The primary objective here was to inform the public that the lion enclosure at the Johannesburg Zoo had been expanded. A secondary objective was to create awareness for the Johannesburg Zoo and get new customers through the gates. Space in the horoscope section of Johannesburg’s biggest daily newspaper was bought on May 23. Instead of Gemini’s write-up being prominent as would be expected on this date, Leo’s was given centre stage. A message beneath reads “The lion enclosure just got bigger”. The media team was present at briefing and because of limited budget, suggested numerous tactical ideas that included using space in the horoscope section of a daily newspaper with large circulation. In this way we achieved very high reach at a very small cost. A “reshuffling” of the usual star sign write-ups also had to be negotiated in order to make the idea viable. How do you create awareness and improve the image of a zoo on a very limited budget?Whether they admit it or not, most people at least glance at their horoscopes. If they did so on May 23 2001, they would have seen this single-minded message. On this date one would expect the Gemini write-up to have prominence. Instead, readers were surprised to find that Leo’s write-up had pride of place and was surrounded by lots of white space. With all the negativity surrounding animals in captivity, it was thought that this was a disarming way of letting people know that the lion enclosure was now a lot larger.

The media team was present at briefing and because of limited budget, suggested numerous tactical ideas that included using space in the horoscope section of a daily newspaper with large circulation. In this way we achieved very high reach at a very small cost. A “reshuffling” of the usual star sign write-ups also had to be negotiated in order to make the idea viable.