In a recent article in PRWeek, the inside details about how a New York PR agency pulled off a huge exhibit launch at the San Diego Zoo were revealed. Their strategy, tactics, and results were explained. Burson-Marsteller, the PR agency, along with the zoo's PR manager Christina Simmons, explain how they made it happen.
The San Diego Zoo is world renowned, and the PR agency knew this. They went to everyone who had attended the zoo, who could possibly help their cause. They had a new Elephant Odyssey coming in, and wanted to make sure it made national, even world news. The article explains that that their budget to cover the $45 million exhibit would be roughly $400,000.
The zoo is non-profit, so they were unable to rival other zoos. They decided to focus on families, travelers, and the web-specifically blogs.
Their target market was national, regional, and local news outlets. They wanted everyone to pick up on this event. They used celebrities, spokespeople, and the web to get the message everywhere-San Diego Zoo had a new exhibit. A big one. A 7.5 acre one.
One thing they did really well was to publicize the exhibit as it was built and was coming together. They said they had great crowds and media attention as life size statues that would sit in the exhibit arrived on trucks from Wisconsin. They were able to really get the public involved and pumped about the new exhibit by publicizing the progress.
They report that opening day attendance was "higher than projected". They ultimately attribute this to their PR. Facebook and Twitter also played parts in this PR campaign with over 35,000 friends and followers.
I think they did everything right in this zoo case. Good PR, thorough PR, and clever PR.
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