Vision, Strong Marketing Keys to Zoo’s Success : World Stature a Study in Good Salesmanship
Among the successes of the San Diego Zoo is its ability to promote itself as the world’s greatest--whether it is or not.
There can be no doubt that the San Diego Zoo is the most famous in the country, if not the world. It draws more than 3 million visitors a year; the “Zoorama” syndicated television series showcased the zoo in the 1950s and 1960s in 200 cities around the country, and now “Animal Express,” a new syndicated television show about the zoo, is being marketed around the country. No other zoo can boast a coast-to-coast television program about itself.
Then there’s the story of Carol, a 4-year-old Asian elephant that had been trained by a zoo employee to paint with a brush. In 1971, Carol and her charismatic handler--Joan Embery--landed a spot on “The Tonight Show.”
Today, the zoo has lost track of the number of encore appearances by Embery on the late-night show; by NBC’s count, she’s been on more than 60 times.
“It’s one of the most popular spots on the show. Embery pulls in an awful lot of mail,” said network spokesman Joe Bleeden. “Not too many people have been on the show more than her.”
By contrast, a representative of the Los Angeles Zoo has been invited on the show--which is taped in Burbank--just once.
The Zoological Society spends $1.8 million a year advertising the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park. Half the money is spent buying television commercials in Los Angeles, which supplies about 20% of the zoo’s visitors. In contrast, the Los Angeles Zoo, which is owned and operated by the City of Los Angeles, has a $70,000 annual advertising budget and relies to a great degree on billboard companies offering free space.
During the 1984 Summer Olympics, the San Diego Zoological Society purchased five prominent billboards around Los Angeles boasting the San Diego Zoo as the world’s greatest.
“I don’t take umbrage at them for advertising in our market, but can’t they at least say ‘ One of the World’s Greatest Zoos?’ ” said Dr. Warren Thomas, executive director of the Los Angeles Zoo.
“Well, I’ve got an inch-thick file of newspaper clippings which say we are the world’s greatest,” says Carole Towne, who is in charge of the zoo’s promotion and marketing. She began working at the zoo as a receptionist 17 years ago, after graduation from college. She moved up in the public relations and marketing departments, and today she heads both.
She says the zoo advertises heavily outside the San Diego area because only about 20% of its visitors are San Diegans.
“We suffer from an Empire State Building syndrome. The zoo’s been here such a long time that a lot of local people now only come because of an external force, like out-of-town guests.”
The zoo, which sometimes shares advertising campaigns on a cooperative basis with Sea World and the San Diego Convention and Visitor’s Bureau, has to compete for the tourist dollar with the likes of Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Universal Studios, Magic Mountain and other turnstile amusement parks, Towne notes.
“All of Southern California is our market,” Towne said. “They (Los Angeles zoo officials) can’t say we’re moving in on their territory because, after all, we were here first (in 1916). I could say that they are taking away our market in Los Angeles.”
The San Diego Zoo’s success in selling itself is perhaps told best by Michael Crotty, curator of mammals at the Los Angeles Zoo. He says with resignation, “When I go to parties up here and I tell people I work at the zoo, they say, ‘Oh, the San Diego Zoo?’
“I say, ‘No, the Los Angeles Zoo.’ And they say, ‘Oh, I haven’t been there.’ Then, as if it’s some consolation to me, they say, ‘But I have been to the San Diego Zoo!’ ”
