Background Information

Transcription

1 San Diego Zoo 2920 Zoo Dr. San Diego, CA Background Information The San Diego Zoo, founded in 1916, enjoys the attendance of 3.4 million visitors each year. Combined with the San Diego Zoo Safari Park, the organization employs 2,200 full and part time people, with a force that swells to approximately 2,600 during the summer. We are also thankful to have had over 2,000 people volunteer their time to support us in Our mission is conservation focused, and the success at our parks furthers our goal of connecting people to wildlife and conservation, as well as funds our 100 field projects in 35 countries. We have been fortunate to have been recognized in many fields, including human resources, marketing, exhibit design, and more, but we cherish being recognized for our conservation efforts both here and abroad by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, among other organizations. 1

2 Marketing Information The Southern California market is crowded with entertainment options, including SeaWorld, Disney, Universal, and Legoland, as well as the beach and other attractions, making it difficult to stand out. To increase the challenge, we are a non-profit competing with for-profit companies for market share, with many of them spending 4 times or more than what our budget is during the year (confirmed by competitive media analysis). This means we have to be lean and strategic. We have to make it look like we are everywhere and create significant consumer impact on a very tight budget. Our primary target demographic is a mom, 25 40, with small children. We are expanding to a secondary target of young adults who may not have children, to reintroduce them to the zoo and to take advantage of influencers using new media. For the 2013 campaign we are geo-targeting with emphasis on the Los Angeles/Inland Empire and Orange County areas, with a secondary reminder in our home market of San Diego. We extend our reach into support markets such as Phoenix, San Francisco, Las Vegas, and others. 2

3 Marketing Goals The goals of the campaign were very straightforward: Increase attendance over 2012 Increase revenue over 2012 Gain awareness for our new exhibit, as well as our conservation work with koalas Create new social media buzz about the Zoo for those who may not normally engage with us 3

4 Marketing Concept The San Diego Zoo is known as the leader for koala breeding and conservation outside of Australia. Not only do we display the most koalas in the country, but all koalas in the United States come from our collection. Memorial Day weekend 2013, the San Diego Zoo opened a brand new exhibit, the Australian Outback. The new exhibit featured many animal species found in Australia, but the hero was without a doubt the koala. When it came time to develop the marketing message, we wanted something that reflected the simple truths: being in the southern most part of our state, San Diego is California s Down Under; and when it comes to seeing koalas, this is the place to be. What we ended up with became more than a message, it was a state of mind - the state of Koalafornia. This concept was incredibly fun to work with! And the applications for marketing were seemingly endless. From TV to outdoor and social media, Koalafornia resonated with our target audience prior to visit, influenced purchases at the zoo, and continued through social media after their day at our park. The results have been amazing! 4

5 Success Measures As our campaign ramped up to the opening of Australian Outback on Memorial Day weekend 2013, and through the present, we have demonstrated success in the following ways: As of 7/24, attendance is 59,206 people ahead of budget, and 74,384 visits ahead of 2012 at this time. As of 7/24, revenue is 9% ahead of budget, and is nearly 12% ahead of 2012 at this time; our per cap has raised $2.78 over last year. Retail of merchandise using the Koalafornia artwork has sold an incredible net of $278,442 as of 7/26, $212,000 of which were T-shirts. Through Public Relations team, we have had over 6,000,000 impressions through advance publicity efforts. Since 5/13 the digital campaign has resulted in 4,837 transactions to buy tickets or memberships. 5

6 Campaign Elements: Key Artwork We kicked off the campaign with development of Koalafornia key artwork. This included elements which would be used for long-lead placement, annual travel guides, retail merchandise, collateral, and more. Here is the original state flag. 6

7 Campaign Elements: Key Artwork More of the initial key artwork. The reflections feature scenes from the San Diego area. 7

8 Campaign Elements: ZOONOOZ Magazine Articles about the new exhibit were placed in ZOONOOZ magazine in the months leading to the exhibit opening. The November 2013 issue was a calendar, dedicated to the animals of Australian Outback. Subsequent issues of ZOONOOZ featured Aussie content through the exhibit opening, culminating in a special June ipad issue about koalas. All content is produced in-house. 8

9 Campaign Elements: ZOONOOZ Magazine Example pages from the ZOONOOZ November 2012 Calendar issue. 9

10 Campaign Elements: Holiday Card To get the buzz started among media, influencers, and our peers, we created a holiday card themed for the new exhibit. With a tag line of Koa-la-la-la-la, it featured a die cut front, with a pull out card. 10

11 Campaign Elements: Collateral for Sales and Partnership Prior to the new year, our in-house design team updated all of the Sales and Partnership collateral to reflect the exhibit launch. The team even distributed sales materials on a cute koala USB! 11

12 Campaign Elements: Collateral for Sales and Partnership We also chose this campaign to develop our first-ever information brochures in multiple languages, including French, German, and Chinese. 12

13 Campaign Elements: Public Relations Our PR team knocked it out of the park for this campaign, with an estimated 6+ million impressions during advance publicity. There were blitzes in several markets, numerous television hits with no less than 74 stories, as well as 64 print articles and untold amounts of online posts. We even made news in Australia! News program from Sydney, Australia 13

14 Campaign Elements: Public Relations, Blitzes Our PR team and our spokesperson Rick Schwartz visited regional and national news and media outlets, in markets including New York, Los Angeles, Salt Lake, and Phoenix. The yield from these efforts were excellent: Tuscon Los Angeles Phoenix Bay Area Salt Lake 200,000+ impressions 800,000+ impressions 270,000+ impressions 41,000+ impressions 153,000+ impressions During these blitzes our Sales team brought the new collateral materials, and met with existing and prospective clients to update them with the latest information about the new exhibit. 14

15 Campaign Elements: Public Relations, Blitzes In addition to the news blitzes, We had appearances in major media outlets: Home & Family Show The Better Show Huffington Post Live Live with Kelly and Michael 517,658 impressions 469,795 impressions 1,950,601 impressions 2,806,548 impressions Live with Kelly and Michael clip - click here 15

16 Campaign Elements: Public Relations, Print These are examples of the print articles about the new exhibit. 16

17 These are examples of the print articles about the new exhibit. Campaign Elements: Public Relations, Print 17

18 Campaign Elements: Micro Website for the New Attraction Utilizing the Koalafornia concept, along with cues from the key artwork, our inhouse digital team created an awesome micro site, which followed the journey of an Australian koala who was Koalafornia Dreamin about coming to the San Diego Zoo. Since the site launched on January 25 th, we ve had more than 1.2 million unique visitors. We also created a koala cam for this site, which has seen over 860,000 unique visitors! 18

19 Campaign Elements: Micro Website for the New Attraction More screen shots from the site. Click here to go to the site 19

20 Campaign Elements: Cross Web Integration Besides having the microsite, it was important to integrate the messaging with the main Zoo site, as well as our Kid s website. These outlets see an incredible amount of traffic, and it is not uncommon for us to have over 300,000 video views in a month. On the next pages are two of the several videos we have produced for our sites which talk about koalas and koala conservation. 20

21 Campaign Elements: Web Videos This video highlights the work San Diego Zoo Global is doing in Australia to support research and conservation of koalas. Click to watch video on our Conservation Site! 21

22 Campaign Elements: Web Videos This video is a fun introduction to the koalas living in the new Australian Outback exhibit! Click to link to the Kids site and watch video! 22

23 Campaign Elements: Social Media We have had great success with social media around the Koalafornia campaign concept. It kicked off with a photo contest at the end of January, run through Twitter and Instagram, and supported by Facebook and our micro site. We asked people to print a picture of our koala and take a picture of him living the Koalafornia dream 23

24 Photo contest screen grabs. Campaign Elements: Social Media 24

25 Campaign Elements: Social Media As we neared the opening on Memorial Day weekend, nearly all of our social media posts were themed for the exhibit to get people excited. This practice has continued throughout the summer. 25

26 Campaign Elements: Social Media Even our Aussie friends made posts and included a link to our TV spot! 26

27 Campaign Elements: Social Media After Australian Outback opened, we had Tweet-ups! 27

28 Campaign Elements: Social Media Much like a badge of honor, our customers have shared pictures of their Koalafornia retail product purchases in social media on Instagram and Twitter, with the tag #Koalafornia. Never before have we seen such excitement and social media reach over our products! T-shirt sales alone make up an amazing $212,000 net since the exhibit launch. 28

29 Campaign Elements: Exhibit Preview Party On May 23 rd, a few days before our official opening, we had an awesome preview event for media, influencers, and industry folks. All party-goers received a bag full of Koalafornia swag, a picture, and of course met all kinds of animals from Australia! We also had aboriginal dancers, and Australian entertainment. 29

30 Campaign Elements: Advertising Our advertising campaign kicked off May 13 th, and was a complete media mix, with TV, radio, a variety of out-of-home, print, and multi-media online. Radio Advertising Our radio spots featured koalas at the zoo trying to understand how to fit in with the California lifestyle and be true Koalafornians. Tips Q & A 30

31 Television Advertising We ran two spots in the Los Angeles market. They played in 50% rotation. Both spots poke fun at the California lifestyle, while injecting some Koal-ity humor! The first spot is a combination of two 15 second ideas back-to-back. Titled Eucalyptus w/classic car, the first story is set in an organic farmer co-op market. Our salesperson has an unusual customer. The second story takes place on a typical California street, with a classic lowrider on a cruise. The second spot is a 30 second titled montage and combines many stereotypical California visuals and activities, twisted into our own state of Koalafornia. This spot also features time at the end to fulfill partner tags. To integrate the TV with social media, we included the hash tag #koalafornia at the end of the spots to influence people to share their feelings about them, and to continue the chatter which began with the photo contest. Each time the spots were on air, people would comment. 31

32 Television Advertising Eucalyptus w/classic car 32

33 Television Advertising Montage 33

34 Well-known British animal portrait photographer Tim Flach (book: More than Human) created his interpretation of our Koalafornia flag artwork, which we used on billboards and as bus wraps. This is billboard #1. Out-of-home Advertising 34

35 Out-of-home Advertising This is billboard #2. 35

36 Out-of-home Advertising On bus wraps, note that koala always walks in the direction of travel. 36

37 Out-of-home Advertising We also used our initial key artwork to create bus shelter posters, duratrans, and shopping cart ads to fill in areas where there was limited billboard or 30-sheet applications. 37

38 Digital Marketing The digital campaign was very aggressive, with social media buys, mobile, video, banners, search ads, and more. Since 5/13 the digital campaign has resulted in 4,837 transactions to buy either tickets or memberships. Our banner program was a combination of direct buys and ad networks. The banner artwork was also created in-house, and made to reflect the micro-site. 38

39 Digital Marketing We ran pre-roll video on many sites including Hulu, and used video ad networks. Something new we tried was to seed a 15 second version of our TV spot on YouTube to create viral views. The result is just under 230,000 views in only 2 months! 39

40 Digital Marketing We also purchased promoted tweets and media on Facebook to enhance social media presence. Here s an example of our Facebook advertisement. 40

41 Print Advertising We used the various koalas from the key art for the print insertions, which included travel and trade publications, hotel in-room magazines, local coupon magazines, and more. 41

42 The Koalafornia campaign continues to exceed our goals and expectations. We will re-run many of the campaign elements in 2014 to maximize return on the creative investment. Thank you for considering the San Diego Zoo as the winner of the 2013 Brass Ring Integrated Marketing Award! 42