Parents Empowered Day

Banking on the success of last year’s event, advertising agency R&R Partners created and implemented a bigger, better marketing campaign, materials and activations for the second Parents Empowered Day at Salt Lake City’s Hogle Zoo, a fun family activity that encourages parent-kid bonding and educates about the dangers of childhood drinking. To broaden the reach of this year’s events, media partnerships with FOX13 and iHeart Media were secured.
According to Parents Empowered, drinking can do damage to a developing brain. The organization encourages parents to start talking to their children about the harms of experimenting with alcohol when they are as young as age 9. The event is designed for a primary audience of parents and kids ages 9-16.
On June 25, nearly 5,000 people attended the second annual Parents Empowered Day at Hogle Zoo, nearly double the number who did in 2018 (4,744 vs. 2622). Due to the event’s popularity, the zoo will hold a third event on August 6 that will include a tent where parents and kids can design their own tote bags.
For the program’s second year, R&R doubled down on custom educational activations that helped parents broach the conversation, including a giant bronzed brain at the zoo’s entrance. The main installation resembled a zoo habitat and highlighted the importance of keeping kids’ habitats and brains healthy. Attendees received swag bags that contained Parents Empowered-branded educational materials, a puzzle, interactive KidsBooks (based on popular ZooBooks) and way-finding signage that led families on an interactive scavenger hunt to six animal exhibits that served as discussion starters about the dangers of alcohol on developing brains and skills parents can use to prevent it.