The ticket is 40 yuan and the surrounding area is 800 yuan. Hongshan Zoo is really good.

Nanjing Hongshan Forest Zoo has become popular on the Internet in recent years and has become a "crazy zoo" in the hearts of tourists. Although it does not have the most animal species and the park area is not the largest, Hongshan Zoo has won the love of tourists with its unique business philosophy and respect for animals. This article will reveal the story behind Hongshan Zoo and see how it puts animals first and tourists second to create a loving zoo IP.

Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, is home to a number of beautiful attractions, including the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, the Meiling Palace, and the Xuanwu Lake. The scenery changes with the climate throughout the year, and it is always waiting for tourists from all over the world to come. Among these attractions, there is a magical one in recent years. It seems ordinary but has become popular on the Internet. It is the Hongshan Forest Zoo (hereinafter referred to as "Hongshan Zoo").

On April 4, the first day of the Qingming Festival, Hongshan Zoo was packed with people, and the zoo director Shen Zhijun had to personally "direct traffic". That night, the authorities issued a flow restriction announcement: the maximum number of people entering the zoo was 80,000, the number of people in the zoo at any one time was limited to 40,000, and the self-guided tour buses were suspended. This data is comparable to the average daily passenger flow of Shanghai Disneyland.

Beijing Zoo is the largest zoo in China, covering an area of ​​about 960,000 square meters, with 86,000 square meters of water surface. Hongshan Zoo, covering an area of ​​680,000 square meters, is only about 2/3 of its size. Shanghai Wild Animal Park and Chimelong Safari Park are both national 5A-level scenic spots. In comparison, Hongshan Zoo is only a 4A-level scenic spot.

However, this has not affected the "high position" of Hongshan Zoo in the hearts of tourists across the country. Many people come to Nanjing just to see the white-faced monk monkey Dudu with their own eyes and make a "yeah" sign with it. Even celebrities are no exception. Jin Chen, He Chaolian, Song Yi and others have visited here to check in.

Dudu, the star of Hongshan Zoo, photographed by New Retail Business Review

Why is the “very ordinary” Hongshan Zoo so popular across the country? Today, let’s uncover the story behind this “crazy zoo”.

1. When tourists give way to animals

Hongshan Zoo is the first zoo in China to cancel animal performances. From canceling animal performances in 2011 to canceling the sale of feed for tourists to feed animals in 2014, in Hongshan's business philosophy, animals are the masters and everyone is the guest, and everything is up to the host.

This kind of "animals first, tourists second" order is not common in domestic zoos, and it can even be said to be quite rare.

Although animal protection activists have long said that "animal performances are against nature," in the vast majority of zoos, animal performances have always been a major selling point and an important source of income in order to "please" tourists.

In the spaceship of Zhuhai Chimelong, a killer whale repeatedly hit the acrylic pool wall in just 30 seconds. In the video shot by tourists, a child said "it will break", but the staff said calmly that it was just playing. In fact, blogger @Whale Protection Alliance Assistant said that this is more like self-harm when animals deal with pain, anger, depression and frustration.

Killer whales are not suitable for being kept alone in captivity, let alone for forced performances. Currently, only seven countries in the world, namely China, Spain, the United States, Japan, France, Argentina and Russia, still keep killer whales in captivity. Moreover, only aquariums in China and Russia have purchased killer whales captured from the wild since 2010, including the newly built Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park.

We can only regretfully admit that our country is still very lacking in terms of animal protection and consumer education.

Many zoos believe that only by "complying" with consumers' wishes and providing wonderful animal performances can they highlight their own advantages and attract a large number of guests. In fact, they have not understood the real wishes of consumers.

For example, do parents bring their children to the zoo just to watch a show and have fun? Obviously, this is far from enough. Parents hope that their children can get close to nature and gain in-depth knowledge of the animal world in the process of education and entertainment. The existence of Hongshan Zoo is a slap in the face of these zoos.

The operation of a zoo is different from traditional consumer sub-sectors such as catering and entertainment. Simply catering to the demands of tourists is not necessarily the right approach. On the contrary, combining theories of the real animal world with full education and indoctrination can make tourists identify with the values ​​of the zoo and have a good impression of it, which can truly increase the chances of tourists repeating their visits and spreading the word of mouth.

In Hongshan Zoo, the furry animals have no obligation to provide emotional value to tourists, just eat, drink and sleep. The meaning of animals’ existence is not to be placed in the zoo for human viewing, but to have a more dignified life that overlaps with nature.

In the original ecological living environment, whether people can see animals depends entirely on luck. For example, in the Chinese Cat Museum built on the mountain, the lush plants and the mountains echo each other, and in the bionic mode, leopards and lynxes can go on a spontaneous trip.

Since the renovation process started in 2009, Shen Zhijun's idea was to build a "dream home" for the animals. He said, "We will move you from a 50-square-meter community to a 200-square-meter villa with a private garden." In this spacious and natural environment, the animals' happiness will naturally be reflected in their daily behavior, which is why tourists have recorded interesting pictures of Dudu, the golden monkey Ruirui, etc.

Animals living in their natural environment, photo by New Retail Business Review

Shen Zhijun believes: "The most fundamental thing that Hongshan has done over the years is to give animals a home, allowing them to live with dignity, confidence and wildness, which is what tourists want to see most."

Respecting animals is the most important lesson that Hongshan Zoo teaches all its colleagues, just as we respect tourists.

2. Create a zoo with IP

On the Internet, people joked that it was time for Hongshan Zoo to become a substitute for Disney.

What is Disney's most successful thing? IP. Mickey, Donald Duck, Lingna Belle... these classic character IPs together build the impression that Disney brings to fans: a fairy tale world, cute and soft, and happy.

Hongshan Zoo also has its own superstars, such as Dudu and capybara Fubao. These animal stars come together to shape the image of Hongshan Zoo in the hearts of people across the country: a warm and loving zoo.

In Hongshan, every animal has its own name and exclusive profile . It is not called the white-faced saki monkey, but "Dudu"; it is not called the leopard, but "Hanhan"; it is not called the capybara, but "Xingren". What is the importance of naming? Naming is not just cute. When a furry child has a name, it is personified. They have their own personality, hobbies, and habits, and become individuals with seven emotions and six desires like humans.

Although there are many zoos that name their furry animals, not many of them are as devoted to it as the Hongshan Zoo.

Dudu, one of the most famous furry children in Hongshan Zoo, has a coat of shiny black and smooth hair. In sharp contrast, Dudu's face is pure white, as if he had a thick layer of foundation. Between the black and white, Dudu looks very much like the faceless man in Hayao Miyazaki's animated film "Spirited Away".

Image source network

Dudu's popularity is of course inseparable from his stunning appearance, but Hongshan Zoo's proper self-marketing played a decisive role. After all, before this, there were many animals with cute or strange appearances discovered by tourists, but Dudu, who is neither a national treasure nor extremely rare, has a strong reference significance for the zoo.

After Xinhua News Agency, CCTV and other official media paid attention to the photos of Dudu taken by netizens, Hongshan Zoo responded quickly: "What kind of adjective is 'explosive'? Our Dudu looks very well-behaved and has a star quality." In addition, Hongshan Zoo also posted evidence of Dudu being a man who dotes on his wife, and Dudu's personality became more full and concrete.

There are thousands of white-faced saki monkeys, but Dudu is uniquely cute. As a result, visitors come to see the white-faced saki monkeys just to get to know the species, which is likely a one-time behavior; but when they come to see Dudu as an individual, they are endowed with a special kind of love, which greatly increases the probability of frequent visits. This kind of emotional sustenance has given the furry children at Hongshan Zoo their own fan groups, forming a high degree of stickiness.

Recently, Hongshan Zoo and QQ Short Video launched a joint event called "Make Friends with Your Dear One". Users who participate in the event can use the AI ​​publisher to test which furry child of Hongshan they are most similar to. Taking this opportunity, Hongshan also expressed the personalities of its own animals in a very concrete way: the white-faced saki monkey is i-oriented; the red panda is soft and cute; and the koala is a sleepy god who is a fan of food.

Image source: QQ short video

When Hongshan gave each animal a concrete IP, its cultural creation was a natural success. If the short-term popularity at that time was due to Shen Zhijun's call for "revenge travel", then more long-term tourists benefited from Hongshan's marketing and operation of animal IP.

As long as consumers recognize the IP, they will definitely spend money on it. Successfully realizing the IP economy and getting fans to "rush to give money" is exactly the same marketing idea as Disney.

3. We can have both public welfare and business

"40 tickets and 800 surroundings, Hongshan is really good."

"240 in, 7000 out, no one can go back empty-handed at Hongshan. It was agreed that each person could buy at most 500, and then everyone wanted to go all in on everything they saw."

In the first half of 2023, the sales of Hongshan Zoo's cultural and creative products successfully exceeded 5 million yuan. It should be noted that in the whole year of 2020, the sales of Hongshan's cultural and creative products were only 500,000 to 600,000 yuan.

Once upon a time, 85% of Hongshan Zoo’s revenue came from tickets priced at 40 yuan per ticket, which had not increased in price for more than ten years . However, after being "forced into crisis" by the epidemic, the zoo embarked on the "tertiary industry road" through "zoo live broadcast", cloud adoption, live broadcast by the director, and development of cultural and creative industries.

Although Hongshan's cultural and creative peripherals are commercial activities, they are cleverly "natural", which is reflected in two aspects. First, the appearance of the peripherals is well made, cute, soft and lovable, and the quality is also high, and the hardware can withstand the test; second, Hongshan has a strong IP base, and the appearance and personality characteristics of animals are appropriately integrated into the peripherals.

Image source: Hongshan Zoo Mini Program

In addition to the strong base of animal star IP, Hongshan Zoo also pays great attention to the interaction between the zoo and consumers.

In 2021, the orangutan "painters" Xiao Hei, Xiao Lu and Le Shen from Hongshan Zoo published a book "We Are Not Fauves"; before that, "Hongshan Zoo is My Home" was also a hot-selling book online.

This kind of introductory book not only introduces the cute animals in the park, but also is another channel to convey the concept of how Hongshan achieves harmonious coexistence between humans and animals, and plays a mediating role in forming consistent values ​​with tourists.

In 2022, Hongshan Zoo published a new book called "Are the Bears There?" The author is "Many People," referring to the more than 500 visitors who wrote bear-watching notes in the "Bear Behavior Record Book" in the bear house. This is the first collection of messages from zoo visitors published nationwide. This collection connects "people-animals-parks," and as long as it is interesting and realistic, it can arouse people's respect and love for nature and different species.

Image source: Hongshan Zoo Mini Program

In addition, visitors can also feel that their ideas are fully valued and responded to by the zoo, which naturally connects the trust and communication between the zoo and visitors.

Shen Zhijun once said that all the income from Hongshan cultural and creative products will be invested in improving the living environment of animals and the construction of the zoo. When the zoo has a wide range of fans and repeat customers and income sources, there will be more funds to improve the park environment and introduce animals, and there will be more motivation to do social welfare and tourist education work, achieving both public welfare and business in a positive cycle.

Hongshan Zoo tells us that the fairy-tale world of animals can also bring about healthy commercial operations, and such operations do not have to sacrifice the interests of our animal friends.

The original purpose of the zoo is not to please tourists, but to popularize science and educate.

Shen Zhijun once said: "Nowadays, many people like Hongshan and are moved by its persistence. On the surface, it seems that Hongshan is interesting, but at a deeper level, it is actually Hongshan's affection. "

Humans and animals coexist and win together. A warm and loving zoo that does positive things and forms a complementary relationship between public welfare and business, Hongshan is qualified to be a role model for all zoos in China.

When a child knows that killer whales can get hurt, perhaps the zoo should think about whether the business path we chose and relied on in the first place is necessarily the correct and long-term approach?

Author: Koala is a Deer; Editor: Ge Weiwei

WeChat Official Account: New Retail Business Review (ID: 1089053)