Chester Zoo

Chester Zoo is the UK’s most visited zoo with 1.9 million people each year enjoying the chance to see over 15,000 of the world’s most exotic and endangered animals across 125-acres of award-winning gardens. The zoo is also involved in numerous conservation projects, both locally and globally.   

The Challenge

Chester Zoo has a long history of delivering amazing experiences for their visitors. As part of an ambitious 15-year plan to further enhance the zoo’s reputation as a truly world-class attraction, a new Madagascar habitat is being created. The main attraction of this is a unique chance for visitors to meet lemurs face-to-face, as part of a walk-through experience.

Our challenge was to communicate (through an online video and supporting collateral) the opening of this exciting new habitat, focussing primarily on the lemur experience, with the aim of attracting 206,000 visitors to the zoo over the Easter period. The creative not only had to create a sense of wonder and excitement but also convey Chester Zoo’s strong ethos of connecting people to nature through education and storytelling.

The Solution

The island of Madagascar has a truly exceptional position in nature. Through millions of years of isolation, 5% of all known animal and plant species can be found here, and here alone. The remarkable fauna and flora are matched by epic landscapes of incredible diversity.

We decided to centre our creative on telling this amazing story, or ‘tale’ by linking it with the immediately recognisable ringed ‘tail’ of the stars of the show, the lemurs. For a real storybook feel we commissioned hugely talented illustrator Febin Raj to capture the natural wonder of Madagascar in his own distinctive style. A genuinely captivating African voiceover added cultural authenticity and a sense of awe to this magical narrative.