Putting Twycross Zoo on the map — How we’ve driven footfall and brand awareness for a Leicestershire-based Zoo
Set in the heart of England, Twycross Zoo is an award-winning visitor attraction and conservation charity, giving families a day out with a difference.
The Leicestershire zoo has long been recognised as one of the go-to days out for families in the Midlands and is generally considered a household name in this area.
Whilst well-known in the Midlands, Twycross Zoo sits within a competitive market as the UK is home to approximately 330 licensed zoos, aquariums and safari parks. The UK also boasts almost 6,500 tourist attractions thanks to theme parks, museums and more, which only adds to this competition for visitors.
Amid this fierce competition, our brief was to take Twycross Zoo’s PR activity to the next level to raise brand awareness on a national scale, and ultimately, drive footfall to the zoo.
Here's how we did it...
Thanks to its reputation as a brilliant day out for families and its heritage in animal welfare, the team at Twycross Zoo had a great track record of securing regional coverage but struggled to land their stories nationally or on TV.
When thinking about how to approach Twycross Zoo’s brief, we tapped into our wealth of experience delivering award-winning consumer and leisure PR.
After considering the brief, we developed our “always on” PR strategy, designed to take the zoo’s PR to the next level by focusing on:
- Twycross Zoo’s press office — Acting as the everyday press office for Twycross Zoo, handling media enquiries, amplifying news from the zoo, jumping on reactive opportunities, and creating stories to engage media regionally, nationally and internationally.
- Creating conversations about conservation — Supporting Twycross Zoo’s wider conservation strategy by making room for conversations about conservation, making it palatable and accessible for the public and industry experts.
- Twycross Zoo on TV — Nurturing relationships with journalists and providing consultancy on the best ways to land broadcast coverage - one of the best ways to raise brand awareness on a large scale.
What impact have we made?
Within in the first six months, we made great progress in taking Twycross Zoo from a regional household name, to a national one.
The key to securing coverage for the zoo lay in finding a balance between “zoo news,” which focused on animal activity and conservation milestones, and “event news,” which focused on informative messaging around the zoo’s event calendar.
As a result, we’ve achieved:
- Landed over 30 pieces of TV coverage, including Sky News, Good Morning Britain, ITV News and BBC News
- Welcomed approximately 200 VIPs, including influencers and journalists, to mark the reopening relaunch of Twycross Zoo’s Gruffalo Discovery Land with a media event
- Secured over 175 pieces of coverage in national, regional, consumer, radio and international publications
- Nearly 60 influencer visits with a total reach of 1,084,600
- Collectively, our coverage in the first six months has reached over 1.5 billion people
Need help driving awareness for your brand? Get in touch with the PR experts here at Leopard Co and check out our case studies to see how we’ve taken brands like Mitchells & Butlers, Bristan and Eat Drink Meet to next level through PR.