Cats Protection's 'Find a Cat' at the Click of a Mouse - Went National on 50 Community Radio Stations on July 8th

Cats Protection's 'Find a Cat' at the Click of a Mouse - Went National on 50 Community Radio Stations on July 8th

BRIGHTON, England, July 19, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --



Cats Protection's national initiative to assist prospective cat owners navigate via
the cats.org.uk website to browse, choose and adopt a suitable feline companion in their
area went national via fifty community radio stations across the UK from the 8th July for
four weeks.



(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130719/629561 )




The new 'Find a Cat' function on the charity's homepage (
http://www.cats.org.uk/find-a-cat ) allows people to view all the cats available for
adoption within a 30-mile radius of their home. By entering their home postcode, potential
adopters are immediately directed to pages showing pictures and fact-files on all the
fabulous felines in their area in need of good homes.



Lee Bishop, Website Manager for Cats Protection, said: "The new tool is an easy to
use, one-stop shop for your area, and as we are the UK's largest feline welfare
organisation, it will be the UK's most comprehensive rehoming web function solely
dedicated to cats. Adopting from Cats Protection means you are not only giving a home to
an animal in need, but you will also have peace of mind that your cat has been examined by
a veterinary surgeon, microchipped, vaccinated, neutered (if old enough) and will come
with four week's free insurance."



Cats Protection is keen to encourage people to adopt rather than buy if they are
considering getting a cat, as figures from the charity's national helpline currently show
that for every one person enquiring about adopting a cat there are 10 people calling to
give up a cat or report a stray. The ratio was one to three in 2009 and indicates a bleak
future for cats.



The national radio initiative has been jointly co-ordinated by Roy Stannard of Cats
Protection's national media buying agency Zerofiftyone and Jaqui Devereux, Director of the
Community Media Association (CMA). Roy is himself a member of the CMA via his local
station Seahaven FM and Jaqui is an inveterate cat lover so the opening up of this new
national channel for national advertisers was a marriage made in cat heaven.



This brand new national radio buying platform has been designed to plumb into the
rapidly growing community radio sector for national advertisers and at the same time
direct much needed income into this largely voluntary sector. There are now over 200
full-time community radio stations broadcasting in the UK today-with more becoming
licensed and going on-air every month. Ofcom is currently in the process of their third
round of community radio licensing, which is taking place on a region-by-region basis.



Whilst it is a challenge to calculate exact listenership, the Community Media
Association estimates that it is likely that 10% of populations served by community
stations are tuning in at least once weekly. This produces at conservative estimates
1,000,000 listeners per week. Jaqui Devereux of the CMA commented, "We have long believed
that the large weekly listening audience to our 200 member radio stations has been a
sleeping giant on the media landscape. We are very happy indeed that Cats Protection and
the community radio sector are collaborating to demonstrate how our listeners can assist
in the urgent need to help abandoned cats find new homes.



We hope that the 'Find a Cat' tool will appeal to the cat loving public to visit the
page and consider giving one of the many moggies available a loving and responsible home".



Cat Protection's National Media Consultant Roy Stannard has spearheaded this
pioneering national radio buying platform, which it is hoped, will become part of the
armoury of national media buyers once this campaign is successfully concluded. He
commented, "The beauty of this new media channel is the ease of purchase and delivery.
There is one contact for advertisers and agencies to liaise with - and the campaign can be
delivered effortlessly across fifty independent stations in the UK."



Notes to editors (overleaf)



Community Media Association



The CMA is the national representative body for the almost 200 full-time community
radio stations broadcasting in the UK today - with more becoming licensed and going on-air
every month. Ofcom is currently in the process of their third round of community radio
licensing, which takes place on a region-by-region basis. The Community Media Association
estimates that around 10% of populations served by Community Stations are tuning in at
least once weekly. This produces 1,000,000 listeners per week at conservative estimates.



Zerofiftyone / Roy Stannard



The scheme is the brainchild of Zerofiftyone's Roy Stannard who himself presents a
weekly radio show on his local community station, Seahaven FM 96.3. He identified a gap in
the market and saw this as a way of bringing a million radio listeners into the commercial
fold and in the process generate much needed commercial revenue to the stations. He says,
"Having set up a local station in 2003 (Splash FM) and enjoyed working in the radio
sector, I could see the potential in the community radio sector. The pilot scheme has
attracted fifty stations - all keen to participate and attract national advertisers.
Zerofiftyone has a history of innovation in the radio sector with two former radio MDs on
the client services team."



Fact File




- There are over 200 community radio stations broadcasting in the UK +
another 50 have had licences approved
- Ofcom has awarded licences where there is no direct conflict with existing
commercial licences - therefore, this is a new, so far untapped audience
- Over 1 million listeners nationally (Community Media Association 2012)
- Very loyal audience who support the aspirations and local roots of the station
- Association with community means extra goodwill for advertisers
- Not for profit means all revenue channelled back into stations


Full story online here:
http://www.commedia.org.uk/news/2012/12/community-radio-national-advertising-pilot-scheme-to-launch



Cats Protection



1. Cats Protection is the UK's leading cat welfare charity and helps over 235,000 cats
and kittens each year through a national network of 260 volunteer-run branches and 30
adoption centres.



2. Cats Protection's vision is a world where every cat is treated with kindness and an
understanding of its needs.



3. Cats Protection's registered charity number is 203644 (England and Wales) and
SC037711 (Scotland). Founded as the Cats Protection League in 1927, the charity adopted
the name Cats Protection in 1998. We ask that you use the name Cats Protection when
referring to the charity in all published material.



4. More information about the work of Cats Protection can be found at
http://www.cats.org.uk



To search for a cat using the 'Find a Cat' tool, visit http://www.cats.org.uk.



For more information on the media and radio implications of this please contact:



Roy Stannard
Account Director

Zerofiftyone Ltd Tel: DD: +44(0)1273-575102

Mob: +44(0)7803-269154 email: roy@zerofiftyone.com



Jaqui Devereux Director Community Media Association Tel: +44 (0)114-279-5219



http://www.commedia.org.uk http://twitter.com/community_media



https://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation



For further information about Cats Protection, please contact the charity's Media
Office on +44(0)1825-741911 or email media.office@cats.org.uk






Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130719/629561


Photo:http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130719/629561
http://photoarchive.ap.org/
Zerofiftyone Media ltd


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