The development of selling sustainability in saving The Great Bear Rainfores

This is a case study of The Great Bear Rainforest conservation campaign, which is the largest successful conservation effort in North America. Specifically, this paper addresses what public relations strategies were used during the decade long campaign for the Great Bear Rainforest? How did the environmental organizations leverage relationships with the customers of the logging companies to persuade them to support their conservation goals in the campaign? How did the environmental organizations use framing in the campaign? How was an international political advocacy campaign used in The Great Bear campaign? Why was the conservation economy created and what significance did it have in the success of The Great Bear conservation campaign? In the mid (1990)'s, the Sierra Club of British Columbia, Greenpeace British Columbia and ForestEthics joined forces to launch a campaign to stop logging in The Great Bear Rainforest. This campaign used relationship management, framing and international advocacy campaigning. Relationship management scholars argue that relationship management should use two-way communication that seeks solutions that are mutually beneficial for the organization and stakeholders. The Great Bear Rainforest campaign illustrates how relationship management can be used to reach mutually beneficial solutions that are based on common interests and shared goals. The result of reaching a mutually beneficial solution was the creation of a conservation economy.