Fledgling economic firm, Market & Feasibility Advisors (MFA), recently released a national review of all 220 AZA accredited institutions’ revenue strategies. This review includes basic statistics on pricing and membership strategies, presence of animal encounters and rides, among many others.
MFA’s recent document is part of an on-going process to build a database for use by clients when evaluating their economic status. Within this ‘teaser’ document, MFA shares a few of their industry insights.
1. Zoos across the country do not share a pricing strategy, nor does there appear to be any causal relationship between price and characteristics of the zoos. Basically, as guests, we pay what the market will bear.
2. Individual membership pricing is over-priced across the country (vs. family memberships).
3. Zoos under-utilize rides as a revenue AND interpretation strategy.
4. Water play is a hot new trend with real revenue potential.
Okay. This is sort of a ‘duh’ post. But…get over it.
According to AZA’s Economic Impact Report released earlier this year:
“Total contribution of AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums to the U.S. economy in
2010 was $16 billion, generating personal earnings totaling $4.7 billion and
supporting 142,436 jobs.”
This contribution was attributed to both zoo spending (operating outlays and capital improvements) and guest ‘before-and-after visit’ spending.
Every so often, a new idea has so much traction its all anyone can talk about. The new idea at AZA this year? Integration of mobile technology into the guest experience. Big words. Simple ideas.
8:30 a.m. Saturday. Many people have left the conference by now. Others are simply too tired from a long week (or a long Friday night out) to even imagine dragging themselves out of their comfortable Omni Hotel bed into the chilly gray Atlanta morning to listen to non-industry experts talk about Macro Trends. But not me. I’m there in room A305 along with a smattering of other over-achieving, artificially awake zoo and aquarium professionals.
Stan Sthanunathan from Coca-Cola schooling us in world trends
Our reward this morning? The Vice President of Marketing Strategy and Insights at Coca-Cola, Stan Sthanunathan, and Heather Baldino, the Senior Vice President of Network Marketing and Operations for Turner Broadcasting System. Big wigs. Real, world-class big wigs. For us zoo folks, practically marketing gods.
This session was named Macro Trends in the Zoo and Aquarium Industry. Not technology trends or social media marketing. Trends. But what did both of these big wigs have to tell us? Get connected to your audience. And not in the touchy-feely sorta way. In the digital way. And its got to be a two-way street.
Stan talked about the importance of this as a means to respond to the changing market. Today’s biggest changes? Shifting demographics (the world is getting older), shifting economic center (its China and India, not the great West), sustainability as a core value (especially with limited resources of water and petroleum), the emerging middle class (expect an additional 800 million by 2020), the connected world (think “world news in a matter of minutes, if not seconds”), and a focus on well-being (the US is fat).
As the world changes, zoos and aquariums must adapt and evolve in our relationships with our market. Baldino pointed out that on-demand entertainment (like Netflix, YouTube, Roku, XBox 360, iPhone, iPad, etc) has skyrocketed in the last two years alone causing a steep decline in non-electronic sources of entertainment. People who like media, use media. All kinds and all the time. People are “watching CNN at home on the couch with their smartphone, pulling stats from the CNN website, investigating things they see on TV.” The younger generation are even more dependent on media, and much more adept at digital multi-tasking.
So, how do we increase our share of the entertainment time budget of our audience? How do we expand the experience to before and after their visit to our parks? Digital media, and more specifically: mobile media.
Heather Baldino from Turner Broadcasting explaining how the digital landscape is changing the world.
Depending on the source, between 28-38% of the US population carries a smartphone. Smartphone users access the internet (or some internet based app) at least four times a day, according to Baldino. More than half of the US population accessed Facebook in June 2011. These users are not just kids. In fact, the majority of these users are between the ages of 25 and 54. What does that mean for zoos and aquariums who tend to focus on content for kids? It means an opportunity for developing a social experience within the family.
According to Baldino, most of the users of the Cartoon Network’s website and Facebook pages are adults on behalf of their kids. They don’t access the pages FOR the kids, they access the pages WITH the kids. These experiences can enhance the zoo visit by “amplifying and extending the experience.”
Of course, it also presents an opportunity to reach out to our heretofore untapped resource of “adults with no kids” market, which as shown in our PGAV Zoo-Goer study, is interested and does exist.
But how do we do that?
On Friday afternoon, a large, happy group of conference attendees met to address exactly that question. Currently, QR code integration and direct texting are the hottest methodologies in use at zoos and aquariums. But, Mobile Excursions, LLC CEO, Dan Shropshire, recommends utilizing hybrid apps for smartphones. Only 20% of the top 80 attractions by attendance are using apps at all, and he thinks its mostly due to price. Hybrid apps are useful to zoos and aquariums with limited budgets as they utilize web content already created thereby bypassing the resource intense content creation phase.
Craig Leonardi, Lead Product Manager Industry Solutions at AT&T, points out that if you want to delve into smartphone apps and mobile web, you must have easy navigation, big buttons, an editor’s eye to content, and ensure proper formatting. If you don’t deliver these things, your guest may use the app once and never return to it. That obviously won’t help us achieve our goals!
Leonardi goes on to suggest the use of QR codes. If you’ve been asleep for the last year or so, QR codes are the funky black and white squares you see on almost every print ad out there. You’ll see them on products and packaging, too. I’ve seen them on Pepsi cups at the Milwaukee County Zoo. As a consumer, you simply download a QR reader app onto your smartphone, then scan the code with your phone’s camera, and you are instantly connected to some specific web content related to that particular brand or attraction. The Pepsi cup took me to a web-only commercial parodying and besting Coca-cola’s famous polar bear ads.
The nice thing about QR codes is that any zoo can utilize them with minimal cost as free QR code generators are accessible and easy to use online. All you need is a computer, a printer, and a video uploaded to YouTube.
That’s exactly what Santa Barbara Zoo is doing right now. Using a QR code generator called Kaywa, the Zoo is able to easily create expanded content for its guests. And they’ve even utilized a fan video, which has gone mildly viral. And I’ll admit, I’m slightly obsessed with it.
If you’re going to use QR codes, Leonardi suggests taking advantage of your guests’ downtime. Meaning, any time they are standing in line, sitting down, or otherwise not actively engaged in an activity, make these opportunities available. Dean Noble from the Santa Barbara Zoo went so far to suggest using them at exhibits that are known to be snoozers. If you’re animals aren’t all that active, offer a code linking to a cool enrichment or training video. It won’t replace the live animal interaction, but it’ll offer another aspect of the animal that the guest is not currently getting to enjoy.
As for texting, Monterey Bay Aquarium is utilizing a simple scheme to help visitors see cool things throughout their visit. Everyone loves watching the critters get fed. So, through a voluntary program where guests opt-in to direct texting for one day, the Aquarium, via text message, suggests guests make their way to certain exhibits minutes before an unscheduled feeding is to occur. The Aquarium can use this system to selectively send guests to one exhibit or another based on attendance and crowding that day, ultimately helping to distribute guests throughout the Aquarium more efficiently.
With all these cool things zoos and aquariums are doing now, we have to understand that currently, today, right now, usage of these apps, QR codes, and direct texting is very low. According to both Shropshire and Mike Chamberlain at Monterey Bay, usage hovers between 1.5-2% of attendance. However, as trust of these new technologies increase over time, usage should also increase.
In order to succeed in integrating these technologies into the guest experience, Baldino suggests that the digital reward must be interactive and short. According to her, smartphone users are looking for quick info, tidbits, immediate gratification. She calls it “snacking.” If the content is too long, you’ll lose the audience’s attention. She went on to say interactivity is absolutely key to digital content especially for kids. Things like polls and voting, the ability to collect electronic prizes, like badges or digital animals, and share their collection with friends, photo tagging, games and live chats enable the audience to get involved, to interact, to connect.
Cartoon Network's Games page
“Digital is here to stay,” said Baldino. It should serve to amplify your product, not be the core experience. It should engage and connect customers. Many times, especially the older generations, feel digital experiences are alienating and isolating, which is the polar opposite of what we are trying to achieve in the zoo and aquarium world. But according to Baldino and Stan, digital is actually community-building. People tell each other about videos and apps, they send each other links, and talk to each other online. ”Its the new water cooler,” said Baldino. ”If you’re going to take advantage of Facebook, do it now.”
The importance of zoos and aquariums seemed to be the underlying theme of Friday’s AZA National Conference morning general session which featured talks by several prominent zoo and aquarium personalities including AZA President & CEO, Jim Maddy, AZA Chair of the Board and St. Louis Zoo Director, Jeff Bonner, and keynote speaker, CEO of the National Aquarium in Baltimore, John Racanelli.
John Racanelli
Racanelli’s bold rhetorical question still lingers with me: ”How is there still a question as to why zoos and aquariums matter?”
The U.S. boasts 225 AZA accredited animal facilities. That’s 225 zoos and aquariums, and variations thereof, that have dedicated themselves to achieving the highest husbandry standards possible,fostering an environment for serious scientific inquiry, creating wholesome, fun, educational family experiences, and supporting long-term conservation programs both in-house and in the wild.
In fact, America’s accredited zoos and aquariums invest nearly $115 million annually in direct support of wildlife conservation efforts.
Unlike other non-profits with similar expenditures (ie WWF), supporting conservation efforts is NOT the primary reason zoos and aquariums exist. According to Racanelli, they exist to create social and emotional bonds to wildlife, to inspire {a love of nature}, and to do these things in a manner that the public respects.
Cynthia Vernon, VP of Education, Guest and Research Programs at the world renowned Monterey Bay Aquarium once told Racanelli that people come to aquariums to “find social time, not to be educated.” So how do we create bonds and inspire the guests in a respectful way that allows them to satisfy their need for social experiences?
A family enjoying social time at Brookfield Zoo.
Racanelli suggests to educate when the guest is open to listening. This means inserting the educational aspect while the audience is inspired, not after, as is often the case in a traditional exhibit. Think about it. How often do you see the interactives and informational graphics tucked away in a corner or gathered together as you exit? How often do you feel compelled to explore these educational options? How often are you watching the animals wishing you knew the answer to “what the heck is that walrus doing?”
Racanelli suggests that we “rethink how we do what we do.” We need to build a movement. In order to do so, we need to understand who our audience is today and tomorrow. Today’s audience may still be Boomers, but Millenials are a major segment and will only continue to grow.
Millenials are “selected, protected and connected.” Selected, as in parents today are making a conscious decision when to have their children and exactly how many to have. Additionally, they are protecting them from the world’s dangers like at no time before (ie must be in car seats until they’re 4′ 9″?!?! No more lying in the back of the station wagon watching the streetlights pass overhead!). And of course, they are the permanently wired generation.
Other interesting and little known info about our current audience? Hispanic, non-English speaking families are more likely to recognize that humans are the primary threat to oceans than caucasian families. And they are willing to pay more for seafood that is caught responsibly.
So how do we change with the ever-changing visitor market? Be controversial! says Racanelli. We’re often so focused on not being the center of controversy (the target of animal rights smear campaigns) that we forget the old celebrity adage: Any press is good press! Of course, we only want good press when it comes to animal welfare and conservation, but the point is still valid. Be bold. Be confident. Get the audience’s attention!
I probably should have announced this BEFORE actually getting to the conference so that I might have had a chance to meet a reader or two, but, as they say, hindsight is 20/15, right?
That's me!
It’s Friday, and the AZA National Conference in Atlanta, GA has been in full swing since Wednesday. I, however, just arrived last night, and thus today is my first, and only, full day here. The Conference is jointly hosted this year by the Georgia Aquarium and Zoo Atlanta.
Conference Program
What makes this conference special is the fact that it is all about getting things done and sharing knowledge. Unlike many other professional conferences, whose main draw is a large exhibit hall unveiling new technologies and new products, the AZA Conference is 3 full days filled with concurrent sessions about topics ranging from (picking randomly from the conference program…) “Zoo Elephants: Towards a Sustainable Population with Excellent Welfare” to “The More We Work Together: Successful Departmental Collaboration within Zoos and Aquariums” and “Aquariums, Social Media, and New Initiatives to Engage People with Climate Change.” Additionally, the Conference serves as a meeting place for the very active committees present within the AZA, with multiple days dedicated to these closed door sessions.
I will be documenting the sessions I attend, so keep alert! And if any of you attended a session that I didn’t cover and would like to share your thoughts, please let me know.
As part of the yearlong Specialty Development Team program for 2011, the four of us from PGAV were lucky enough to be hosted for the day by the Georgia Aquarium dolphins’ trainers: Director of Animal Training, Michael Hunt, and Assistant Director, Lisa Mignogna.
Show pool from trainer platform.
Our day included an amazing back of house tour with the trainers as well as the Aquarium’s Vice President of Facilities and Operations, Heather McKeen. We got a fascinating look into the facilities that support the day-to-day life of the trainers, such as the large wetsuit and costume sanitizing and storage areas, the offices, the break room, and, of course, the show pool and holding pools.
Show pool and seating. Note the white 'T's at the bottom of the pool. These are trainer "marks" used as reference during show by trainers since the pool is so large and oftentimes dimly lit.
While visiting the holding areas, many of the dolphins were quite taken with our visit and spent a lot of time trying to get our attention!
Holding pools with keeper walkways between. Holding area is bathed in light from the surrounding windows and overhead skylights.
Lisa showed us the toys used for enrichment with the dolphins, hidden away in a plastic deck box, and described how training at the Aquarium has occurred so far. The dolphins, many of which came to the Aquarium from Dolphin Quest in Hawaii, needed training before arriving at the Aquarium, so the trainers spent a month of quality time with the dolphins in Hawaii “getting to know each other.”
Dolphin working furiously to get our attention!
Now at the Aquarium, the trainers work with the dolphins daily. All the trainers work with all of the dolphins to ensure flexibility in staffing the show. Each show is customized to the dolphins that are working in that particular show as, just like humans, the dolphins learn at different paces.
After spending a couple of hours with the staff, we were treated to an afternoon show. The show itself is an over-the-top adventure seeking to engage every age group and interest level. It is moderately successful in that regard, but the real stars are of course the dolphins and the trainers. The show is as grand as a SeaWorld production with lots of dolphins doing lots of cool stuff.
We had a great day at the Aquarium and very much appreciate the generosity of the staff in sharing part of their day with us. Their insights were invaluable. And thank you PGAV for being so supportive of our budding professional development program.
2011 PGAV SDT (Rosey Masek-Block, Jin Hee Lee, Stacey Tarpley, Christina Clagett)plus Project Manager, Emily Howard
In an ongoing effort to educate ourselves, our clients, and the tourism community at large, PGAV commissioned a study about our (read: MY) favorite guests: Zoo-goers!
Read the fascinating (and well-written, if I say so myself!) article here.
The article has been published in the August issue of Destinology, a mini-magazine put out by PGAV, as well as a Feature Article online through Blooloop.
Since it’s opening in April, Glacier Run at Louisville Zoo has been a busy place! Not only have they recently received a rescued polar bear cub, bringing their population to 2, but they have been housing a family of three grizzly bears rescued from Yellowstone earlier this year.
Word from the zoo is the grizzly bears are especially fond of the large dig pit included in the new exhibit. They apparently spend almost all of their time digging around in the gravel and mulch, and to our pleasure, we have succeeded in keeping the mess from the dig pit from entering the pool. The secret? Locating the dig pit at a slightly lower elevation than the water level, and separating the dig pit from the main pool by a shallow stream.
Last month, PGAV Destinations sent out the following press release:
Glacier Run Exhibit Opens at Louisville Zoo
PGAV Destinations Project Teaches Visitors Better Bonds with Wildlife and Our Planet
(St. Louis, Missouri – August 16, 2011): PGAV Destinations, a global leader in the planning and design of entertainment and cultural destinations, is pleased to announce that its Glacier Run project is touted as a sensation at the Louisville Zoo. PGAV Destinations served as the lead designer of this state-of-the-art attraction.
Designed as an imaginary town on the edge of the arctic wilderness, Glacier Run is modeled after the real town of Churchill, Canada, known as the polar bear capital of the world, where humans and wildlife have learned to co-exist.
“Glacier Run is sure to delight and entertain, but also tells one of the most important environmental stories of our generation. This arctic-themed exhibit fundamentally advances a Zoo’s mission of ‘bettering the bond between people and our planet,’” Louisville Zoo Director John Walczak said. “The very nature of this exhibit’s design is based on the idea of humans learning to co-exist with wildlife.”
PGAV Destinations’ design features include an old mining quarry, now flooded with water, where the bears come to play, a fishery and warehouse dock for more bear play space, and a melting glacier, that has destroyed a road in the town, for extra bear play space. The exhibit offers spectacular views, captivating stories of the arctic and unique opportunities for close encounters with polar bears, as well as grizzly bears. Guests have the opportunity to interact with zookeepers, learn about current challenges to arctic environments and animals, and discover how incremental changes in human everyday activities and behaviors can make a difference for our planet and these magnificent species.
The attraction is on its way to increasing attendance at the Louisville Zoo to more than 890,000 visitors annually and creating a $33.6 million economic impact for the region.
About Louisville Zoo
In its 43-year history, the Louisville Zoo has dedicated itself to the pursuits of education, conservation, scientific study and recreation. Accredited by the American Zoological Association (AZA) in 1980, the “State Zoo of Kentucky” currently exhibits over 1,700 animals in naturalistic and mixed animal settings representing both geographical areas and biomes or habitats. www.louisvillezoo.org
About PGAV Destinations
PGAV Destinations is a global leader in the planning and design of unique destinations. The firm uniquely combines award-winning storytelling and creativity with business strategy to create some of the world’s most important cultural, heritage, and natural destinations. PGAV develops growth-oriented master plans and translates these plans into innovative new destination products. Now in its fifth decade, the firm has authored hundreds of highly successful projects in places such as SeaWorld, the Grand Canyon, Biltmore Estate, The Brookfield Zoo, the Georgia Aquarium, Kennedy Space Center, and Busch Gardens. www.pgavdestinations.com
Announced last month, the AZA has instated a new safety policy for keepers working with elephants. This new policy essentially eliminates the option of free contact for accredited zoos.
Working with elephant at the Elephant Sanctuary in protected contact.
For those who are unfamiliar with the terminology, “free contact” refers to the husbandry practice whereby keepers and animals share the same space with no barriers between them. This allows keepers to easily train behaviors without impediment, but generally requires use of the controversial bullhook—essentially a stick with a metal hook and pointed end. “Protected contact” is the opposite. All elephant areas must have barriers to protect keepers from harm. This limits direct keeper animal contact and decreases likelihood of injury.
Because of this policy change, some zoos will have to make operational and husbandry changes by 2014, and will of course also cause some need for facility changes, namely the inclusion of additional barriers and dedicated keeper walks within barns.
Perhaps the most controversial effect of the policy change will be the implied elimination of elephant interactions such as rides and possibly some shows. However, most zoos have already eliminated these types of free contact situations, and many zoos have switched to protected contact years ago.
A bullhook.
Personally, I believe this is only a positive change as ultimately it will serve to protect both the animals and the keepers. But as we know, for some, change is a difficult pill to swallow. Hopefully those institutions not meeting the new policy requirements decide to pour themselves a nice big glass of water, and join us here in the future.
