City of Cannon Beach
Partnered with the City of Cannon Beach to launch a bilingual public safety campaign teaching residents and visitors how to safely coexist with the area’s growing elk population.
The Challenge
Picture this: You’re walking through Cannon Beach as the sun begins to set. Waves roll onto the shore, and the sky fills with shades of pink, purple, and orange. It is the kind of peaceful coastal experience visitors come here to enjoy.
Then you notice an elk about 50 feet away.
It stops. You stop. For a moment, neither of you moves. You cannot tell whether the animal is calm, curious, or preparing to defend itself. Then, suddenly, it charges.
What began as a beautiful wildlife encounter can become dangerous in seconds.
This is a real public safety concern for Cannon Beach. Elk are wild animals, and approaching them, interacting with them, or allowing dogs nearby can provoke defensive behavior. With thousands of visitors each year, the City needed a proactive campaign to immediately educate people about safely sharing the beach with its growing elk population, so it partnered with Birdee Media.
The Solution
The Elk Awareness Campaign was designed to reach two primary audiences: Cannon Beach residents and visiting tourists. Identifying these distinct audience groups allowed Birdee Media to tailor messaging to their different perspectives and experiences while reinforcing the same core behavior: maintaining a safe distance from elk and reducing potentially dangerous interactions.
Because these audiences represented a broad mix of ages, backgrounds, and life stages, the campaign combined digital and print marketing to create multiple opportunities for people to encounter and retain the safety message.
For digital marketing, Birdee developed an informative and approachable communication style that connected elk safety with the community pride and natural character of Cannon Beach. Messaging emphasized that giving elk adequate space protects visitors, residents, pets, and the animals themselves.
The print strategy focused on clarity and immediate understanding, with materials tailored to both English- and Spanish-speaking audiences. Visuals used straightforward imagery, safety guidance, and practical protocols to demonstrate appropriate behavior during elk encounters. Together, the digital and print approaches created a consistent, accessible campaign message across multiple touchpoints, helping audiences understand not only the risks of close interaction, but also the specific actions they could take to safely coexist with Cannon Beach’s elk population.
The Work
Graphic Design
Birdee Media developed a coordinated set of print and digital materials to communicate elk safety clearly across multiple touchpoints. Stickers, posters, bilingual flyers, and social media graphics helped extend the campaign’s reach to residents, visitors, and Spanish-speaking audiences. The result was consistent, accessible safety messaging that increased campaign visibility, supported ongoing public education, and created reusable materials for future elk awareness efforts.Videography
Birdee Media captured on-location footage of Cannon Beach and recorded interviews with City leadership to support the elk awareness campaign. The resulting footage gave the campaign authentic local context and helped deliver safety information through trusted community voices, creating engaging video content that could be used across social media, advertising, and future public education efforts.Video Production
Birdee Media professionally edited the recorded interviews into polished campaign videos for social media and digital distribution. The finished videos transformed City leadership interviews into clear, engaging educational content that strengthened the campaign’s credibility, extended its reach, and created reusable assets for future elk safety communication.Social Media Management
Birdee Media managed the City of Cannon Beach’s social media campaign from June through August, publishing interview videos and educational graphics throughout the three-month initiative. Consistent content distribution kept elk safety messaging visible during the campaign, reinforced public awareness over time, and helped the City maintain an active educational presence across its social channels.Print Marketing
Birdee Media produced and distributed campaign stickers, bilingual flyers, and high-visibility posters throughout Cannon Beach, working with local businesses and community touchpoints to expand the campaign’s reach. By combining print marketing with local business support and word-of-mouth sharing, the campaign placed elk safety information directly in front of residents and visitors across the community, strengthening awareness beyond digital channels and encouraging ongoing conversations about safe behavior around elk.Digital Marketing
Birdee Media launched and managed paid advertising across Meta and Google to extend elk safety messaging beyond organic social media. The professionally produced interview videos featuring Cannon Beach leadership were incorporated into the digital campaign, helping deliver credible, locally relevant safety messaging to residents and visitors. Paid promotion increased campaign visibility, expanded reach across Facebook, Instagram, and Google, and gave the educational video content a broader audience throughout the campaign.
THE PAYOFF
The Elk Awareness Campaign reached more than 1.8 million people, significantly expanding awareness of elk safety among residents and visitors while reinforcing clear, practical guidance for safer interactions with wildlife.
The campaign also generated strong community interest, with the elk awareness stickers proving especially popular and requiring a reorder during the campaign. By combining digital advertising, social media, video, local business support, and accessible print materials, Birdee Media helped the City of Cannon Beach deliver a consistent public safety message across multiple channels.
The campaign created a strong foundation for continued elk safety education and awareness in future seasons.
Campaign Visuals
![[SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN] Elk Awareness - 9](https://birdeemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/9.jpg)
![[SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN] Elk Awareness - 8](https://birdeemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/8.jpg)
![[SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN] Elk Awareness - 6](https://birdeemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/6.jpg)
![[SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN] Elk Awareness - 5](https://birdeemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/5-1.jpg)
![[SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN] Elk Awareness - 4](https://birdeemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/4.jpg)
![[SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN] Elk Awareness - 3](https://birdeemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/3.jpg)
![[SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN] Elk Awareness - 2](https://birdeemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/2.jpg)
![[SOCIAL MEDIA CAMPAIGN] Elk Awareness - 1](https://birdeemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/1.jpg)
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