New Forest Wildlife Park

THE CHALLENGE

New Forest Wildlife Park is a family business. For years, marketing had been run by a family member without formal training: capable, but stretched, and without a strategy behind it. As the founders began stepping back and the generation took over, it was the moment to properly look at both the marketing and the wider business strategy. There was no in-house team to build or run a plan, spend leaned heavily on print advertising that couldn't be targeted or tracked, and there was no email marketing at all.

WHAT WE DO

Starting in April 2023, The Marketing Collective ran a full marketing audit (current activity, gaps, audience profiles, competitors), then wrote a strategy and delivery plan covering both New Forest Wildlife Park and its sister site, Battersea Park Children's Zoo. With no in-house team to deliver it, TMC became the embedded off-site marketing team for both: not a supplier sending monthly reports, but the team running strategy, website, paid media, PR, email and content week to week.

Since then: cut around £15,000 of print advertising that couldn't be targeted or tracked, delivered a new website, commissioned new video and photography, launched Meta ad campaigns reaching up to 18x return on spend in peak summer months, took over PR, and built an email programme from a standing start.

Day to day, TMC and the on-site team split social media by design: TMC handles the commercial content that drives bookings, like keeper experiences and adoptions, while the team keeps the personal, animal-led content only people on the ground can tell.