Fabzoolous

Did you see the fabulous story yesterday from London Zoo? It was a genius bit of positive news management.  It turns out that every year the zoo has to run an audit on all of the thousands of animals they have. They all have to be weighed and measured.  Hours of work and lots of statistics to grapple with.

Audits don’t normally grab the attention of most journalists but this one was different.  The PR team had obviously done their homework and set up a brilliant interview with one of the zoo keepers who was in charge of the penguins. We were treated to a cracking interview with one of them who not only told us how they were going to weigh the penguins but gave us a real insight into how they monitor this waddling monochrome lot. Cute yes and a perfect story for the tabloids - but clever too.

This story ran because they were able to give lots of interesting examples as to why the audit was so important. Plus they didn’t have some corporate suit in front of the camera; they had the guys from the front line talking about their role. So not only did they engage the viewer with a story that was essentially about statistics but also it was perfect timing.

As tourists arrive for the second round of Olympic fever, if ever there was a gentle reminder needed that London Zoo was one of the major attractions for any tourist to go and visit, this was it. Plus with the end of the summer holidays coming to an end it instantly became the must see destination before the kids go back to school.

So, you see you can make statistics interesting – even if you haven’t got a cute and cuddly animal to attract the journalist, it’s about bringing the story to life whether it’s providing the media with a demo of a new product or creating a scenario around how a new service could be used. It’s just a question of firing up the media’s imagination and you’re up and running!

If you would like learn more about how you could liven up your interviews feel free to contact us.