Heartwired to Love the Ocean – A Messaging Guide for Advocates

A messaging guide for advocates: This guide is designed so that you can:
Find the information you need quickly while developing new messaging or revising existing messages; Better understand the mindsets of diverse audiences who love the ocean and are willing to take action to support it; and understand the research behind our recommendations on how to develop effective messaging to motivate target audiences to take action.

Key Takeaways

Human decision-making is influenced by how people are heartwired—the mind circuits and
connections that tie together their emotions, identity, values, beliefs, and lived experiences.
The heartwired research approach investigates the ways that these combine, and often collide,
to shape people’s attitudes and behaviors.

Six unique mindsets of potential ocean protectors emerged
* The All Senses Mindset
* The God’s Beautiful Creation Mindset
* The Amazing Wildlife Mindset
* The Laws & Policies Mindset
* The Feeling at Peace Mindset
* The Family Traditions Mindset

Recommendations:
Make issues human and accessible
Tap into emotions, values, beliefs, identity, and lived experiences
Show, don’t tell

Landscape:
Humanity is often missing—especially the lived experiences and images of people of colour
Stories of people and how their values, beliefs, and identity are tied to the ocean are often absent
A sense of urgency is often lacking
Problems are over-emphasized with little on solutions or a vision for the ocean
Small successes are rarely celebrated
Awe and inspiration are underutilized
Messages emphasize data, facts, and complexity—they can suffer from the ‘Curse of Knowledge’
People’s multi-sensory, lived experiences with the ocean are not adequately leveraged
Emotional connections and family traditions involving the ocean are lost opportunities
Broad cross-sections of ocean lovers beyond current donors and members of ocean advocacy organizations are not being reached