Evolution: how animal shelters are like music videos

If you haven’t already; check out this OK Go clip, featuring some amazing rescue dogs (background on the clip here);

Not only is it an absolutely fantastic hat tip to rescue, with clearly happy dogs doing ‘doggy’ things, this video is a bit of a microcosm for what is happening right now in the rescue industry.

If you’re old like me, you’ll remember a time when music videos weren’t allowed on YouTube. If you recorded one of your favourite bands off Rage and put it up, it would immediately be taken down for infringing copyright and you’d receive a stern letter from the record label. This was because the music industry saw the public as a threat to its profit model, wanted to maintain absolute control on how and where its artists were represented and really liked the status quo and didn’t want to change.

Unburdened by the restraints of big music labels, small artists bucked this trend. They interacted with their public directly through mediums like YouTube, Myspace (and more recently Facebook and Twitter) and started to actively encourage people to share their music and ideas. They could see their public wasn’t their ‘problem’, but were in fact their customers. And they realised that people if people were inspired, engaged and given tools to share their passion that they could generate millions of dollars worth of free promotion (personal recommendations, the holy grail of marketing!)

Now nearly all music videos are uploaded to YouTube by bands. This OK Go video has been viewed 4.4 million times in 8 days! The capacity of an empowered fan base is immeasurable.

The major rescue groups in Australia, are still maintaining a very 1990’s-music-label view to business. They see the public as a threat and an enemy to be coerced at every opportunity. They work to maintain absolute control on how and where their animals are represented, often not only NOT using free social media tools, but actively chasing and threatening the public who take their time to do it on their behalf. They like the power they have under the status quo and don’t want things to change.

The reason most ‘big’ animal welfare groups fail in their efforts to engage their community’s is, like the music industry, you can’t despise your public and ask them to help you. You can’t ask people to be inspired and spread your message, while keeping your performance hidden and refusing to be truthful. You can’t enter the social media space and refuse to talk honestly about your successes and your failings. You can’t present your organisation as a community member, when you lock out your public and refuse to let them work with you.

The new, No Kill advocates are the remixers, the independents and the rock stars of the modern rescue industry, empowering their public to not only speak up for animals, but to promote and support their lifesaving mission. They see their public as a fan base to lead and inspire. They encourage participation and demand that their public aren’t just silent spectators, but vocal advocates helping spread their messages. They are modest, don’t take their community’s support for granted and work to be transparent and accountable.

The shift in mindset is profound. It may even be impossible for those who’ve always had complete control to ever move comfortably in the cloud, working without the safety of ‘walls’ between the public and their organisation. But for tomorrow’s No Kill leaders, this is an enormous opportunity. With no limits, there is no limits to what can be achieved.