Public support for prescribed fire is widely acknowledged as a crucial factor in protecting and expanding its use. The strategies for fostering this support can range from individual efforts to events, articles, and more.
This spring, an initiative aimed at harnessing modern marketing for prescribed fire expanded into the Albany, Georgia region.
The new campaign in Albany uses marketing practices informed by behavioral science to reach target audiences with prescribed fire messages the audience cares about.
In this case, message testing with the target audience in the urban core of Albany revealed that jobs and the positive economic benefits of prescribed fire are important topics that help build support. This helped shape the campaign strategy that includes video ads on YouTube and social media, along with radio ads.
Utilizing paid advertising allows us to target selected ZIP codes and deliver ads at the frequency needed to help people remember the message. Each ad also points to the WhyPrescribedFire.org/Albany web page that reiterates key messages about how prescribed fire protects our communities and jobs, provides the Georgia Forestry Commission’s detailed map of current prescribed fires, answers common questions, and shares content for social media posts that people can use to let neighbors know the benefits of prescribed fire.
The new campaign in Georgia is funded through a grant from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), Wildlife Resources Division with funding originating from the Wildlife Restoration Act (Pittman-Robertson) administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Conservation Investment. The advertising campaign is only one part of the multi-faceted Georgia DNR grant focused on facilitating more burning on private lands in Georgia and the hunting opportunities that flow from high-quality forests managed with frequent fire. Funding the campaign strategy, development of creative ads, and paid media to deliver the messages to the target audiences are all long-term investments in broadening public support for prescribed fire.
Tall Timbers also partnered with The Jones Center at Ichauway, located just south of Albany, to help manage and implement the project. Staff members from both Georgia DNR and the Jones Center were instrumental in launching this campaign in Georgia.
Ads in Albany started running in early February and will run through April to coincide with peak prescribed fire use in the region. This summer, data from the advertising campaign will be evaluated to shape recommendations for another round of ads in spring 2026.
You can watch the two new video ads for Albany below and listen to a radio ad here.
The WhyPrescribedFire.org campaign website was originally built through a four-year public-private partnership between Tall Timbers and the Florida Forest Service that included targeted paid advertising from 2020 through 2023. From the very beginning in 2019, we had hopes the website could eventually be expanded to help support campaigns in other Southeastern states. Tall Timbers owns and operates the site and we were excited to make the updates needed to support the new Albany campaign investments by Georgia DNR. Leveraging this existing website helps reduce costs and take advantage of the years invested in building search engine recognition of the site as a trusted source.
You can now view all of the Florida and Georgia prescribed fire campaign content on WhyPrescribedFire.org.
Now it’s your turn. Talk about prescribed fire with newcomers. Share a post. Answer a question. You are part of the solution for protecting a practice that’s protected us all for years.
Visit WhyPrescribedFire.org
