How marketing can change the world: lessons from a campaign that saved 25 hectares of forest
Marketing with a social mission is usually treated as a bonus to the real business. "Oh, it would be good to do something like that… but maybe once there's money and time left over." And then you talk to Zuza Gutowska, president of the Las na Zawsze (Forest Forever) Foundation, and suddenly it turns out you can look at it in a completely different way!
Marketing doesn't have to be just nice packaging for a product or yet another ad. It can be an extremely effective tool for change! One that really moves the world in some direction, not just tells a nice story about it.
The launch of the book "The Five" by Tomek Karwatka became the occasion for one of the most spectacular marketing-for-good campaigns in Poland. The result was a livestream lasting over 9 hours, dozens of experts taking part, tens of thousands of viewers and… 25 hectares of forest saved.
But this is not the story of one viral event. It's a story about strategy, decisions and a very deliberate approach to marketing in non-profit organisations.
Watch the conversation (in Polish).
Full episode of the SUURowo o marketingu podcast.
When marketing stops being promotion and becomes a mechanism of influence
A very important element of the whole initiative was that the social goal wasn't "tacked on" to promotional activities. It was their core from the very beginning.
When writing the book, Tomek Karwatka took the pressure of commercial success off himself. All proceeds from sales were to support the Las na Zawsze Foundation. This gesture not only simplified the narrative, but also, as he admitted himself, let him write more freely, without imposter syndrome or the tension of being judged by the market.
This set off something much bigger. Instead of a classic book promotion campaign, the idea arose of an all-day charity livestream that combined education, a community of entrepreneurs and a very concrete goal: protecting forests.
Marketing in this sense wasn't about selling a product, but about inviting people to act together.
Scale in a month? Yes, but only with a clear decision
One of the most striking threads of the conversation is the pace of the whole project. Less than a month passed from idea to execution.
All of this was possible only because decisions were made quickly and unambiguously. The Brave Courses team took on the organisational, production and promotional load. The Las na Zawsze Foundation added context, credibility and meaning.
The livestream was only the finale, though. Before it, a whole ecosystem of content and products was created: recorded materials, courses, podcasts and guidebooks. At the same time, there was promotion on social media, a meeting at the Warsaw School of Economics (SGH) and intensive communication on Tomek Karwatka's personal channels.
An important lesson: big campaigns don't happen on the day of the event, but in the weeks of preparation, testing and consistently repeating the message.
NGO marketing: not relying on emotions, but on a precise value proposition
The Las na Zawsze Foundation communicates mainly with businesses, not individual donors. That means completely different challenges.
Companies ask about the purpose, the results and the justification of costs. And they very often compare offers purely on price. This is where the biggest tension appears: how do you explain that protecting a forest costs more than symbolically planting trees?
Zuza Gutowska's answer is simple: the foundation doesn't sell saplings. It sells the permanence of an ecosystem. It buys land, takes responsibility for it and protects forests that can no longer be recreated if they disappear.
Marketing in this case is therefore about education: explaining the difference between symbolic and systemic action, and building a narrative that shows that the higher price reflects real value, not a margin.
Experience instead of an event. Relationships instead of leads
One of the foundation's most effective marketing tools is… forest planting. Not as CSR activities to tick off, but as experiences.
Companies come with employees, partners or clients. They work together physically. They talk without phones, without conference rooms, without formal structures. As a result, relationships form that are hard to build in any other format.
For the foundation, it's also a lead qualification tool. Instead of a classic sales funnel, there is joint action that very quickly shows whether values are aligned.
This is marketing based on experience, not on promises.
Lessons from Tech To The Rescue: readiness beats perfection
The conversation also touches on Zuza Gutowska's earlier experience with the Tech To The Rescue foundation. There, you can see very clearly how important readiness to act is in marketing, even if not everything is perfectly prepared.
The foundation's first campaign was a failure. But it was that failure that meant that when the war in Ukraine broke out, the team already had templates, a landing page, processes and tools ready.
As a result, Tech To The Rescue was able to react faster than most organisations. And the fast reaction translated into global interest and collaboration with the biggest media outlets and technology partners.
Marketing here is not about predicting everything, but about being prepared for the moment a window of opportunity opens.
A crisis helps, but it can't be a strategy
The conversation includes a very important reflection: crises mobilise people, but you can't base all your communication on tragedies alone.
Foundations that want to work for the long term have to build awareness and relationships outside peak moments too. The example of WOŚP (the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity) shows that you can create one strong moment a year that focuses attention without having to refer to a current crisis.
This brings us back to strategy: planning communication over a long horizon, not reacting only when something happens.
The answer to a lack of budget? Creativity and courage
NGOs rarely have the comfort of big marketing budgets. What's more, donors often dictate what the money can be spent on, limiting investment in marketing and operations.
This forces a different approach: creative use of trends (like AI hackathons on the ChatGPT wave), quick testing of ideas, and readiness to invest your own funds before a sponsor appears.
This is also an important business lesson: a lack of budget doesn't excuse you from strategic thinking. Quite the opposite: it forces you into it.
What stays with us after this conversation?
And above all, it shows that marketing, if it is well thought out, can really change the world. Not metaphorically. Literally.
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