PR & Communications for IFAW
Driving engagement from new audiences for the IFAW Animal Action Awards
IFAW is a global non-profit that champions the well-being of animals and people, fostering a world where we can all thrive together.
Since the year 2000, IFAW has hosted the annual Animal Action Awards as a celebration of the unsung heroes in animal welfare, from across the globe. Now in its 24th year, these awards continue to showcase both the individuals who have made a significant positive impact on the wellbeing of animals, as well as dedicate awards to the animals themselves. The night of celebrations also brings to light the incredible work undertaken by IFAW and its global partners.
This year, the winners were invited to attend an evening at the BAFTA in London. British wildlife cameraman and presenter Hamza Yassin led the ceremony, spotlighting the remarkable animal wellbeing stories, and presenting each winner with their award.
The Brief
To grow brand recognition amongst target audiences and to introduce IFAW to potential new supporters, fans and partners, promotional efforts needed ramping up.
We intended to secure a combination of lifestyle and news media coverage, which would be further amplified by wider social reach, as measured by several key objectives, including:
⏺ Promote IFAW as a brand, specifically through PR coverage and reach.
⏺ Promote IFAW to new audiences, specifically Gen Z and Millennials (branching more broadly from women, aged 55+) by targeting relevant media.
⏺ Exceed last year’s coverage and reach, with 8-12+ pieces of national coverage.
To meet these objectives, we constructed a comprehensive PR and communications strategy, which took the Animal Action Awards to a broad selection of media types, tailoring our outreach and working directly with the individual winners to maximise opportunities on both a national and local level.
We also used a range of media angles to ensure a drip feed of coverage was in place leading up to, and following, the award evening itself.
Our PR Plan
Working closely to a tight timeframe, we developed a thorough timings plan, which detailed each and every action, responsibility and requirement for both ourselves and the client in the lead-up to the awards. This plan was followed and monitored closely throughout the project to mitigate any errors.
With our timings plan firmly in place, we then began compiling a media list. It was essential that this list was far-reaching; as well as hitting national news and lifestyle media, print, online and broadcast, we also wanted to take the opportunity to target environmental and pet-dedicated publications.
The presence of three regional UK winners for the awards allowed us to develop regional print, online and broadcast lists for each of these local areas. To further increase radio coverage, we partnered with radio specialists OnBroadcast, to provide a dedicated team to own this particular area of media relations.
We worked together with the client to collate press materials, regionalising the primary press release for each key area. We also put together spokesperson bios for each winner, to secure interview slots.
A key aspect of our PR and communications strategy was the choice to kick off media relations with a timely seasonal hook, World Animal Day, on 2nd October. Here, we played off the natural topicality of the awareness day, to secure coverage in the run-up to the event.
Finally, with confirmation that Bollywood celebrity and IFAW Ambassador Dia Mirza would attend the awards, this meant that we could also target UK Asian diaspora media for interview opportunities.
Our Plan for Social Influencers
Understanding the importance of taking the IFAW Animal Action Awards to a
new, younger UK audience, we researched and compiled a comprehensive list
of UK influencers with an interest in animals and the environment as part of
our influencer marketing strategy. Crafting a bespoke pitch, we liaised with
these influencers to confirm their attendance at the awards, sharing with them
further information about IFAW and the incredible work done by the individual
winners.
The aim here was to build a cadence of social media coverage for the awards
ceremony, in addition to developing connections and brand warmth amongst
relevant and engaged influencers, who could use their voice to further
showcase IFAW’s work.
PR Results
Total Reach
152.2 milTogether with OnBroadcast, our PR and communications strategy secured a total of 42 hits of coverage, with a combined reach of 152.2 million.
Broadcast coverage percentage
39%This coverage was split across 39% broadcast, 8% print and 52% online. Highlights included BBC News Online, BBC Look East, The Scottish Daily Mail, The Scotsman, BBC Radio Scotland, The Daily Record, Yahoo and MSN.
World Animal Day coverage
10 hits10 hits were landed via our dedicated sell-in on World Animal Day, with the rest focusing on individual winners.
Social Media Results
Influencers secured
13Our influencer marketing strategy secured interest from 13 influencers with nine attending on the night – including nature explorer Wildlife with Cookie (286.7k on TikTok) and wildlife photographer Tom John Ellis (42.8k on Instagram)
Combined reach
35.9 milThe influencers attending had a combined reach of 35.9 million across TikTok and Instagram.
Further partnerships secured
1Further partnership activity is planned with some of the most engaged, including Kyle Thomas, an animal conservation influencer who built a wildlife sanctuary, with 35 million followers on TikTok.
Our Impact
Wide-spread coverage of the awards plus influencer engagement delivered a groundswell of awareness before, during and after the night of the awards. This breadth of coverage took IFAW to new UK audiences, exceeding KPIs and reach of coverage in previous years. We also nurtured influencer relationships which have the potential to develop far beyond the awards.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) worked with Yours Sincerely for our annual Animal Action Awards, and the whole team including myself found them great to work with. They were friendly, helpful and achieved great results. They were also very ready to deal with all the unexpected, and every time would roll their sleeves up and take on anything with their ‘can do’ attitude. I particularly enjoyed working with Amelia and Becky who managed things from the media side of things, although they also had a digital team that pulled in some top-notch results on the influencer side of things. Really recommend YS!