ICG secured global coverage worth more than £8m, for Blackpool Zoo after advertising for a “human seagull deterrent.”
The Preston agency explained that within 48 hours of the job role going live – which involves the successful applicants wearing an inflatable eagle costume – there’d been coverage as far afield as Kenya, Borneo, Australia, Canada, Germany and America.
“This story literally grew wings and flew as soon as it started getting picked up by the media, and with the help of the ICG PR team, we managed to get worldwide coverage in a matter of days,” said Nicola Benstead, PR and Marketing Coordinator at Blackpool Zoo.
“We spent a hectic two weeks working with reporters who wanted to come and try the job out and arranging interviews for various zoo staff members – often at all times of the day and night due to time differences in lots of countries.
“The team at ICG supported us throughout the process and together we ensured that, while this was a fun story, our serious messaging around educating visitors was loud and clear.”
It became the topic of discussion on This Morning, Loose Women and Have I Got News For You, as well as regional and national news programmes. ICG said that several BBC Radio One presenters applied for the role. The Mirror’s Chicken also headed to Blackpool to face off against the celebrity eagle.
Internationally the team achieved headlines in The Wall Street Journal, on Fox News, Huffington Post, CNN, The Washington Post and the South China Morning Express.
James Corden also featured the story on his final Late Late Show.
“It has certainly been a fortnight like no other for our PR team, but everyone pulled together to support the zoo’s marketing department to make sure that we squeezed every column inch and broadcast minute out of this once in a lifetime viral sensation!” added Paula Holden, Senior Account Manager at ICG.
“This year marks 15 years since we started working with Blackpool Zoo, which is testament to the relationship and deep understanding we have of the attraction, its fantastic team and amazing residents.
“Here’s to the next 15 years and more of really wild stories!”
The story came about to promote a more serious message, of discouraging visitors from feeding nuisance seagulls.
