Chester Zoo bigs up £30m project

Chester Zoo has brought the UK one step closer to its ground-breaking new Islands attraction – launching next spring – with an interactive site to build interest in the £30m exhibit.
Claimed to be the biggest zoo project in UK history, the exhibit will see a previously unoccupied 50,000sq m area of Chester Zoo’s estate transformed into the tropical environments of six South East Asian islands for families to explore.
“Islands at Chester Zoo” will engender a breeding programme for many endangered species fighting for survival and become home to a wide collection of exotic animals, from Sumatran tigers and wild warty pigs to Indonesian rhinoceros hornbill and exotic birds such as the lorikeet.
To help build excitement ahead of launch, the new site – designed and built by Code Computerlove – encourages people to learn more about what to expect when they explore the wildlife attraction next year.
In addition to videos showing a computer-generated aerial view of the whole Islands attraction, there is an interactive map encouraging consumers to learn about each of the individual islands that make up the project. A news section details the history behind the project and its ongoing progress.
People can also enter a competition to be among the first to visit Islands by winning exclusive tickets to the official opening. A fun video has been filmed to encourage entries and further explain how to enter.
Chester Zoo’s online marketing manager Simon Hacking said: “Code Computerlove has brought the Islands at Chester Zoo project to life within digital and mobile channels in a fantastic way. With the site as our hub, our digital marketing programme will now also include continual updates and engagement in social media channels, plus we’re encouraging people to sign up to our email updates as part of our CRM strategy.
“This is a major project not only for Chester Zoo but for the UK as a whole and the website is a fantastic illustration of what is to come in spring 2015.”
Established in 1999, Code Computerlove has an 80-strong team with offices in Manchester and London; its other clients include HMV, Woodland Trust, Greenpeace, BBC, Oxfam and Swinton.

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