Right now, the world's species are dying at the same rate as when the dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. Today, 1 million species are at risk of extinction. It's crucial that we act. But the scale and complexity of the problem is so overwhelming that we don't even know where to start. We must find a way to make this massive problem simpler and easier to grasp in order for people to do something.
WWF, Google and leading scientists from around the world, have for the first time in history, estimated when our most endangered species will go extinct. And it’s not just a guess, but the best estimate possible, because the dates are based on extensive data gathered from numerous sources. All of which has been compiled and turned into dates which have been put into a calendar accessible to everyone. Turning the calendar into a media channel at zero cost.
The Extinction Days calendar uses the mechanics we're familiar with from eg. the holidays calendar where important days are highlighted. However, our calendar tells a different story - it reveals extinction days of various species.
By leveraging the functionality and simplicity of Google Calendar, we've organised the crisis by breaking it down into manageable pieces. Throughout the year, the calendar will remind us of the extinction days of different animals and provide us with a tool to support WWF's work - and thereby help postpone or even cancel these events.
A new kind of media channel:
By being inside their calendar we have created our own media channel with zero media cost. This also means that the campaign won’t only run during a campaign period. It will run continuously and keep pushing our message. One reminder at a time.
The Extinction Days calendar was released on January 29, 2024, and will be available for many years to come as an endless and free fundraising campaign for the world's endangered animals. The campaign has so far been running in Denmark, where it has generated positive coverage in various media outlets. It has received 74 article mentions equivalent to 2 million Danish kroner in media spend. An amount that means a lot to an NGO where every single penny counts. Reach: 9.4 million. There have been visits to extinctiondays.com from 90 countries despite the campaign only running in Denmark. There was 25% interaction with the campaign. And at the time of writing, the idea is being pitched to WWF offices worldwide, which will be able to connect to the calendar without having to do anything, as everything is in the cloud. More researchers are being connected, and more dates will continuously be added to the calendar.