The Fort Worth Zoo had an aggressive goal: attract one million visitors in a single year.
Zoo patrons averaged 2 visits per year to the Fort Worth Zoo. Could that number be doubled?
The Fort Worth Zoo was a popular destination among families, but data revealed that families visited the Zoo an average of just 2 times per year. I set a goal of increasing that number to 4 visits per year. To accomplish this, I needed to overcome a major hurdle: the belief that every visit to the Zoo is essentially the same. Same animals, same exhibits, same experience.
I needed to reposition the Zoo as a dynamic, exciting, and always-changing experience. I developed a campaign strategy around a new positioning statement for the Zoo: Every Visit Is An Adventure.
The next step was to support that positioning with a Messaging Architecture designed to identify major objections and craft strong counterarguments. One of the major selling points for more frequent Zoo visits lay in the growing need for parents to place limits on their children's screen time. Every Visit Is An Adventure expounded on that message, emphasizing that adventure can’t be found on social media. It can’t be downloaded. It can’t be streamed. It has to be experienced in person. Parents were encouraged to give their children a real adventure at the Zoo.
In support of that message, I wanted to emphasize the Zoo’s new exhibit designs, which put animals in their natural environments and enabled visitors to get very close to them, often within inches.
The message was distributed through digital and print ads, video, e-newsletters, and membership materials.
