The COP25 will take place in Chile, between December 2 and 13 , 2019

Chile will host the COP25 in 2019, with the happy coincidence that the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. It was created with the premise of reinforcing public awareness on a global scale about the problems related to Climate Change. The Conference of the Parties (COP) was established as the supreme organ of the Convention and the association of all the countries that are part of it. This year the most important climate conference in the world marks its 25th installment.

We believe that after a quarter of a century of fighting against climate change, the COP also deserves significant changes, especially in its communication and spread strategy. Chile has a golden opportunity in its hands to carry out these changes.

90% of people, including professionals and educated people, do not know what a COP Conference is. On the other hand, the environmental aspect is perceived by the public as a boring subject.

We must involve more people in the fight against climate change, especially when the next few years are perceived as dramatic on Earth. From now on the countdown begins to avoid a large-scale collapse.

A clash of constellations between the deniers and the supporters of clean energies is clearly visible. The more people become involved in the knowledge of the problem and become part of the solutions, the more likely it is to stop climate change.

What do we propose in SGK-PLANET?

Chile, together with the UN, could turn the opening of the COP25 into a great celebration, a Latin party of worldwide projection, like the inauguration of a football championship. A media event, of course not so expensive, since it does not have the big budgets that handle these mega sporting events. But a show full of lights, colors, music, celebrities and filled of Latin creativity, with the aim of capturing the attention of world.

The Chileans have accumulated a great experience through the Viña del Mar festivals. The idea is to make people turn their heads towards the COP25, in order to raise awareness in the fight against climate change and spread the methods that must be implemented for it.

In Chile, the failures observed in COP24 must be corrected. In Katowice the secrecy and the lack of information that lasted sometimes for several days during the two weeks of the event became evident. As a result, COP25 became one of the least news climate meetings we have seen. It was disappointing not being able to find information about what was happening there. It was found neither in the mainstream media nor in those specialized in ecology, environment and climate change. On the internet, when looking for news about what happened at the summit, the most recent dates were three or four days old.

During the COP25 it would be convenient that after each day an informative press conference was held on the progress made. Even the obstacles, inconveniences and even the clashes between the parties must be communicated daily. Whether the results are good or bad, the public must know it. For marketing all advertising is good, because it mobilizes people to be aware of the issue. The legion of journalists who will meet at COP25 could produce hundreds of headlines in newspapers around the world, an invaluable publicity without cost that in Poland was wasted.

Another aspect that should be reinforced for COP25 is the creation of expectations prior to the event. Let’s not forget that Chile 2019 is the prelude to 2020, the year of the entry into force of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

Chile, always in conjunction with the UN, must generate news with regularity, with information that produces interest in the public in the months prior to the event, obviously intensified in the previous weeks.

The press releases must be personalized and sent to each one of the 100 or 200 chosen media. The receiving environment will be grateful for the information and, in passing, would become a disseminator and part of the COP25.

The experts in marketing, advertising and communication in the UN and in Chile can do a great job. To begin with, it would be useful to build a timetable or roadmap for the coming months. This timeline should become the fundamental tool for dissemination and generation of expectations of the COP25. Obviously, it would contain the what, how and when of the event.

And why not develop the COP brand?

To change the perception that people have about COPs, the “COP brand” concept could be introduced. Today, not only soft drinks, perfumes and clothes are handled like brands. So do countries. The Germany Brand are an example of what a “country brand” is and how it develops. This methodology, with its corresponding adaptations, is perfectly applicable to COPs.

The COP brand would bring the benefit of improving the image of the most important climate conferences in the world. A marketing plan focused on the COP brand would help spread the problems that loom over the planet and could add thousands of collaborators and activists.

The efficiency of the COP brand, always under the umbrella of the UN, would be seen immediately. Through the global promotion of the COP brand, it could enter all areas, such as cultural, social, scientific and technological. Universities could have a leading role in all this if the message comes to them clearly and convincingly.

The COP brand would help to reinforce and disseminate The Chile Brand and therefore to the main sectors such as geography, culture, tourism, sports, exports, investments and international relations.

Chile-2019 can be the dividing line between a before and after in the history of the COPs. The Chileans have a golden opportunity to be the architects of the great change and with that to make history.

Sandor A. Gerendas-Kiss