The greatest strength of Voice Capture is the ability to use voices that come from outside of the organization to make your case. In 2007 when Senators Jon Tester and Max Baucus of
Montana supported an effort to remove wolves from the endangered species list, Defenders of Wildlife wanted to make sure that they heard not just from the big city environmentalists who they traditionally spoke for, but also from outdoorsmen and hunters.
We came up with a live operator call campaign targeted to modeled outdoorsmen and hunters that asked them about their experiences with wolves. At the end of the call, they were asked to record a message about their support for the protection of wolves. We received some incredible results.
The language we heard from these supporters – that wolves were “God’s creatures” and that Montana should remain “wild and free” – was language that had not been a part of the conversation previously. We recognized the power of these recordings and personally delivered them to the Senators’ offices, and Defenders of Wildlife converted them into a radio ad.
Recently polling has showed that people in the Pacific Northwest and Southwest still have strong feelings towards wilderness protection specifically wolf populations. Click here to read a summary and find the full report from Tulchin Research and click below to listen to some of the stories we captured.