There are no restrictions pertinent to this campaign.

THE CHALLENGE:

The Johannesburg Zoo wanted to kickstart their social media presence and raise interest in their animals, news and events. However, couldn’t afford to be tied down to maintaining a social media platform that demanded round-the-clock attention.

THE STRATEGY

The zoo, with the help of some innovative technology, appointed one of its own animals, honey badger and zoo mascot BG, as an official social media ‘spokesanimal’.

THE EXECUTION:

THE WORLD’S FIRST LIVE TWEETING HONEY BADGER

A TECH-ENABLED ZOO ENCLOSURE LINKED TO TWITTER

BG the badger’s enclosure was rigged with bespoke, wireless infrared motion sensors, divided into six zones. These sensors talk to a server that holds a database of hundreds of pre-written BG tweets. As BG moves from zone to zone, the motion sensors pick up on his location and automatically trigger tweets from his Twitter account, in real-time. Using built-from-scratch coding, we ensure that the tweets are relevant to what BG is doing at the time i.e. front of enclosure triggers tweets about people, back and sides trigger animal neighbour tweets, elevated platform triggers zoo news, food bowl triggers food tweets and the night room triggers badger ponderings.

Set up as a regular, free Twitter account, BG’s profile is where people can learn about the zoo from a badger’s point of view. Tweets relate to what he’s doing inside his enclosure at the time and cover zoo news and events, charity drives and conservation issues, cheeky observations about zoo visitors and animal neighbours, selfie and meal photography and general badger banter.

The tech was smart solution to the zoo’s marketing challenge and completely changed the way that social media can be approached and used. Additionally, by using simple off-the-shelf components the tech was kept affordable, and by using solar-power the zoo ensured the system was eco-friendly too.

1. We created an engaging campaign video that advertised the zoo’s new social media spokesanimal and pushed to the Twitter feed.

2. We seeded this video in the launch week, by sending tailored PR packs to newsrooms, mircoblogs, blogs and metablogs around the world.

3. The zoo’s database was steered toward the feed via a witty email campaign and humourous posters advertising the feed were put up around the zoo for visitors.

4. We sustained interest, and stimulated shareability, by implementing a strategic content plan that was humorous, topical, riffed of popular-culture and tapped into visual culture trends like taking photos of meals and snapping selfies.

Output/ Awareness Results:

For a budget of under $1,000, the campaign generated more than $17 million dollars in earned media globally, delivering an Return of Interest of 1:17 384 and rising. The communication also reached more than 80% of the local South African population and an audience of over 800 million people globally.

Action/ Business Impact Results:

As a result, in 2013 zoo visits increased by 4.5% and event attendance by 48%. The zoo was voted Johannesburg’s Top Tourist Attraction and they built a loyal and active social following, increasing their Twitter following by 1,833% in just a few weeks.

The Tweeting Badger not only answered the Jo’burg Zoo’s communication challenge, but has become a key differentiator for them as a zoo. Zoo employees have noted many patrons asking for BG the Tweeting Badger by name upon entry and have not only seen an increase in zoo attendance, but a substantial increase in traffic around BG’s once-quiet section of the zoo. The campaign has also put South Africa on the map for global tourists, being voted one of the Top 14 Tourism Campaigns of 2013 by Skift Social.