Our Work

Challenge

The Taronga Conservation Societies goal is to create tomorrow’s conservationsists today.    This includes a road map using digital channels to enrich and extend peoples Zoo visit at and beyond the physical confines of the zoo, encouraging people to take their visit home with them.

Research identified that visitors have a tendancy to rush sections of the zoo with dwell time at exhibitions often minimal.  Upon entry, visitors receive a paper map with session times to guide their experience.

Taronga’s brief was to develop a mobile version of the paper guide.  The goal of the app being to engage visitors with the Taronga conservation message, enrich their zoo experience and encourage them to take their zoo visit home with them.  KPI’s were focused on the quality of the experience provided by the solution as well as reach.

Expectations were that the app be downloaded 10,000 times in the first 3 months, taken as a measurement of expected audience interaction.  The mobile version was also required to achieve PR and present Taronga’s use of innovative technology to engage their audience.  Importantly, the solution should be successful in providing users with a rich and engaging experience that existed beyond the physical boundaries of the zoo.

Response

Our approach commenced with a Requirements Gathering phase, first investigating the audiencethrough Google analytics, market research, location testing of GPS and mobile reception as well as exploratory client workshops and focus groups.

We identified that parents and children often share mobile experiences, and that children take an ownership of educational messages through 2 way interactions such as UGC.  Research also highlighted that children naturally turn their zoo visit into a game through discovery, collection, self expression and reward.

From these insights, we developed the Taronga Zoo Monkey Mayhem iPhone application. The app includes the character Marley we developed for the game.  Marley explains that the Zoo Manual has been damaged by monkeys.  Users help rebuild the Manual by finding animals on the map, taking photos with the camera and unlocking video, audio, “Secret Keeper Notes” and access to Zoo Keeper EDM’s.  Users can also find unlock codes on the Taronga site, continuing the exploration post visit.

Nomad worked with Apple to secure important editorial content.  This resulted in a key feature in the iTunes store top section, a feature in the “Featured” section of the app store and top rankings in relevant categories.

Nomad also worked with Taronga in a “Mummy Bloggers” PR campaign to reach grass roots influencers for the core family audience.  This included a PR day at the Zoo for 20 bloggers, supplying them with iPhones and pre loaded app for a Zoo tour.