Exotic Zoo Wildlife Park in Telford is one of the Midlands’ most-loved family days out, a multi-award-winning attraction that has consistently topped TripAdvisor rankings. But standing out during the competitive February half term window requires more than a great product. It requires the right message, reaching the right families, at exactly the right moment. That’s where Hits Radio Advertising came in.
About the Client
Exotic Zoo Wildlife Park is an independent, award-winning small zoo located in Telford, Shropshire. Beloved by families across the West Midlands and beyond, the park offers an immersive wildlife experience across themed zones including The Rainforest, Nocturnal Zone, The Desert, and The Farmyard. Visitors can encounter armadillos, owls, meerkats, mongooses, and dozens of other species, alongside the park’s newly launched Natural History and Dino Museum, featuring real dinosaur skeletons.
Exotic Zoo prides itself on delivering educational, exciting experiences for children and adults alike. With its Jungle Café, dedicated zones, and expanding attractions, the park has built a loyal regional audience, but growing first-time visitor numbers during peak holiday periods required a targeted, high-reach media strategy.
About the Campaign
Hits Radio Advertising designed and executed a radio listener offer campaign for Exotic Zoo’s February half term 2026 promotion, a high-value, half-price family voucher offer broadcast to engaged, family-focused audiences across the Hits Radio network.
The campaign centred on a compelling consumer proposition: a family voucher granting entry for two adults and two children (aged 2–15), valid from 14th February 2026 through to 13th February 2027, offering flexibility well beyond the half term window itself. No pre-booking was required, removing friction and making redemption as simple as possible for busy families.
The Brief
Exotic Zoo approached Hits Radio Advertising with a clear set of objectives:
- Drive new family visitors to the park during the February 2026 half term
- Maximise voucher uptake by reaching parents and guardians actively planning half term activities
- Build brand awareness among families in the Midlands who may not yet have visited
- Extend campaign value beyond the immediate half term period through a long-validity voucher mechanic
The challenge was one familiar to many regional attractions: how do you cut through the noise of competing half term offers and ensure your campaign reaches engaged, purchase-ready families — not just passive audiences?
The Message
The creative and messaging strategy was built around accessibility and excitement. The core message was simple: Exotic Zoo is the Midlands’ most-loved family day out, and now you can visit for half the price.
Rather than leading with the zoo’s credentials alone, the campaign messaging leaned into the discovery angle, inviting families who had heard about Exotic Zoo but never visited to finally see what the hype was about.
Tone was warm, family-friendly, and action-driven, tailored to the Hits Radio audience of parents, guardians, and family decision-makers across the region.
The Solution
Hits Radio Advertising delivered a fully packaged radio listener offer campaign, combining broadcast reach with a high-converting promotional mechanic.
Key elements of the solution included:
- On-air promotion across the Greatest Hits and Hits Radio network, reaching a large, engaged family audience in the Midlands region
- Listener offer positioning, presenting the voucher as an exclusive benefit for Hits Radio listeners, increasing perceived value and urgency
- A friction-free redemption model, no pre-booking required, with a straightforward redemption process accessible to all audiences
- Extended validity window, valid-until-February-2027 mechanic designed to maximise total redemptions and long-tail campaign value beyond half term itself
- Multi-zone storytelling campaign copy highlighted the breadth of Exotic Zoo’s offering (Rainforest, Desert, Nocturnal Zone, Farmyard, and Dino Museum), reinforcing value and driving curiosity
The radio listener offer campaign format is one of Hits Radio Advertising’s most effective performance-driven products — combining the trust and emotional engagement of audio with a tangible, trackable call to action.
Success Measures
The campaign was evaluated against the following performance indicators:
- Voucher redemptions: volume of family passes claimed by Hits Radio listeners
- Reach and frequency: total audience exposed to the offer across the campaign period
- Footfall uplift: incremental visitor numbers attributed to the radio listener offer campaign during and post-half term
- Brand awareness growth: increase in first-time visitor numbers from the Midlands radio catchment area
- Cost per redemption: demonstrating the efficiency of radio as a performance channel for regional attractions
- Extended campaign lifespan: ongoing redemptions tracked through to February 2027, demonstrating the long-tail ROI of the listener offer mechanic
“We’ve had a fantastic experience working with Planet Offers. The partnership has been seamless, and their radio campaigns have provided us with great exposure to a wide and engaged audience. They’ve consistently delivered strong promotion that has helped boost awareness and footfall. The campaigns have been well-executed, and the team has been professional and easy to work with throughout. We’re very pleased with the results and look forward to continuing our collaboration.” – Mel Garton, General Manager at Exotic Zoo
Summary
For Exotic Zoo Wildlife Park, the February half term 2026 radio listener offer campaign delivered exactly what great radio advertising should: broad reach, an emotionally resonant message, and a clear, compelling reason for families to act now.
By leveraging the trust and intimacy of the Bauer Media audience and pairing it with a genuinely high-value proposition, Hits Radio Advertising helped one of the Midlands’ favourite family attractions convert listeners into visitors, at scale, during one of the most competitive periods in the family leisure calendar.
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