Dublin Zoo - in need of an update
July 11, 2007 at 11:32 am
Oh the power of photography! We’ve just started work on a new project for an ecommerce site. The client is very switched on and realises that good photography can make all the difference. If you want someone to buy something from you, you must try and give them as much information to assist in that decision - a couple of good pics is a basic requirement but one that is all too often overlooked.
Take Dublin Zoo for example.
There has recently been a number of new babies born at the zoo. They’ve got the PR working on overdrive, every time I open a Saturday Irish Times there’s a cute picture of baby elephants, giraffes, etc. staring right back at me. So the pictures exist.
Now go to the Dublin Zoo site. It’s awful. A generic montage of images that look like they’ve been cobbled together from old brochures going back to the 1970’s. Isn’t that lion from “Born Free”? Lighting is off on all of them, and look - there’s no sign of the new celebrity babies! Don’t go clicking into news because you’ll get stuck - there is no back link on the logo to home. Search for baby elephant and you get a list of results that aren’t relevant. The first one is a pdf, but it doesn’t tell you that. The most prominent feature is a (expensively produced) waste of time virtual map that I couldn’t understand.
This site is not marketing focussed, content is poor. It does not entice me to come visit, it’s not up to date, and if I was deciding how to spend my summer holidays time with the kids, I’d be going elsewhere.
Now, here’s an example of how a zoo site should be done. Denver Zoo - first thing that jumps out at you are the cutesy pics of the animals. The seal-lion makes me go agh. The orangutang is so cute. And even the reptile looks appealing - kind of.
Apart from the strong use of photography, the site is well structured achieving clear goals - education, conservation, kids, plants. Denver Zoo looks like an attractive place that I’d want to visit and it’s easy to see the current events. Content is well written for the audience. In short, Denver Zoo is everything that Dublin Zoo is not.
Dublin Zoo is one of the most popular tourist attractions. They have a good name for their marketing. It’s just such a pity that they ignore the online environment and that lets them down.
Comments (4 responses)
Yup, badly in need of an update - I worked on the development of the site a good 4 years ago at least, and it doesn’t look like it’s been updated since, except for the logo.
We are very aware of the dated nature of the current website and are in
the process of designing a new one. We are hoping that this will go live soon.
that comment above came from Robert Wiggins of Dublin Zoo.
Hi Mary Rose,
whatever about the website and the new babies when you actually go to the zoo there’s no sign of them either.
Since becoming a member last month, I’ve been there around 7-8 times and have yet to catch sight of the baby heffalump.
Furthermore (rant alert), while the zoo opens at 9.30 am, the coffee shop and ice cream kiosks do not!
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