On Earth Day 2025, John Ball Zoo hosted the inaugural Wild Strides 5K Race in support of its conservation programs and Earth Day initiatives and its ongoing mission to protect wildlife and wild places. As the Zoo’s Agency of Record, the Acorn Team was tasked with promoting the event and driving pre-race registrations. The goal was to attract at least 500 runners.
Acorn Marketing initiated a new digital advertising campaign for the Wild Strides 5K targeting running enthusiasts and casual runners in the greater Grand Rapids area. Ad creative was produced by the Zoo’s talented design team and put to action by Acorn’s digital advertising strategists using Connected TV, Programmatic Display Ads, Facebook, and Instagram.
The 3-week campaign was tremendously successful driving over 800 pre-race registrations and exceeding the goal by 60%.
Specifically, digital ads garnered over 118,000 impressions, 2,400 clicks and a click-thru rate over 145% higher than industry benchmarks.
It was a beautiful day at John Ball Zoo. Runners followed a challenging course through the Zoo and enjoyed the colorful Lanterns set up for Lantern Festival. Overall the event was a huge success. Members of the Acorn Marketing team joined in the fun supporting the zoo by participating in the event too!
