World of Birds, Fishgate Campaign

 Little confession: birds terrify me, I consider them tailless rats of the sky, their presence makes me want to shiver and weep, it’s called ornithophobia and as ridiculous as it sounds it is still quite a common fear. Because of this I have never and will never go to World of Birds, but if one thing were going to make me go it would be this lovely heart warming campaign.

World of Birds is a bird and monkey sanctuary in Hout Bay, Cape Town and it had been struggling with getting business in the winter season as many outdoor tourists destinations do. It survives on money made from entry fees and donations by visitors to support the livelihood of the feathery flying-rodents and the magnificent monkeys. Because of this it was paramount that the company had a great campaign to lure Cape Tonians off the couch, out of the aquarium and back into the sanctuary.

Bellville based advertising agency Fishgate wanted to show the impact that Cape Tonians were having by not visiting WOB and how they could help. They took an innovative approach by depositing posters made of birdseed in and around areas of Cape Town with a high footfall. The birdseed would dissipate over time, as would the birds would if they couldn’t get the help needed. The campaign was vigorously photographed and retweeted by Cape Tonians getting it national recognition on websites like news24 and 5fm.co.za. Videos on youtube show flocks of hungry birds feasting on stencils made on the pavements, displaying the message in the most literal way possible.

The seeded posters were a revelation in themselves. Handmade with stencils and non-toxic glue the attention to detail was beautiful; they integrated the words “Without food life fades” into the free-flowing stencil illustrations of different birds. They used different types of seed for different colours, the font they chose was perfect in the circumstances- gentle and engaging.  A caring, kind ambience was apparent throughout the entire process. The tagline “Help feed the birds by simply visiting our sanctuary” had a brief stroke in genius cradled inside it, the word simply. A basic insight into South Africans was made apparent in this one word, we all want to help- we genuinely do- it’s just such a ridiculous amount of effort in this country, it’s either building, badgering or paying, with the magical word “simple” they’ve managed to convey exactly how easy helping can be.

The Fishgate website opens with a quote by Mandela which epitomizes their approach to this campaign “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart”. They have perfectly grasped the strange dassie psyche, we do not enjoy being spoken at or lectured to, we want to be involved, enveloped in something bigger than ourselves. We cannot live in this beautiful city without loving and understanding nature but with the chaos surrounding us a simple bird can seem too small to contemplate. This campaign managed to cuddle our hearts gently, which is why I think it was such a great success.

Overall the tone, style and application of this campaign even has me, the feather-devil-hater, considering whether a visit to world of birds would be so bad. I don’t think I would chance it just yet but I will seriously recommend it to anyone I meet.