Since the turn of the 20th century, we’ve lost 99% of the African Penguin population due to habitat loss, imbalanced ecosystems and competition for the fish they rely on. BirdLife South Africa, who hosts the annual Save Our Seabirds Festival, had a simple brief. Highlight the plight of the African Penguin during the seven-day Festival.
The idea? To hold the world’s first penguin race using live satellite tracking. Following the exploits of five penguins, each with a different personality and tone of voice, people were encouraged to support their ‘home-bird’ via Twitter (seemed the most appropriate platform) and were given constant race updates from the birds as well as educational content featuring postcard style fun-facts about penguins.
