Defining the future of the “Bear friendly” label

Together
with the marketing agency Nea Culpa, we have organized a workshop for the users
of the “Bear friendly” label. We introduced some examples of comparable labels
used abroad. Most of the workshop was dedicated to the brainstorming about the
future of Bear friendly label. We have also prepared a questionnaire about
satisfaction with the Bear friendly label and received 34 responses. More than
90% of respondents believe that their customers have positive or very positive
response to the label; therefore, they will continue to use the label after the
end of the project. Through the label, they can communicate the bear friendly
story to their customers, which shows that the bear friendly scheme is a good
platform to raise awareness about bear conservation, responsible tourism
practices and human-large carnivore coexistence measures.

Based on the workshop outcomes, the marketing agency made recommendations for the further development of the label: their advice is to develop a serious certification mark, with a detailed image guide, providing clear instructions for use. Complete workshop report can be found here (in Slovenian).