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Case Histories

Shedd Celebrates 75

Challenge

With a limited budget and high expectations for celebrating its 75th anniversary as “The World’s Aquarium,” Shedd Aquarium knew that success in fully reaching its goals would rely on effective public relations to build anticipation and excitement for 75th anniversary events.

The team established three goals: 1) recapture the title of most attended aquarium in the country 2) maintain Shedd’s status as the most attended cultural attraction in Chicago, and 3) secure more than 500 media placements reaching an estimated audience of more than 100 million. Because of limited advertising dollars, the public relations team was charged with generating excitement about the anniversary in order to carry the public awareness.

Communications planning began in early 2004 with the public relations and marketing teams researching anniversary programming at similar institutions, including the Monterey Bay Aquarium and its 20th anniversary celebration. The team gathered information on different events and programming that garnered media attention and which were less effective.

The communications team developed a competitive summary highlighting core competition from area cultural institutions. This provided information on dramatic attendance increases at particular institutions, tentative dates on big exhibit openings and trends in travel and tourism over the previous years.

From this initial research, the communications team developed a timeline of media events and promotions, strategically scheduling them throughout the year in order to sustain interest in Shedd’s 75th anniversary. The team also reinforced the 75th anniversary messaging in all media events throughout the year, whether they were directly related to the anniversary or not (i.e. animal acquisitions, births, etc.).

Action

Using the research, the communications team prepared a 12-month media plan starting in January 2005, culminating with the official 75th anniversary opening day celebration on May 30 and continuing throughout the rest of 2005. Throughout the year, the communications team worked closely with the aquarium’s animal care and promotions staff to identify key story opportunities and plan activities for the 75th celebration.

The communications team, leaving wiggle room for any “surprises” (i.e. an animal pregnancy or birth) along the way, created a media event timeline using an aquarium-wide shutdown, exhibit openings, special events and animal introductions as media opportunities to emphasize the 75th messaging. The team developed an interactive CD-ROM media kit to highlight 75 years of history at Shedd and targeted local, regional and national family/parenting reporters; travel reporters and publications; museum reporters and arts/entertainment reporters and publications.

To gear up for the exciting anniversary year, Shedd Aquarium planned to close for 10 days in January for an intensive aquarium-wide cleanup. The communications team used this time to offer targeted media the opportunity to see Shedd as they’ve never seen it before – without the crowds of visitors -- for an inside look on what it takes to get a 492,000 square foot aquarium spic and span for a huge year-long celebration.

The communications team extended an exclusive invitation to “Good Morning America” anchor Diane Sawyer to visit Shedd Aquarium for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to celebrate Shedd’s 75th.  The exclusive behind-the-scenes look offered to Diane included time with CJ the sea lion, a training session with the beluga whales, medical lessons in the animal hospital and the highlight – an opportunity to swim with more than 20 sharks in Shedd’s Wild Reef exhibit. This 10-minute-plus segment aired on “Good Morning America” March 2. In addition, in the days leading up to the segment itself, Diane raved about her experience at Shedd on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “Ellen,” as well as a two-and-a-half minute segment tease on “Good Morning America” airing on February 25. To put this in perspective, the total ad equivalency for the Good Morning America segment alone is estimated to be $424,990.

To provide media with 75 years of history, the communications team decided the materials of record would be a CD-ROM media kit. This medium was chosen because of its ability to supply large amounts of information in an approachable format, its ease of use for reporters and its ability to contain publication-quality photos. As Change Design Group designed the graphics for the 75th anniversary CD-ROM media kit, the communications team pored through literature on the history of Shedd and drafted media materials, including information on Shedd’s “75 years of firsts,” extraordinary animal stories and amazing achievements in conservation efforts spearheaded by Shedd staffers. The CD-ROM media kit provided a rich history of all things Shedd, giving reporters the chance to pick and choose from dozens of story ideas to write the kind of Shedd history in which they were most interested.

The John G. Shedd Aquarium officially opened on May 30, 1930. To honor Shedd’s 75th “birthday” on May 30, 2005, visitors were transported back in time for an idea of what life was like in the ‘30’s when Shedd first opened. Popular ‘30’s characters such as Batman and Dick Tracy greeted guests on Shedd’s front steps, visitors were treated to historical and architectural tours, special programming gave guests an opportunity to understand how their favorite animal came to Shedd, and much more! To thank media for 75 years of support, the communications team delivered birthday cakes, along with the CD-ROM media kit, to targeted local media on the morning of the anniversary.

To sustain messaging and excitement over the 12-month period and combat splashy exhibit openings at other cultural institutions, Shedd staggered several additional 75th anniversary events throughout the rest of 2005 and continued the 75th messaging in every advisory sent to media. Whether the advisory announced a “surprise” such as an animal pregnancy, an annually occurring event, or previously planned 75th anniversary programming, Shedd’s celebration of its 75th was prominently positioned, keeping it top-of-mind with reporters.

Results

Due to the early and widespread interest created by the aquarium’s strategic communication plan, the aquarium surpassed each of its communications objectives:

  1. To recapture the title of most-attended aquarium in the nation to date. From January through December 31, 2005 more than 1,887,875 guests visited Shedd, making the institution the most attended aquarium in the nation.
  1. To maintain Shedd’s status as the most-visited cultural attraction in Chicago to date. From January through December 31, 2005 more than 1,887,875 guests visited Shedd, making the aquarium Chicago’s most attended cultural institution for the fourth year in a row. To put this in context, Shedd’s 2005 attendance was more than 80,000 guests ahead of the second-place cultural institution in Chicago.
  1. To secure more than 500 media placements from January 2005 through December 2005 reaching an estimated audience of more than 100 million. To date, media relations secured more than 530 placements from January 2005 through December 2005, reaching an estimated audience of more than 120,000,000! This included two separate placements on  “Good Morning America,” as well as placements on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” and “Ellen.” These are all national television shows that had never covered Shedd Aquarium in its 75-year history.

Shedd’s leadership credits the aggressive public relations campaign with its anniversary success. National, regional and local placements about Shedd’s 75th celebration were secured in major media outlets, helping Shedd become the most-visited cultural attraction in Chicago and the best-attended aquarium in the United States.