How can we create a world where millions of people wake up in the morning to check how wildlife is doing?
The Goal
Internet of Elephants wants to disrupt the way wildlife conservation is supported today and make wildlife a global phenomenon where people interact with animals on a daily basis.
There is lots of evidence that people love wildlife. Yet very few of us actively support conservation causes. Apart from a small niche of dedicated conservation supporters, people are blocking out messages about the environment and the plight of wildlife. It feels too far away, the problems are too big: people feel overwhelmed. With decades of fundraising campaigns that warned about the extinction of our natural world, who can blame them?
We want to grow the audience that engages with wildlife, loves wildlife and supports it financially. We want wildlife to be a conversational topic at dinner, just like sports and politics. We want people to wake up and check their phones, excited to see what wildlife is up to that morning.
The Solution
Internet of Elephants wants 20 million people to wake up each morning and check their mobile phone to see what is happening with wildlife.
Tomorrow’s conservationist needs to be attracted on their terms. Online games are played by over 2 Billion people worldwide and have a proven capacity to captivate an audience. What if we could convert a percentage of these people to conservationists?
Games are social, emotional, participative, fun, accessible and lasting. Exactly what conservation needs to grow their support base beyond the already existing wildlife audience.
IoE goes one step further: we don’t just create games with wildlife characters in a fictional jungle or savanna.
We combine real animal data, Augmented Reality and gameplay to build a game our first fans and press are calling the ‘Pokemon Go’ of wildlife conservation.
Our games are based on real animals, with data provided by our conservation partners. Animals with their own names, family histories, favorite haunts, favorite foods, and daily adventures.
As humans we relate to the true stories of individuals. The same goes for animals. Look at how the world reacted to Cecil the lion, who had a name and a dramatic story. The true stories of wildlife are exciting: they don’t need embellishment; they just need to be told well.
Through Augmented Reality, we can bring animals living thousands of miles away, right into your home or your street. Seeing the animal, right there in front of you, in real life size and at their real speed, is a mesmerizing experience.
Through different game elements, you can race a cheetah, or track a rhino from up close.
The full game is currently in development, and the release date is yet to be announced.
The Results
Internet of Elephants is building towards their full game by creating iterations of prototypes that combine data, gameplay and augmented reality simulations.
Our first prototype attracted 500 users, and their feedback influenced the next stages of development. Our latest prototype, Safari Central, which was launched in the summer of 2017, has been downloaded over 12,500 times to date. At the end of 2017, we raised $80,000 through a kickstarter campaign to build out our augmented reality cast of characters.
Insider Tip
- We started by partnering with both large conservation organizations such as the Chicago Zoological Society and smaller ones such as the Tswalu Foundation.
- We secured private angel investment to build out the prototypes, and used a lean start up methodology focused on learning from our target audience and validating as many assumptions as we can.
- We opened up the development process to build an early adopter audience and a network of ambassadors that has grown steadily and which we can call upon once our full product is live.
- Our full focus is on creating a product that is enjoyable and of value to a wide audience, instead of relying on their good will or charity, which is not sustainable in the long term.
Resources
- Look at some of our data visualizations.
- Download IoE’s preview app, Safari Central, through the App Store or Google Play
- See some of the latest tech try-outs from IoE’s development team