Episode 122: Protect What We Love - Finding the Universal Story in Climate Communication with John Marshall, Co-Founder - Potential Energy
In this episode of Can Marketing Save the Planet, we are joined by John Marshall, CEO and Founder of Potential Energy, a coalition dedicated to changing the way we talk about climate change by finding messages that transcend division and actually move people to take action.
John's journey into climate communications came from a place of frustration around how public concern wasn't translating into action. He realised the issue wasn't a lack of information, more a lack of connection, "we don't really have so much of a division issue in the US, we have more of a distribution issue. People aren't getting the message, but when you do the message well, everybody moves."
John put their insights to test with a Super Bowl ad for Science Moms which delivered 14-to-one positive sentiment, and was ranked a top 10 Super Bowl ad by the New York Times, and importantly grew more support among conservatives than progressives. Why? "It was a story about a mom and her kids. If you twist it 90 degrees and find universal values that everybody cares about, then you can actually get universal appeal."
Potential Energy's whole approach is about stripping away the technocratic language and telling human stories. Comedy works. Animals work. Children work. Their “Protect what we Love” campaign in the UK proved that framing climate action around protecting the things we hold dear, cuts through where data alone fails.
John also challenges the instinct to lead with sacrifice, "sacrifice messaging connotes in people's brains that costs will go up. We need to talk about abundance and more energy.” This reframing around economic benefit, energy security, and patriotism opens doors that guilt-based messaging closes.
For marketers feeling the fear of speaking up, John's advice is simple and direct,"don't be afraid to talk about it. It's not a bad word. It's not going to hurt you. Be real, be authentic, but it's on your consumers' minds. Be courageous."
Tune in as we talk to John about:
The Super Bowl ad and what that tells us about universal messaging.
The failure of technocratic language and the power of human stories.
How to make climate communication resonate.
Moving from sacrifice messaging to abundance messaging.
Why talking about more, not less of everything, is a more effective.
The "distribution issue" and how to create content interesting enough to earn its own distribution through cultural carriers.
Practical advice from a decade of message testing
And why “protect what we love” always, always works.
For more information and insights visit:
Potential Energy Coalition website: https://potentialenergycoalition.org/
And sign up for regular updates via their newsletter:
Potential Energy Coalition's That's Interesting Newsletter: https://potentialenergycoalition.org/newsletter/
Enjoy… and as ever, do let us know what lands for you.
With love
Michelle & Gemma
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