Lincoln Park Zoo – Membership Acquisition Campaign
In 2007, Lincoln Park Zoo asked Schultz & Williams to reinvigorate their direct mail membership acquisition campaign. Lincoln Park was looking for a new approach that could sell household memberships to a free zoo. Lincoln Park also wanted to integrate with the Zoo's marketing campaign, conduct targeted and meaningful tests and improve on its analyzing results so they could make strategic decisions for future campaigns.
S&W created four test panels to gain a better understanding of what offer, package and approach works best with Lincoln Park’s audience. The 2007 campaign resulted in the highest response rate since the Zoo's last major exhibit opening and generated an average gift of $83—the highest to date—due to the majority of members upgrading into higher membership categories.
Strong response can be attributed to a successful creative approach, which included additional benefits and premiums for upper level members and a targeted list plan that refocused the targeted geographic areas and limited list testing to traditional zoo membership files.