About

Animal Instinct Advertising specializes in destination marketing with a focus on animal-related marketing, advertising, entertainment and production. We are the only advertising agency in the world that’s a member of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA). We’re dedicated to building brands, driving attendance and providing visitors with an entertaining, memorable and positive experience. Our team has over 60 years of destination marketing/entertainment experience, a passion for animals and a proprietary process for marketing to moms and kids.

We focused on this industry because we have a passion for it. We love the people in it. We love their dedication to animals, conservation, the environment and families. We love animals and working with them. Just as importantly, we love the work it allows us to create.

We work around the country consulting on destination marketing challenges, new exhibit development and marketing initiatives while creating award-winning multi-media campaigns, themed entertainment productions and producing commercials.

We have a 12-year track record of not only meeting attendance projections – but in many cases driving 20% increases and record-breaking growth.

We’ve successfully marketed over 40 exhibits representing over 1,000 animals and have helped drive nearly 17 million visitors to our clients’ institutions.

In addition to generating consistent attendance growth, our work has won Best of Show awards and has been featured for ten years on the AZA’s annual “Pizzazz” reel – a compilation of the best commercials in the industry. Our work is also featured on the Pizzazz compilation reel of the Best Advertising of the Decade.

Our campaign for the Tennessee Aquarium won the first-ever AZA Marketing Campaign of the Year Award in 2008.

Animal Instinct Advertising founders are Greg Newberry and Dennis Rutherford. Dennis has over 25 years of experience as an award-winning senior art director and creative director working on behalf of some of the country’s leading corporations and brands.

Greg has 30 years of experience as a senior account executive and strategic marketer. He’s also an award-winning writer, creative director, producer, commercial director and filmmaker. In addition to his advertising career, he’s a member of the Writers Guild of America and has optioned three screenplays to Hollywood producers.