Agency Six+One Says Farewell to the Bronx Zoo After 6 Years

“Thank you for trusting us with the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium. It's been a pleasure and an honour to work with you guys. And now, we bow out gracefully – and not only gracefully, but with a lovely song that we made just for you.”

New York-based branding and creative agency Six+One is bidding farewell to one of its clients: the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). As well as the two aforementioned institutions, the NGO also looks after the Central Park Zoo, Prospect Park Zoo and Queens Zoo.

Six+One’s six-year partnership as agency of record is the longest in the Bronx Zoo’s 125-year history, and never one to go about things traditionally, the agency has created a song to celebrate this record and give a proper goodbye to their long-time partners. The remake of ‘So Long, Farewell’ from The Sound of Music expresses Six+One’s gratitude for the collaboration and showcases many of the remarkable campaigns and achievements from their time together.

The highlights include creating over 103 campaigns, which garnered 1.3 billion impressions, achieved a 242% increase in ROI, generated over $30 million in attributed revenue, and tripled the ad revenue for the WCS. But the tune wasn’t so sweet, says Six+One’s founder and CCO, Eric Rojas, when the agency first set out six years ago to help the Bronx Zoo, which was suffering from low attendance rates. 

“They were looking for an agency to help them drive visitors into the park and shed a new light on the zoo; make a New York institution feel fresh again. That was a challenge because people think ‘been there, done that’.”

So, they had to come up with a unique positioning – fortunately, something that came fairly naturally. “It's unexpected, in that it's 265 acres of lush greenery in the heart of New York, in the Bronx,” explains Eric. “They are world renowned leaders in creating exhibits, and other zoos in the world look at them to replicate stuff they do, like the Congo Gorilla Forest.”

Distilling what made the Zoo unique led to the line and positioning that would shape all of the partnership’s output over six years: ‘A Different Kind of Animal’.

Six+One was intent on marketing each visit to the Zoo as just as unpredictable as the natural world, seeking to be ‘wild’ and disruptive at every touchpoint. And they got off to a hot start, says Eric. 

“In the nine month period of us starting, when we compared to the year before, we increased their sales by $6 million in nine months, which is incredible. They had a 65% weekly revenue increase during spring break than the year before too. We were off to the races.”

After a strong first year, difficulty arose as New York – and the wider world – dealt with the covid pandemic. As social distancing and other restrictions went into effect in early 2020, Six+One had the task of keeping the now-inaccessible Zoo top-of-mind, and even brought the experience to people in their homes.

The campaign ‘Virtual Wild Encounters’ allowed families to have personal video calls with a variety of animals and their zookeepers, who could then showcase the species, feed them on camera, and answer questions from children and their parents. After the restrictions were lifted, the team then deployed the campaign ‘Spring to Life’, celebrating the opportunity to return to the outdoors and get back in touch with nature with funny animal-based quips and wildlife photography.

Whether writing pun-tastic lines about New Yorkers, represented as Frogs, ‘hanging in there’ during the pandemic, or promoting the Zoo’s animatronic dinosaur exhibits, Eric explains that the team always drew from their own experience to ensure the work would resonate with the city and its diverse population. Discussing the ‘Dinosaur Safari’ print campaign specifically, he shares that the copy was tailored to each of the five boroughs. 

“In Brooklyn, there is a strong community of health-conscious individuals, particularly among those who embrace plant-based lifestyles. To resonate with this audience, we chose the herbivorous Pentaceratops, positioning it as ‘the OG vegan’. These tailored activations aligned with local culture, encouraging people to ‘escape their roommates and roam with dinosaurs’, cautioning city dwellers to ‘be careful of who you stare at’ – paired with a striking image of a T-Rex – or playfully reminding Yankees fans who the real ‘bleacher creatures’ were.”

In 2024, Six+One relished the opportunity to help the Zoo celebrate its 125th year anniversary with the campaign ‘Unforgettable Lives Here’. The work, which encompassed OOH, TVC and paid media, was centred around the park’s “awe-inspiring” ability to transport visitors elsewhere, physically and emotionally, and invited them to contribute to a collective “unforgettable” story.

“It was really interesting to bring people into the fold of this story that we created for them,” says Eric. “It was a moment to talk about being an institution, one of the oldest in the city, and thank New York for 125 years of toughness, wonder and pride. Showing that through the animals and the Zoo’s conservation efforts.”

“We always tried to find ways to bring the Zoo to you,” adds Eric, sharing how activations for the anniversary campaign involved wrapping a subway station to immerse commuters in nature. Another such example of immersive advertising involved towing a pterodactyl from the back of an airplane. “So finding those unique experiences where we're elevating the experience and not taking you out of it is something that we've done really well for the Bronx Zoo.”

Reflecting on all this work, Eric notes that having been the Zoo’s longest-ever agency partner is not something Six+One takes lightly. “It's an honor to have the trust of the institution… It comes with hard work, dedication, never losing sight of driving a buzz around the zoo in a way that feels new every single time.”

Keeping it feeling fresh was no mean feat either, but finding something new each year, and bringing fresh perspectives onto the account, was a challenge the team ultimately enjoyed. “I learned to never lose the excitement,” he adds. “Even though there were challenging moments, it was about knowing that what we were marketing was much bigger than that. Much bigger! The Bronx Zoo is, and will always be, a really amazing experience.”

While the agency contended with one final pitch for the NGO’s most recent RFP, Eric says that after the long partnership, ““It was one of those moments where I think we knew we were running our course.”

But after pushing the WCS from strength to strength across six years, growing the brand year-on-year, and even seeing the Bronx Zoo nearly double in size – going from 6,000 to 10,000 animals during that time – the agency has bid heartfelt and optimistic goodbye to not just a client, but a valued partner and institution in the city they call home.

“We're bowing out with our heads held high,” says Eric. “We've had so much success with them… 103 campaigns, $30 million in attributed revenue, 1.3 billion impressions, a 242% increase in ROI… Are you kidding me? That's something any client would beg for, and for us to do it over the course of six years and continuously grow – every single year – we're proud of that! 

“We look forward to doing it with another client, maybe another zoo, maybe a museum… We're ready for the next challenge in that particular industry.”