Integrated Campaign for the San Diego Zoo

The San Diego Zoo has a great tradition of utilizing outdoor. This recent campaign is no exception. It is draped on billboards, buses and trolleys. Vibrant illustrations of mythical creatures such as gryphons, unicorns and sea serpents are paired with the headline, “If they’re not here, they probably don’t exist.” The illustration style is reminiscent of the colorplates you would find in a book published by the Museum of Natural History.

As a creative, I love it. It’s a different direction for a zoo to take in their advertising. And I welcome the lack of anthromorphization that has characterized the recent campaigns. (For the longest time, adding human characteristics to animals in their marketing was big no-no.)

But from a strategic point of view, does this campaign tie into the Zoo’s ongoing commitment to conservation?

When I saw the interactive component, the answer is yes.

The page has web cams of the mythical creatures and they disappear. A headline reads, “Don’t let today’s animals become tomorrow’s mythical creatures.”

A great example of using interactive to complement an offline campaign.