In 2014, photographer David Slater sued Wikimedia Commons, claiming authorship of a “selfie” taken by a monkey with his camera. A U.S. court recognized the lack of authorship of the image, ruling that it belonged to neither the photographer nor the monkey and the controversy fell into a legal vaccuum.

For that reason WWF and LatinStock came together to create the first collection of images taken entirely by animals and whose proceeds will go to protecting endangered species.

Two organizations, experts in their respective sectors, propose a whole new way to connect with nature by creating Animal Copyrights.

As a result of the campaign, LatinStock’s website experienced a 300% increase in traffic, receiving a media attention and generating awareness of animal rights. The proceeds from the photo collection continue to grow, taking into account that the campaign is still in progress. Since the launch of the campaign, the number of WWF members has increased by 10%.

The collection was launched on LatinStock’s website at the end of March and a few days later we sent an email to their users, as well as to WWF members, inviting them to take part in the Animal Copyrights initiative.

The next phase was implemented on Instagram, where we created a dedicated account and posted previews of the photos that would be available for sale and explained their origins. We also launched a series of promotional videos on YouTube in order to generate interest and gain even more new clients.

The communications professionals that use image Banks on a regular basis, as well as users who are concerned with protecting the environment, found themselves as the target audience for Animal Copyrights.

Animal Copyrights was as important to WWF as it was to LatinStock, as a way of discovering new target audiences as opposed to their habitual public.