Pensthorpe Natural Park

Key Facts:

• £1 million pound indoor play attraction.
• 15 journalists and their children attended launch event.
• Editorial coverage reached 1,019,881 people.
• 15% boost in visitor numbers.

Our Brief

Hootz House is an indoor hub of slides, tunnels and rope bridges bringing the great outdoors, indoors and aiming to switch children on to wildlife and adventure play. Our brief was to excite and inspire the next generation of wildlife and outdoor enthusiasts and manage the Tourism PR for the launch of its new £1 million indoor play attraction, including:

• Positioning Pensthorpe Natural Park as an attraction that encourages young people to get into nature
• Launching Hootz House as a year-round attraction
• Generating positive press coverage
• Managing the park’s reputation
• Creating a buzz on social media.

Solution

As Pensthorpe has already appointed a Junior Board (a team of young 6-11 year old wildlife enthusiasts who would shape the future of Pensthorpe), we made the children an instrumental part in our activity.

Developing a PR and Event plan, we engaged with the media through:

• Content creation – We drip fed newsworthy stories to the media and set up creative photo opportunities including the Junior Board wearing hard hats and high-vis jackets – ‘putting the finishing touches’ to the attraction.
• VIP Press launch – We invited influential journalists, bloggers and their children to be the very first to experience Hootz House.
• Official launch stunt – Members of the Junior Board officially launched the indoor play attraction by sliding down a slide, with 10 year old Nadia delivering an impressive opening speech.

Press trips – Post-launch, we invited bloggers and journalists to visit with their family and review Hootz House.

Results

The launch attracted 15 high profile journalists and their children who shared their positive experience on social media throughout the opening weekend.

Our engaging content reached an audience of 1,019,881 in key media, including The Independent, Eastern Daily Press, BBC Radio Norfolk and Primary Times.

Two months after opening, Pensthorpe Natural Park saw a 15% increase in visitors.

And this Tourism PR campaign was a finalist for a prestigious award.

It was very reassuring to be working with Daniella and Suzy at Reflection PR. They did a wonderful job helping us to attain the profile we needed for this large project.

Mark Noble, Operations Director, Pensthorpe Natural Park