Elmwood Park Zoo

Industries:
Tourism
Hospitality
Restaurants
Entertainment

Testimonial:
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"Wallboard has not only improved our digital signage operation in every way, but its robust features and ease of use has made the process of designing and updating our displays a pleasurable experience."

Shaun Rogers,
Director of Marketing‍

Customer Story:
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Elmwood Park Zoo, located just outside of Philadelphia in Norristown, PA, recently celebrated its 100th anniversary. A beloved destination for young families, Elmwood Park Zoo offers unique animal exhibits and engaging events. Shaun Rogers, the Marketing Director for Elmwood Park Zoo, has been with the Zoo for 13 years, playing a key role in their digital signage deployment as part of a small but mighty marketing and events team.

Ticket booth digital screens at Elmwood Park Zoo using Wallboard CMS

Problems:

Elmwood Park Zoo started its digital signage journey 8-9 years ago with a basic solution using BrightSign's BSN Cloud, which was first implemented in one of their animal exhibits. However, the content quickly became static and outdated due to the “set it and forget it” nature of the system. As the Zoo’s needs grew, including the need for digital menu boards, the existing solution became a hindrance:

Outdated Signage System: Initially, Elmwood Park Zoo used a basic digital signage solution with BrightSign and BS Cloud, which became static and outdated due to its limited functionality.
Inefficient Updates: Updating content, especially menu boards, was manual and time-consuming. The system couldn’t support dynamic content, which meant the marketing team had to manually replace menu boards with paper updates.
Limited Capability: The previous system did not support dynamic video effects, which restricted the marketing team's ability to engage visitors effectively at their ticket booths and other displays.

Solution:

Elmwood Park Zoo had initially learned about Wallboard through a partner and had a demo with the Wallboard team. Shaun and his team were instantly impressed, particularly with Wallboard’s capabilities in menu boards and data integration.

Replace static menus with dynamic menuboards: Wallboard’s data-binding features allow Elmwood Park Zoo to sync menu boards with Google Sheets, enabling quick updates from any device. Shaun can now update the menu from his phone when a vendor sends him a text.
Animated Content for Ticket Booths: Elmwood Park Zoo added animations and video effects to ticket booth screens, with scheduling capabilities that show the content only on weekends.
Easy Content Updates: Unlike their previous system, Wallboard allowed them to easily refresh and update content across different screens, saving significant time and effort.

Results & Future Plans

Elmwood Park Zoo plans to expand its use of Wallboard across more screens, including replacing BrightSign in the original animal exhibit and finally updating the outdated content. Shaun is also looking into interactive digital signage options in the future, which could provide even more engaging experiences for Zoo visitors.

Since switching to Wallboard, Elmwood Park Zoo has seen substantial improvements:

Ease of Use: Wallboard’s intuitive interface made it simple for the team to manage and update content, freeing up time for other marketing activities.
Time Savings: Wallboard has saved Shaun’s small team a significant amount of time, particularly in managing menus and ticket booth animations.
Improved Visitor Experience: The animated content and regularly updated menus enhance the Zoo’s appeal to visitors, providing a fresh, engaging experience.