In marketing, success happens when strategy, visuals, and messaging align seamlessly. It's not just about where ads are placed or what they say — it's about creating a cohesive campaign that connects with the right people, in the right places, with the right message. By targeting locations where we know our audience will be and pairing those placements with messaging that feels relevant, we can deliver an experience that resonates and drives results.
We put this idea into action during our recent attendance campaign for the Maryland Zoo. We teamed up with our longtime partners to boost ticket sales and memberships while celebrating the tenth anniversary of their Penguin Coast exhibit, home to the largest African penguin colony this side of the Atlantic.
When we started brainstorming, the buzz around reality TV shows like Love Is Blind and Love Island stood out to us, especially for how we could connect with our target audience: moms with children. Believe it or not, penguins have a lot in common with reality TV stars. They have big personalities, and no two are the same. There's the party animal, the flirty one, the mooch. With so many penguins in one place, there's bound to be some drama. That's how we came up with our campaign concept: Waddle Happen Next?
We threw it back to the Zoo's original penguin campaign from over 10 years ago — the first exhibit opening we worked on with them. That campaign featured black text on a white background with pops of color. This time, we kept the same palette, but with a twist. Instead of classic black and white, we layered the text on vibrant gradients. The result was a bold, eye-catching look that nodded to the original while feeling fresh and exciting, just like the constantly evolving Penguin Coast itself.
The video spot and ad copy leaned into the reality show concept, bringing the penguins' personalities to life. As we packed each line with humor, we understood our responsibility to showcase the penguins without making them seem like play objects or pets. And we always tailored the copy to fit the environment. For instance, at the airport, we played on the fact that penguins can't fly with "Whoa, You're Flying! Don't Rub It In." For billboards leading up to football season, we tapped into local pride with "Meet Baltimore's Other Birds."
To ensure the ads are effective, we leveraged geofencing technology to track foot traffic to the Zoo. We targeted people in the Baltimore area with display ads, then placed a digital "fence" around the Zoo to measure how many of them actually visited. Since many visitors buy their tickets at the gate rather than online, this allowed us to track real-world visits and report back on the campaign's return on investment.
Just like a hit reality show, the campaign caught people's attention and converted online visitors into in-person ones. In total, the campaign had 10,173,276 impressions across all channels and brought in 26,086 online visitors, resulting in 27,961 landing page sessions. Additionally, geogencing data indicated that 1,819 people visited the Zoo after being exposed to our Display ad.
We're proud to support the Zoo in their mission to protect endangered species like the African penguin, knowing that every ticket sold helps further these crucial conservation efforts.
