Fifty tweets, 5 000 followers. Ok, it’s not quite as big as Hillary Clinton’s Twitter debut, when she signed up 1 000 followers a minute off the back of one tweet, but BG, Johannesburg Zoo’s tweeting honey badger, has fired the imagination of the global online world.
“It is more than exciting, it is spine-tingling how quickly BG has taken the world’s stage by storm,” said ad agency Draftfcb’s chief creative officer, Brett Morris.
“We’re obviously monitoring mentions for BG globally and, in less than a week, he has amassed some 15 pages of search results on international blogs. His story has been aired by the likes of ABC News, Fox2 and 6, and Good Morning America as well as local national news and television back home.
“And, if that weren’t enough, he’s been on the TimesLIVEwebsite and Twitter feed, been mentioned by Huffington Post, NotCot, Buzzfeed and been the topic of a Perez Hilton’s blog!”
He also featured on The Media Online, starring as our most popular story of the week.
The story of how Draftfcb, digital ground-breaker Hellocomputer and techno wizards BinarySpace used the Johannesburg’s Zoo’s mascot as its social media manager/spokesanimal tickled South Africa’s funny bone, and has fired the imagination of the world’s media.
BG is picking up fans in America, the Netherlands, Spain, France, Russia and China, as well as making television and radio appearances worldwide.
Executive creative director of Hellocomputer in Johannesburg, Kerry Friend, says, “What is great is that this was a collaborative result between creatives and technologists after our quarterly hackathon, again positioning Draftfcb and Hellocomputer at the forefront of innovation in the communication space in South Africa.”
“Well done to the teams at Draft, Hellocomputer and BinarySpace for pulling together to make this project fly; and thanks to Johannesburg Zoo for having the vision to appreciate how a crazy idea – like making a honey badger LIVE tweet – could grab attention and hold it.”
You can follow BG the Badger or ‘South Africa’s Tweetheart’ – as international blogs are referring to him, at @zootweetslive or #tweetingbadger.
