Animals line up for London Zoo stocktake
By Joanna Dring on Wednesday, January 9, 2013
It would have been easy to begin this blog post with: “They say ‘never work with animals or children.’ ” So I’m not going to.
Instead, I imagined the moment in the ZSL London Zoo PR hub when someone posed the question: “How do we make this necessary piece of admin a global news story?”
Well, quite easily really.
The London Zoo stocktake was a great piece of PR.It resonated with kids, adults, men, women, conservationists, animal lovers, people from Britain, people who love Britain…. The list goes on.
And, the great part about it is that there’s nothing complicated or costly about generating the story. They bolstered it by inviting journalists to get involved ensuring more detailed coverage and first hand experience. This piece by Martin Phillips of The Sun is a great example.
Fantastic pictures which personified the animals worked well too. So images of penguins near a sign saying ‘Line up here to be counted,’ and snakes wrapped around clipboards brought the stocktake to life.
I’m looking forward to some follow up coverage – just how many tarantulas are there? How many more ants are there than lions?! Which breed has produced the most offspring this year?!
I see an infographic coming…