What’s in a Name? Lessons in Rebranding from Zoo & Aquarium Experts

A rebrand can be one of the most powerful tools an organization has to refocus its mission, reshape public perception, and reconnect with its audience. At this year’s AZA Annual Conference, Amanda Yates, Director of Brand Experience at PGAV Destinations, led the panel “What’s in a Name: The Conservation Rebrand” on this topic. Representatives from Detroit Zoo, Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance, Columbus Zoo, Palm Beach Zoo, and Shedd Aquarium each brought their perspectives to the discussion. Some, like Detroit and Denver, reflected on recent rebrand successes and the lessons learned along the way. Others, such as Columbus and Palm Beach, are still in early stages—rethinking structure, identity, and storytelling to unify diverse offerings under one umbrella. Shedd Aquarium emphasized how a brand doesn’t stop at the logo or website—it comes alive through daily guest and staff experiences.

The key message is clear: brand is more than a logo—it’s an emotion. Logos and names are symbols, but the brand is the feeling someone has when they think of you. Yates says, “Your brand has a voice and a point of view. It includes the tone and values that shape every interaction, from signage and staff uniforms to digital touchpoints and the physical environment. A strong brand is a promise that an experience with your organization is worth someone’s time and money.”

Detroit Zoo: Aligning on a North Star

Randi Hamilton, Chief Experience Officer, Detroit Zoo, discussed the depth of the process required for a successful rebrand.  Over the course of two years, Detroit Zoo hosted more than four brand strategy workshops, completed over 50 one-on-one stakeholder interviews, and gathered insight through nearly 200 public surveys.  Through this process, they identified the need for a clear, unified framework to guide the organization moving forward — not just for branding, but for all major decisions across the organization. Hamilton notes, “That’s why we developed our North Star — a tool that now serves as our filter for everything we do: from operations to communications to guest experience. It all starts here — with our purpose. This is our ‘why.’ It’s the reason we exist: to ignite positive change for animals and nature.”

This new North Star framework became the foundation for a strong rebrand, united through visuals, voice, and storytelling. The results speak for themselves:

Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance: Focusing Your Story

Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance also underwent a multi-year process regarding its conservation-based rebrand, detailed in the timeline below:

Chief Communications & Philanthropy Officer Noelle DeLage explained that while the Conservation Brand Perception Research showed an overall “complicated” attitude towards zoos in general, audiences responded well to the Zoo’s mission of conservation, even if they weren’t sure exactly what that entailed. The results meant that Denver Zoo needed to strengthen its conservation story, so they got to work.

The name itself was important. Focus group testing of logo options in May of 2023 had audiences divided again, this time over the use of “Alliance”—some loved the name, others had concerns about it and even offered alternatives. After discussion, Denver Zoo ultimately decided that “Alliance” was an important addition relative to their mission. DeLage noted, “It’s ‘alliance’ because conservation means collaboration and we need our community of guests, members, donors, staff, volunteers, neighbors, and partners to join us in fulfilling our mission. Together, we are more than our individual actions, and we can work in partnership to create a world where wildlife thrives.”

Columbus Zoo: Setting the Foundation for Brand Architecture

Tom Schmid, President and CEO of Columbus Zoo and the Wilds, explained that their organization is just beginning the rebrand process. With Columbus Zoo’s multiple entities beyond the zoo itself, including a waterpark, safari park, golf club, and eventually a standalone aquarium, they are studying brand architecture.

Drawing on benchmarks of similar conservation leaders, Schmid and his team are making decisions about how to name and position their parent brand and its sub-brands. Schmid noted that initial considerations pointed towards a “Branded House” approach, so each of the sub-brands had a consistent and cohesive look relative to the overall Collective brand:

Chief Marketing and Technology Officer Amanda Joiner spoke about Palm Beach Zoo & Conservation Society being at a critical moment. A series of brand awareness studies are currently underway as they work towards a rebrand. They are early in the process but will be looking to ramp up over the next 18 months.

Joiner spoke to the importance of a rebrand for their organization, noting, “The current logo doesn’t work well for all uses, such as out-of-home or digital, so we need to adapt it to a different form. The old brand is also still circulating throughout the zoo. There’s a need to synthesize and bring together one story in one way. It’s imperative that we get our branding done and in alignment and messaged properly before we go into the public phase of our capital campaign.”

A few examples of this are shown on the slide below.

In discussing the complexities of rebranding, Joiner reflected on the delicate balance between mission and perception, noting, “Our donors are very invested in our conservation efforts. But our visitors are coming to see a zoo. There’s a question if we take ‘zoo’ from our name. The research shows that people who are coming to the zoo don’t necessarily know what a conservation society is, and the word society may be a turn-off. It’s a balance of how we work with our donors that care so much about conservation, while making sure that our tourists, visitors, and locals feel they are accepted and welcome.”

Ultimately, Palm Beach Zoo is looking to strengthen its ability to connect guests to animals and inspire conservation action. “One of our core missions and values is around conservation and how we can impact and lead change by educating our audience and the people that come to the zoo,” Joiner said.

Shedd Aquarium: Brand as Experience

Sarah Hezel, Vice President, Design & Exhibits at Shedd Aquarium, spoke about the importance of moving beyond visual identity principles into experiential brand principles. As Hezel explains, “You can, in fact, change your brand without changing your logo. We’re evolving the experience at Shedd to spark curiosity, compassion, and conservation for the aquatic world.”

Shedd Aquarium has eight experiential brand principles: lead with the animals; be seamlessly and joyfully welcoming; real honest, and transparent; it’s about we, not me; hit the hearts, heads, and hands; explore and participate; enthusiastically future-focused; and take action for animals. These guide their master plans, renovations, program development, and communication with the audience.

She explained why these are so important: “Experience is the responsibility of everyone in the organization. It’s not just guest relations or exhibits, animal care, or learning. It’s all of those together and more.”

Her talk focused on three of these principles: Lead with Animals, Explore and Participate, and Take Action for Animals.

Lead with Animals: Animals are central to all that Shedd does. Shedd’s current renovation is doubling the habitat size and volume of water in our historic galleries to create more naturalistic habitats. It creates a better experience for the animals, allowing them to show more natural behavior, in turn creating a better experience for the guests with a more immersive environment.

Explore and Participate: The new exhibits encourage exploration and participation, from peering into a microscope to observe plankton, listening to the pop of an arapaima’s powerful gulp, or tasting waters from across the globe.

Take Action for Animals: The new exhibits highlight how Shedd and the community are taking action for animals. They also aim to inspire guests to join in with clear, tangible ways to make a difference.

Ultimately, branding requires creativity, data, empathy, and collaboration. The organizations leading the way—whether in conservation, hospitality, or entertainment treat their brand as a living system that evolves with their audience and their mission.

Because in the end, a great rebrand doesn’t just change how an organization looks—it changes how people feel about it.