CJ Wildlife has been taking care of Britain’s native wildlife for over 35 years. A well-established brand, its typical customer has always been an older demographic who engage with more traditional media, and who are likely to own a large outdoor space with an already keen interest in wildlife.

But with more people living in urban and suburban areas with smaller outdoor spaces to enjoy nature, and a rising generation with a keen interest in protecting the planet, CJ Wildlife recognised the untapped market.

Our challenge was to reach a younger demographic who may not have access to a large garden, and who may not know how they can help the wildlife on their doorstep.

• Raise brand awareness, with a focus on reaching a younger demographic (aged 21 to 50) while maintaining a presence in its current markets
• Secure consumer coverage that inspires people to connect with nature, care for Britain’s wildlife, and give a corner of their outdoor space back to wildlife
• Educate customers on how and why they should care for animals, and position CJ Wildlife as wildlife care experts
• Achieve product placement for hero products to ultimately direct readers to CJ Wildlife’s website and increase sales.

To ensure we reached this new audience, we began by building an extensive media list featuring all of the top titles that we know consumers aged 21 to 50 are reading, across homes, gardening, and lifestyle magazines, as well as national and regional newspapers.

We shaped our campaigns on seasonal key moments, both for nature and for the company. In Spring, for example, our focus was planting flowers for bees and butterflies, which coincided with the launch of CJ Wildlife’s “Beautiful Borders” range and sponsorship of the Big Butterfly Count. In Autumn we created content around helping hedgehogs find a habitat for hibernation, and throughout Winter we focused on nest boxes and high-fat food to help our feathered friends survive the colder months.

From there, it was all about content creation and media outreach! We got in touch with our key contacts, offering expert advice on a range of wildlife topics, and drafted press releases on anything from how to feed birds on a budget to how to turn your garden into a hedgehog haven, and everything in between!

Securing product features on key hero products was also vital to help increase sales, so we liaised with writers who look after gift guides, product reviews and shopping pages to arrange samples, achieve product placement features and coordinate competitions.

As CJ Wildlife is an e-commerce brand, we focused on digital PR opportunities and driving website traffic. We sought coverage on sites with a high domain authority and where possible placed to help bolster SEO. Even in our print coverage we encouraged journalists to feature the website address.

Since being appointed in February 2022, we have achieved a huge amount of quality coverage, that has not only increased brand awareness and reached a new audience, but also had a direct impact on sales. In the first 18 months of working together, we have:

• Achieved 401 pieces of coverage, with 40% of coverage appearing online and including backlinks from high Domain Authority websites
• Secured expert advice in Homes & Gardens, Modern Gardens, Gardeningetc, Daily Express, and many more
• Generated a print reach of 9.7million, plus many more millions online
• Influenced sales, resulting in a business revenue increase of 21%, and unique purchases increasing by 14.2% compared to 2021.