Brookfield Zoo Chicago and DEPT® Reimagine the Digital Experience to Bring Visitors Closer to the Animals, Mission and Impact
Brookfield Zoo Chicago has partnered with growth invention company, DEPT®, for a bold reimagining of the Zoo’s digital experience, transforming how audiences connect with the iconic institution before, during, and after their visit.
Websites for zoos, museums, and other visitor-driven cultural institutions are often built as operational tools, centered on hours, ticketing, and basic information.
Today’s audiences expect mobile as a given, seek personalized recommendations, and engage long before and after their visit.
The new Brookfield Zoo Chicago platform reimagines the site as a true digital front door, blending immersive storytelling, seamless commerce, and intuitive navigation to inspire exploration, simplify planning, and deepen engagement across the full visitor journey.
““As expectations around mobile performance, accessibility, and personalization continue to rise, we saw an opportunity to rethink how our mission to inspire conservation leadership comes to life online. Together with DEPT®, the new website makes buying tickets easier, planning visits simpler, learning about animals more immersive, and supporting conservation more accessible than ever.”
”Katie Back, Associate Vice President of Marketing at Brookfield Zoo Chicago.
DEPT® led the engagement across digital strategy, experience design, creative direction, and technical development with a clear objective
To build a scalable platform that transforms inspiration into action. Designed around the full visitor journey, the experience seamlessly connects storytelling with commerce, driving ticket purchases, membership, donations, and deeper ongoing engagement.
Through a series of discovery workshops and audience research, the teams identified key opportunities to simplify how visitors navigate the Zoo’s offerings while elevating storytelling around animals, habitats, and conservation work. The result is a scalable platform designed to guide audiences naturally from exploration to participation.
““Our collaboration centered on building a digital experience as dynamic as the Zoo itself. By combining creativity, technology, and data, we’ve helped create a scalable growth engine that deepens audience connection while advancing the Zoo’s conservation mission.”
”Carryn Quibell, Americas CEO at DEPT®
The new site organizes content across four intuitive pillars — Visit, Explore, Conserve, and Support — creating clear pathways from discovery to participation.
Enhancements include:
- A streamlined ticketing and event registration experience designed to reduce friction and increase conversion
- A dynamic daily activities schedule that extends the in-park experience into the digital journey
- Rich animal and habitat storytelling that strengthens emotional connection and amplifies conservation impact
- A mobile-first, accessibility-forward framework built to evolve alongside future campaigns, programming, and partnerships
On the design and technology side, the platform was built to balance immersive storytelling with operational flexibility for internal teams.
Modular content systems, scalable architecture, and accessibility-first design principles ensure the site can continuously evolve as the Zoo expands its programming, partnerships, and conservation initiatives.
The new website is now live at brookfieldzoo.org.
