a vast amount of partners meant we had a steep incline to scale in order to coordinate a cohesive set of messages to shine a light on the Salmon School. Likewise, its being an art piece demanded creative approaches to exposing all the nuanced studies, and alarming data, that united those organisations bringing it to COP26.

Whilst we knew we needed to communicate a series of crucial issues to delegates, key figures, and the public, we also knew those issues needed to be tailored to the right regions. From protecting freshwater habitats, and barriers to migration, to the impacts of Salmon farming and commercial fishing. Many of these issues had their unique nuances for the organisations we worked with.

Combined with an at-times-turbulent build up to the climate summit, that saw confirmation of Salmon School’s presence arrive on our desks little over a month before COP26 opened its doors, we knew we had to provide an effective and centralised plan going forward.

Our Solution.

Our first step was to set up the means for consistent communication between all the involved organisations. This meant getting the key figures together on a series of weekly calls in the lead up to COP26. In doing so, we were able to create and fill a centralised digital resource containing assets, press releases, images, social media, and press reports, and Q&As. Crucial to this centralised resource was a coordinated social media calendar that allowed the amplification of key messages at key points the build up to, and duration of, COP26.

We knew, however, that during the run time of COP26 we’d need to be able to react quickly to new events, and capitalise on new opportunities.  As such, we shifted the weekly calls to daily ones and, in doing so, allowed us to make the most of all the key figures who found themselves under the 350 glass blown Salmon piece.

But, more than that, we knew we the nature of Salmon School gave us a wonderful opportunity to bring it’s message to entirely new sectors of the press and social media. As a result, we coordinated a major push to target both art and science publications throughout the UK to shed light on the story of Salmon School and the issues it stood to Highlight

The Results.

The results of our work with the Missing Salmon Alliance on Salmon School were nothing short of cathartic. We reached an estimated 14,083,975 people through press coverage –  in print, digital and broadcast – alongside reaching an additional estimated 3,714,442 through social media platforms.

However, it was the quality of coverage that granted us the most satisfaction. Opening with an exclusive article with the Scotsman meant putting issues of Scottish wildlife right into the laps of those most affected, whilst several interviews with BBC Radio Scotland allowed us to give voices to some of the most important figure heads behind the Salmon School piece.

Likewise, our efforts to get Salmon School’s message on the pages of the art press saw the piece exposed to the 687,000 readers of the Art Newspaper, and the National Arts & Culture’s multiple million online users.

The results we saw on the Missing Salmon Alliance’s social media platforms were another avenue where we saw great success. Be it in the resharing of Salmon School’s message by @SeaLegacy, an Instagram page with more than 2,400,000 followers, or the quadrupling in monthly mentions and engagements we saw on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, meant that the message of Salmon School reached far beyond our regular audience.