Celebrating 130 Years—Together

Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance's 130th anniversary came shortly after a major rebrand centered on conservation and participation. The challenge was making an unconventional milestone worth celebrating while supporting where the brand was headed next.

ROLE
Creative Manager / Art Director

CONTRIBUTIONS
Campaign Concept, Creative Direction, Art Direction, Creative Brief, Broadcast + Production Direction

TEAM
Zoe Lehn + Stephanie Reaves, Design / Jessica Colón, Copy / Stephanie Dustin + Loveleen Molnar, Marketing / Jared Hardy, Communications

CHANNELS
Broadcast, OOH, Digital, Social, Email, Print, Environmental + Experiential

THE IDEA
Audience research showed that people returned to the Zoo for more than the animals. Tradition, shared memories and their connection to the place mattered too. I saw an opportunity in language DZCA already owned. Saving Wildlife, Together became Celebrating 130 Years, Together, connecting the anniversary to the conservation brand while making the celebration something our guests, staff, members and community could share.

BUILDING THE SYSTEM
I briefed our design team on a direction that felt bright, playful, a little nostalgic and immediately recognizable as DZCA. Designer Zoe Lehn developed the visual direction while I art directed and refined the system. We built from DZCA's Aspen yellow, expanded the palette with campaign-specific colors, and incorporated the existing lion mark into the 130th graphic. The system went on to support 8+ major events and daily activations across the Zoo, flexing from OOH and social to environmental graphics, merchandise and on-site experiences.

The Party Wasn’t Ready Yet.

BROADCAST
When it came time to shoot broadcast, most of what we needed to advertise hadn't been built yet.

Copywriter Jessica Colón and I turned that limitation into Party Ready, a Parks and Recreation-inspired
mockumentary about the behind-the-scenes chaos of preparing the Zoo for one very big party. Jessica and I co-wrote the broadcast spot and a series of social shorts that continued the story, while I art directed production from shot planning, location scouting, casting and props through the shoot, edit, color and final audio.

Instead of pretending the party was already happening, we made getting ready part of the invitation.

THE STORY CONTINUES
Short-form episodes extended the Party Ready mockumentary beyond the broadcast spot, giving us more of the behind-the-scenes story across social.

Full Team:
Sr. Director of Comms + Creative: Jared Hardy
Creative Manager/Art Director: Winnie Hefner
Senior Copywriter: Jessica Colón
Designers: Zoe Lehn, Stephanie Reaves
Director of Marketing: Loveleen Molnar
Marketing + Project Manager: Stephanie Dustin