In today’s world where media is fast-paced, profit margins are key and positive news can be lost amongst the ever-increasing platforms and influencers. There is a greater need to creatively bring forward the positive actions good zoos take to protect and conserve the natural world and genetic diversity within captivity.
Every zoo birth is special, continuing to contribute to the protection of species' survival across the globe. However, often these are fleeting news or small taglines at the end of a report.
Paradise Wildlife Park’s key objective with the red panda (Ailurus fulgens) birth was to connect with a wide demographic across media platforms and news outlets allowing a diverse number of individuals to emotionally connect with the campaign. Our overall aim was to provide a social and press campaign which installed hope and positivity in conservation. With the target to bring a continued positive light to all good zoos (ex-situ conservation) and their key actions in species survival (in-situ conservation).
This campaign involved changing the mindset of an already large fan base for the cute and fluffy species. In 2019 we released the article: Red Pandas as Pets teaching about the illegal pet trade and the direct negative impact on their conservation status. From January 2022 to July 2022 this article had 14,103 direct views alone. Highlighting this need for re-education.
With Paradise Wildlife Park’s social media holding over 1 million followers across various platforms, leverage to promote species conservation was possible. Press relations and the ability to take on interviews with immediate effect after the release was a method to heighten the campaign.
This campaign reached over 140 media channels worldwide, with national and international media covering conservation messaging. This project brought conversations about conservation to the forefront of mainstream media, which carried on for months after the release and allowed for the important work good zoos do to be celebrated and made aware of globally.
The campaign's reach and viewership created a positive contribution not only to the brand of Paradise Wildlife Park but also to the BIAZA brand and community. From the launch video in August 2022 which saw a reach of 271.9k to Red Panda updates in October 2022 which saw an increase to 1.8 million reach on Facebook alone, saw the traction of reachability continue to grow positively which even surpasses 2022. All social platforms saw an increase in viewership and followers throughout this campaign. Instagram saw the campaign still having traction 5 months later with a viewership of 424k on red panda content. Red Pandas as Pets article saw a decrease of 33.38% from August to December 2022 when compared to January to August 2022. The page saw an increase of 22.93% in time on the page when compared to the same timeframe. Showing the possibility of mindset changing, fewer individuals are searching for pets but also people are more interested in reading about the problems facing red panda conservation.
This projected was submitted to the BIAZA Awards PR, Marketing, Digital and Events category 2023 and won a Gold award.
