But it cost $18,098 to reach this audience, the key question isn’t whether they can reach them, it’s whether the campaign is likely to create a net new impact for animals.
Why it was likely a loss, even if we take their most generous estimates, is because their calculations don’t appear to account for
(a) donations displaced as a result of this campaign (I think we’ve all seen/heard people publicly and privately saying they’ve withdrawn donations to them)
(b) time and resources diverted across the movement by the conflict they’ve generated, or
(c) what they likely would have raised anyway without targeting Veganuary based on their other campaigns.
If the goal is donations for farmed animals, why choose a strategy that predictably creates backlash and movement conflict while also targeting the ‘highest-hanging fruit’. From an expected value perspective, it’s hard to see why this dominates lower-friction alternative.
But it cost $18,098 to reach this audience, the key question isn’t whether they can reach them, it’s whether the campaign is likely to create a net new impact for animals.
Why it was likely a loss, even if we take their most generous estimates, is because their calculations don’t appear to account for
(a) donations displaced as a result of this campaign (I think we’ve all seen/heard people publicly and privately saying they’ve withdrawn donations to them)
(b) time and resources diverted across the movement by the conflict they’ve generated, or
(c) what they likely would have raised anyway without targeting Veganuary based on their other campaigns.
If the goal is donations for farmed animals, why choose a strategy that predictably creates backlash and movement conflict while also targeting the ‘highest-hanging fruit’. From an expected value perspective, it’s hard to see why this dominates lower-friction alternative.