Getting to the root of tree sponsors’ motivations
From sit-downs with Space Popes to heart-to-hearts with members of US Congress, interviews are some of my best work. This time around, it was local Bristol residents who’d sponsored trees outside their homes.
Background
Trees for Streets is an innovative tree sponsorship charity. They wanted to tell their tree sponsors’ stories on their blog in order to increase their brand awareness and conversion rates. I picked up my trusty notepad and DSLR and hit the streets of Bristol.
Solution
For the sponsor stories to be effective, they needed to convey genuine, relatable emotion – that kind that gently plants the seed of ‘I should do that too’.
Nostalgia
Community
Sentimentality
During my first sponsor interview, I discovered that the whole neighbourhood had chipped in to sponsor their trees and dreamed of replanting the entire street. Recognising an opportunity to capture that community spirit, I suggested knocking on a few doors to gather the neighbours for a group photograph.
One of these neighbours mentioned seeing a vintage photograph of the same street, once lined with magnificent elms. Recognising an opportunity for a shareable story, I tracked down that photograph before returning to the exact location to recreate the shot, producing a striking side-by-side comparison of the street’s past and present.
The pandemic lockdowns had unexpectedly strengthened the neighbourhood’s sense of community – a story many prospective sponsors could relate to. I used this as the emotional backbone of the article, threading together nostalgia, shared experience, and aspiration to draw readers into asking themselves, ‘Why couldn’t my community do that too?’ by the time they reached the closing call to action
Results
• My very first tree sponsor interview was picked up by local press, before spreading to TV news and the BBC, generating fantastic exposure for the charity.
• Trees for Streets quickly sent me out to capture more tree sponsor stories.
"Alex has a real talent for uncovering the most compelling angle in a story and telling it in a way that connects with people, as well as being an absolute pleasure to work with. He produced one of our most impactful case studies, generating a high level of interest, securing BBC coverage, and inspiring a surge of enquiries from other streets."
Elizabeth Barker, Operations Manager, Trees for Streets