Working with celebrities to raise the profile of your zoo or similar organisation
This piece was first published in International Zoo News. You can get a free sample copy of this magazine, if you email editor Nick Gould: Ngouldizn@aol.com
Why try to involve a famous person in your zoo event?
Celebrity figures and zoos have a long association. Many prominent actors (and especially actresses) seem to have a strong affinity with wildlife and animals. Such figures can immensely enjoy, not just visiting a well kept zoological collection, but also perhaps becoming actively involved in zoo projects.
Conversely zoo sites can (normally) only stand to benefit in sharing a little of the public profile and ‘glamour’ that a widely recognised and acclaimed figure can command.
John Regan Associates is of course focussed mainly on attaining major transformational funding for our various client zoos, rather than more general PR benefits as such. So we see the advantages of celebrity association primarily in the context of strategic funding plans.
Putting together a pleasant and inspirational event (…opening a new exhibit, presenting an award, launching a new conservation or fundraising initiative, etc.) and involving a suitable, well known figure creates a unique platform to invite major decision makers to come and celebrate your zoo’s success. Some of these will be in a position to assist with major external funding.
Indeed, even those whose diaries do not allow them to attend that particular day (and the ‘decision making class’ are some of the busiest people of all) will certainly notice and remember the institution whose invitation carried a name that ‘jumped off the page’.
There are of course other advantages:
- Press and media will normally provide much more elaborate coverage for your event and for your organisation in general, than they would without the patina endowed by the given VIP;
- Your board, civic contacts, management and staff will also usually enjoy a celebrity visit. Most of us (and especially, I am afraid, the author of this article) are, perhaps despite ourselves, rather shallow in this respect, and find it difficult to resist the opportunity to meet someone famous (… and talk about it afterwards). That is not to say there may not be a certain amount of grumbling and pretended dissent in certain quarters ( but see section 3 below).
On behalf of leading zoos as well as museums and other institutions in the UK we have worked with figures such as Elizabeth Hurley, Julie Christie, Miranda Richardson, Betty Boothroyd (formerly Speaker of the House of Commons), Richard Leakey (celebrated Kenyan conservationist), Douglas Adams (the late author of “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”), Harold Pinter, George Melly, Susannah Yorke, former Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, Brian Blessed and many others.
This activity should not be underestimated as a very useful part of the mix in winning transformational funding.
So what are some of the secrets to successfully securing the services of a celebrity figure and working with them thereafter?
a. First of all, think beyond the obvious. Do not try and do what everyone else is doing.
If I had a pound for every time, someone had said “Let’s ask David Attenborough…” I would be doing very well indeed!
A celebrity does not have to be already associated with wildlife to be appropriate, and the definition of a celebrity goes far beyond show business. A figure unused to approaches from zoos or the conservation world has two advantages:
- they are actually more likely to say yes in the first place, given the very novelty of the gesture;
- an unusual association is by its very nature newsworthy and will generate more publicity and more attention (a royal visit, whilst certainly prestigious, is hardly breaking news; presiding at such events is after all one of the functions of the royal family).
b. Spend some time considering whose name will seem truly ‘stellar’ to your target audience. Who might your clientele really want to meet (and, having met, talk about)..? Whose name will leap out of the invitation? Since, despite the allegedly egalitarian times in which we live, the majority of decision makers stubbornly remain middle aged men, female film stars of a certain calibre are one obvious option, but not the only one
c. Allow your target celebrities as much latitude as possible in terms of timing. Narrowing the invitation to one particular day is unlikely to be successful, but equally a vague, open invitation to nominate a date ‘sometime’ may not trigger any decision at all. There is little point in issuing an invitation 6 months in advance, and 1 month is probably too late. 2 months or so is a nice timescale
d. Although some can be very helpful indeed, as a policy, where possible, circumnavigate agents and assistants. It will at least slow down the response time, and you may come up against a standing rule to refuse all such requests. Thus your beautifully crafted letter never actually gets the chance to impact on, and persuade your would-be guest.
I once invited Rolling Stone, Ronnie Woods in very clear terms to a prestigious event at the House of Lords, only to receive an agent’s letter to the effect that regrettably I could not have an autograph!
e. Craft the letter very carefully indeed: come to the point straight away; reference other prestigious figures ( members of the royal family?) who have visited your site; make it clear this not a ‘supermarket opening ‘ but rather, in terms of guests at least, a private event; stress the ethical and environmental benefits of the project they will be endorsing; etc.
f. Never offer to pay. The figure involved should understand that it is an honour to be asked to officiate at such an important, prestigious event. Whether your organisation has official charitable status or not, your project will have essential environmental and social benefits, and the time invested by the public figure involved should be seen by all as ‘a donation’
g. Once you have a contact or a relationship, look after it; “feed and water it”
h. Gradually build up a database of appropriate figures. JRA now have quite a considerable resource as to contacts and other relevant details for such figures
i. Work to maximise the day’s benefit to your zoo and its programmes. Be sure your most important contacts get a special invitation, and to ‘rub shoulders’ as appropriate. Who will sit next to the celebrity? Remember it is not a public event as such. Although media and special guests will be alerted in advance to the VIP presence, the general public (your visitors) should not be.
What are some things that can go wrong and how can these be avoided..?
a. Staff or other stakeholders can get hold of the wrong end of the stick and spread canteen rumours as to “wasting resources on a celebrity” or “pandering to a VIP’s demands”. Make sure everyone knows that the VIP’s otherwise very costly time has generously been donated and that there are very good, practical reasons for involving them in keeping with both your organisation’s mission and the prosperity of all who work there
b. Some last minute hiccup with a VIP prevents their involvement. Ensure you have a backup plan, and another person to step in. There is no reason, by the way, not to have an officiating personality and a ‘guest of honour’ for an event
c. The celebrity goes off message and makes some remark that is inappropriate. In identifying the given celebrity, carry out careful research to ensure their values are in keeping with yours. In advance of the event, make sure he or she receives and has absorbed a full briefing on your organisation and its programmes
In conclusion, it is by no means straightforward to attract the involvement of a sufficiently high profile personality and to then derive true value for your conservation or other programme. Success is certainly not guaranteed.
In general media exposure alone, however, the cost/ benefit ratio is very attractive. It is worth weighing the time and expense involved against the column inches achieved. What would the equivalent costs be in ‘above the line’ advertising to achieve the same impact?
Much more importantly however, all too often we have found that when beginning to work with organisations, whilst a given zoo may be warmly regarded by elements of the business and political community, it can recede into the back of the mind as little more than a pleasant, but essentially trivial leisure proposition.
The huge splash made by a celebrity invitation can be a kind of wake-up call for an entire pantheon of influencers and deciders. By drawing attention to your site in this unusual way, you can begin the process of positioning it as an obvious vehicle for development and the funding required for this.
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