NWTF Highlights Success of Hunt For Good Campaign

Hunt For Good, created by a coalition of conservation partners led by the NWTF, includes a messaging toolkit that communicates the values shared across the hunting and non-hunting community.  

Harling’s overview was different from other R3 presentations at the symposium; rather than focusing on how to recruit new hunters, Harling explained that Hunt For Good is specifically aimed at building cultural support for ethical and regulated hunting. This campaign targets the “middle 80%,” which refers to Americans who don’t have a strong opinion in support of or against hunting.  

The campaign spreads positive messages about hunting among non-hunters and helps collect data points about the most effective strategies and messages to bolster support of hunting.  

It highlights the societal, environmental, and economic benefits of hunting while combating common misconceptions, helping them understand why hunters are so invested in the outdoors and why hunting is beneficial to people and ecosystems to encourage advocacy and shift public perception.  

Harling showcased how Hunt For Good illustrates the wide range of benefits of hunting and shooting sports through various sub-campaigns, each with its own individuality, emphasizing the fact that every person has a specific motivation and reason for hunting. While some may agree with several reasons, their core reasons for hunting will most likely be different from others. 

“This campaign is based on many years of research which helped inform our strategy, tactics and messaging," said Harling. "The ads are designed to connect people with a variety of hunting benefits that may not be obvious to casual supporters. They showcase the benefits of hunting in a unique way, because people have different motivations for participating." 

The latest regional launch of the Hunt for Good campaign — in partnership with the Council to Advance Hunting and the Shooting Sports and the Northeast Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies — successfully demonstrated the campaign's ability to engage diverse audiences and the potential to shift perceptions of hunting.  

Missouri similarly launched a state-wide campaign in partnership with the Missouri Department of Conservation. They saw a lot of success with the Hunt for Clarity ad, which younger users were seeing on social media platforms like Snapchat and Spotify. 

“The insights from the most recent launch of the campaign helped build a foundation for scaling it and for ensuring it remains adaptive and impactful across varying demographics and platforms,” said Harling. “For example, many of the ads that performed the best highlight non-traditional benefits of hunting such as fitness and conservation. We also learned that digital display and social media proved to be the most engaging channels.”