Wildlife Victoria Bushfire Support
In an unprecedented crisis, global support can be overwhelming.
Wildlife Victoria described us as lifesavers, thanking us for “dropping everything to help us with virtually no notice and your patience and professionalism. We're really keen to work with you again in future."
The brief
Wildlife Victoria came under global scrutiny during the Australian bushfires of summer 2019/20. More than a billion Australian animals were killed in the unprecedented emergency, triggering an outpouring of support for Australian charities on the frontline. Wildlife Victoria — stretched by emergency management — was coming under scrutiny for being unresponsive on social media. The organisation needed to show people they were quiet because they were busy saving animals.
Idea
Think HQ stepped in to support Wildlife Victoria through the crisis by assuming direct management of their public channels, so they could focus on the task at hand.
We managed the charity’s social media channels — proactively posting and managing the community — fielding global questions and offers for help and resetting the story to one of a charity working around the clock to save Australian wildlife.
We took over media relations — inserting ourselves as primary media contact to manage interest and ensure enquiries could be answered in a timely manner.
Outcome
We managed the charity through the emergency. At a time when charities were being scrutinised for how they were spending donations, we helped Wildlife Victoria demonstrate their value to supporters.
In the two-and-a-half months in which we managed social channels, they recorded more than 4.4 million impressions, 360,000 engagements and 76,000 more followers.
Wildlife Victoria described us as lifesavers, thanking us for “dropping everything to help us with virtually no notice and your patience and professionalism. We're really keen to work with you again in future."
