Case Study: Shedd Aquarium achieves 325% more contest entries with Upland Mobile Messaging (Upland Software)

Shedd Aquarium - Customer Case Study

Shedd Aquarium needed to drive awareness and visitors for the premiere of Fantasea in its renovated Oceanarium, and ran a multi-channel campaign centered on a contest for VIP tickets to test which marketing tactics worked best — web versus SMS text messaging. The team sought to compare conversion rates from identical TV ads with different calls to action.

Shedd partnered with Upland Mobile Messaging to manage an SMS campaign; three networks’ commercials directed viewers to a website while a fourth (FOX) asked viewers to text FOX to 69866 and then provide email and ZIP to enter. The SMS call to action generated 325% more contest entries than any other CTA, accounted for 52% of total entries despite running in only 25% of the ads, and still made up more than half of respondents after print and outdoor were added — prompting continued strategic use of SMS.

Shedd Aquarium

Jay Geneske

Marketing Strategy