LOS ANGELES The San Diego Zoo has awarded the creative portion of its account to independent M&C Saatchi following a review, the Zoological Society of San Diego said.
The Santa Monica, Calif., agency prevailed in a review that was launched this summer and conducted by Select Resources International, Santa Monica.
Media duties were assigned to independent Round 2 Communications, Los Angeles, which pitched the business alongside M&C. The Zoological Society previously split media duties with independent MeadsDurket, the zoo’s longtime creative incumbent in San Diego.
“The whole process was handled extremely professionally, giving us access to the client in order to understand their thinking,” said Huw Griffith, chief executive officer of M&C Saatchi. “It was invaluable. We got a better sense of who they are and what they were after. We developed some brutally simple thinking for the zoo and their Wild Animal Park.”
Griffith said the agency presented “a range of ideas that worked in a through line.” The zoo intends to include greater use of television in its marketing mix.
Independents davidandgoliath, Los Angeles, and Cramer-Krasselt, Phoenix, were finalists in the review.
Though the zoo spent $2 million advertising in 2003, per Nielsen Monitor-Plus, sources estimated the upcoming budget could reach as high as $8 million.
M&C Saatchi, Round 2 Share S.D. Zoo
