Secret World Wildlife Rescue

Overview

Secret World Wildlife Rescue, established in 1992, is one of the leading animal rescue charities in the South West. Each year it admits over 5,000 animals of all kinds and species – from birds to badgers. The charity is fully reliant on funds from the public. Shooting Star began working with Secret World in 2016.

Objectives

To increase the quantity and quality of positive news coverage for the charity in local and national media through a comprehensive media relations strategy
To enhance the charity’s reputation as one of the leading animal rescue organisations in the South West
To increase public awareness of Secret World’s work in saving thousands of animals each year
To position Secret World as an animal rescue charity, not an animal centre open to the public
To increase financial donations to the charity
To educate people about British wildlife and wild habitats

Approach

We based a large proportion of our PR activity on the thousands of animals the charity manages to save each year. From day one, we ensured our media lists were correctly targeted and curated for the type of content intended for distribution. As well as creating regional media lists, we also created national media lists for news releases with a national focus.

We put a strong emphasis on PR photography for this client. A picture speaks a thousand words and sending releases with good pictures improves the chances of securing coverage online and in print.

Secret World has a strong online presence with over 25,000 Facebook likes. This proved to be an asset for the charity when seeking donations directly from supporters. By taking an integrated approach, our PR strategy was complemented by the charity’s online fundraising campaigns which we supported with strategic advice, copywriting for social media posts and campaign delivery.

Results

From August 2016 to January 2019 we secured 889 articles for Secret World. That’s an average of 30 pieces of coverage per month
Over the same period, we achieved an 18 million article reach valued at £1.25 million in Advertising Value Equivalent (AVE)
Widely covered in the national media including: Daily Telegraph, Mirror Online, ITV News, BBC One Countryfile Diaries, Daily Mail, BBC One Breakfast, BBC The One Show
Secret World remains one of the most widely respected voices in the world of animal welfare in the UK

We used Shooting Star for two years and found that our publicity greatly increased. The ability to make press releases more attractive to publishers and giving us the statistics enabled us to see the value of our coverage, which helped us tremendously in showing the ability of our fundraising team in all aspects of media streams.

Pauline Kidner Charity Founder