A Feline Frenzy in Charleston

A free adult cat adoption promotion results in record adoptions.

Faced with the annual challenge of an overwhelming influx of cats during the spring litter season, Charleston Animal Society (CAS) and the ASPCA  teamed up to organize "Feline Frenzy - Spring 2009," a campaign aimed at:

• Finding homes for their wonderful adult cats
  (cats over one year old)
• Freeing up some of the shelter’s limited space
  for incoming cats

The results exceeded all expectations. Read on to see how they did it, and be sure to check out the photo slide show (.swf) of the event. 

Planning for Success

With the assistance and support of the ASPCA team in Charleston, CAS staff identified and addressed key elements needed to make sure the promotion would be successful, including:

• Marketing and advertising the event
• Overcoming philosophical resistance to "free" adoption campaigns
• Staffing the three-day event with plenty of employees and volunteers to ensure a good adopter experience
• Sterilizing a large number of cats before the event to allow same-day adoptions

Marketing

A key marketing strategy included a "sticky note" on the front page of The Post and Courier (community's largest newspaper) on the Thursday preceding the weekend. In addition, Kay Hyman, CAS Director of Outreach, promoted the campaign during her regular television and radio appearances that week.

The majority of visitors cited these sources when asked how they heard about the adoption event.

Overcoming Philosophical Resistance

CAS gathered employees and volunteers the Tuesday before the event to make a formal presentation that:

• appropriately framed the campaign, and
• created a dialogue to address concerns.

Joe Elmore of the ASPCA met with the other Charleston partners to discuss the campaign rationale and address their concerns. Although not all partners agreed with the strategy, every partner indicated they would not oppose it because they understood the rationale and were committed to the partnership's fundamental principle of collaboration.

A Nice Problem to Have

The event was so popular with the public that CAS ran out of "campaign cats" on the first day. Staff quickly reached out to area shelters and rescue groups, some as far as 100 miles away, to help those agencies alleviate their overcrowding challenges - and to meet the demand for adult cats during the promotion. Groups ranging from the largest shelter in the state to local rescues welcomed the invitation. CAS staff traveled to these locations to pick up 73 additional cats.

The Fabulous Numbers

The adoption numbers, not only for cats but for all other animals, were significantly more than the three-day weekend one month before the event. Revenues associated with the event were also significantly greater.

In addition, several anecdotal indicators of success, such as the number of "happy faces, both young and old" and a celebratory attitude and heightened morale among employees and volunteers were evident throughout the event. All are eager to host more of these promotions.

Critical Factors

As with other agencies who've run successful free cat promotions, open dialogue with stakeholders and carefully planning were key to CAS's success. Other factors in the CAS promotion are worth noting:

• Tracking the marketing of the event: CAS asked visitors where they heard of the Feline Frenzy. This information will enable them to focus marketing dollars and efforts even more effectively in future promotions.
• Establishing performance indicators and collecting good data: CAS identified and then tracked performance indicators that would enable the agency to evaluate the success of the promotion compared to "business as usual." They now have detailed, precise numbers that address specific concerns about the event:
  • Fee-based adoptions of other animals don't suffer as a result of free adoptions.
  • The agency not only didn't lose revenue during the event, revenue actually doubled, including adoption revenue of other animals.
• Thinking on their feet and sharing their success: Rather than turning potential adopters away when the supply of adult cats ran out, CAS quickly regrouped and "imported" adult cats from other agencies. Doing so was a great customer-service strategy and also benefitted the agencies they reached out to - and most of all, benefitted the additional adult cats who found homes during the Feline Frenzy.

Seeing Is Believing