Fishgate Advertising decided to get people talking by running an interactive campaign around Cape Town. This consisted of a series of handmade posters, made of nothing but birdseeds and non toxic glue, which were displayed in various prime footfall locations. Taking advantage of the public curiosity generated, a guerrilla tactic was used where the message and images of the posters were recreated using stencils and seeds and quickly spread on the ground. The placing of the artwork created quite a buzz and passersby stopped to chat and photograph the process while posting to social networking sites.

Once completed flocks of birds would swoop down to pick at the seeds before the wind swept the last of the message away, perfectly illustrating how World of Birds needs food to sustain life.

With social media and Capetonians involved, Fishgate called journalists from influential media and sent them the social media links while reminding them about the good work done by World of Birds. Media visits were organised, interviews arranged, competitions coordinated and stunning visuals of the park circulated.

Measurement:

- Hendrik Louw, an employee of the park for over 20 years, was interviewed for up to 25 minutes on 5fm, SAfm and CCfm. World of Birds also received free editorial coverage on Kfm 94.5 and Heart Radio.
- Several publications including all the local papers listed World of Birds as a chosen venue and featured the sanctuary in their diary sections with contact details, logo and large colour photographs.
- All mainstream travel and regional websites gave World of Birds intensive editorial space and ran competitions, with an average of 150 entries per competition.
- The website URL was pushed to all fans through various online publications and social media platforms
- Bloggers wrote articles and reviews.
- Facebook – the number of “likes” increased from 356 to 965 in July with the page being ‘talked’ about from nines times per month to 44 times per week.
- Twitter – selected journalists and media accounts tweeted about World of Birds and photos and links were retweeted, causing #worldofbirds to at one point trend up to 50 times per day and reaching over 100 000 followers.
- Pinterest – images were repined over 30 times reaching an audience of 43 000.

Free coverage was generated with a PR value of R632 000, which makes the total return on investment for the Feed The Birds campaign, 1:63

“This is a perfect example of how good ideas need to be involving and work through PR and advertising. We are thrilled with the overwhelming support from the community and media. World of Birds appreciates every word,” says Andrea Desfarges, PR Director of Fishgate Advertising.

Click here to see an overview of the campaign.

For more info contact andrea@fishgate.co.za, 021 914 4054 or visit fishgate.co.za/blog