Incorporating Art Events Into Marketing Activities - Good Practice By European Zoos

Abstract Research purpose. In today's business world and for over a hundred years, art events have been used to develop a brand, promote awareness, and increase the number of customers. Art is a useful tool for a company to promote and advertise its products. As some authors mentioned, arts can enhance the company's image: in marketing and selling, art can brand a company's culture and products; arts can also act as a social connector in the workplace and beyond and in marketing, art can brand a company's culture and products, it helps to further community relations (Anderson, 2017). Companies can use not only art events to attract customers and diversify target audiences but also institutions such as zoos. Attracting visitors through art events is especially important for those zoos that cannot afford rare animal species or special spaces and landscapes. Nowadays, most cultural activities in zoos are done under the educational programs - educational activities provided by zoos not only concern animals, biodiversity and the environment but may have cross-academic roots, like arts, geography, theatre, engineering and technology, physical and mental health, even math (Zareva-Simeonova et al., 2014.) Social media development gives the zoos an excellent opportunity to make these activities visible and allows them to incorporate art, music, crafts, games, and storytelling into the zoo experience. Videos, artistic content and online read-alongs can draw kids and their families into the zoo community long before stepping foot into the zoo. (Softplay, 2023). The most active in attracting visitors with art and culture activities are USA zoos, from the usual placement of art objects in the zoo territory and celebration of various holidays to master classes with professional artists who teach visitors to draw animals and art residencies. This research aims to identify European best practice examples of zoos using art events that attract more local visitors and tourists and classify art events in zoos. Design / Methodology / Approach. Using the document analysis method, the home pages of different zoos worldwide were analysed. In antiquation, partly structured interviews with zoo representatives and artists were made. Findings. The results of the research will be presented at the conference. Originality / Value / Practical implications. The research summarises the experiences of different zoos in organising art events. It creates a typology of art events that can be used by representatives of different zoos when planning additional activities.