The Birmingham Zoo and Dupont Partner to Demo Durable Carpet, Save Rhinos
The Birmingham Zoo is partnering with Dupont’s Mohawk Carpet on a pretty innovative way to demonstrate the durability of its carpet. For two weeks, Ricko, the Zoo’s Black Rhino, will live on just over 1,000 square feet of Mohawk’s renewable fibers.
As a former Zoo employee (2 years as the marketing and PR manager), I can attest to a few things. 1) Dupont is taking a big risk in this very public demo with a very messy pachyderm; and 2) If this demo is successful and properly captured, it’ll be a powerful product testimonial of Billy Mays proportions.
Few things in life are as bad as we imagine or think they might be in reality. From my observations over two years, being a pachyderm keeper might be one of those things that live down to the hype. Elephants, hippos and rhinos are stinky poop factories. You can’t take care of them without getting a little (or a lot) on you. Let’s just say we could all tell when the elephant keepers walked into the administration building at the Zoo. Pair all that poop with Alabama heat and humidity and you get one horrendous aroma.
Then there’s the quantity. Rhinos like Ricko produce 60 pounds of steaming poop daily. While I was at the Zoo, some high school pranksters broke into the Zoo and stole some pachyderm poop then vandalized their school auditorium with it. Much of that upholstery had to be replaced.
Of course, Dupont and its PR machine is doing everything right with this promo. There’s a website, Twitter feed, Facebook page and YouTube channel. Rhino webcams are coming soon. They’re making a donation to rhino conservation. They’re helping out our favorite zoo. And they’re showing off their product in a way 1,000 times more powerful than grape juice or puppy poop.
If you visit the Zoo over the next two weeks, let us know how the carpet is holding up in the comments. We also look forward to seeing how this promotion ends and how the carpet holds up afterwards.