Birmingham Zoo

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Overview

The Birmingham Zoo came to us with a simple ask–create a logo mark for their 70th anniversary. What they ended up getting was a year-long integrated campaign celebrating the biggest birthday in Birmingham and inviting everyone to get in touch with their inner party animal.

A bold look for the Birmingham Zoo.

70th Anniversary Logomark

To celebrate the zoo's 70th birthday and the amazing diversity of animal species found there, we created a flexible logo that featured four of their most popular animals in a clean, modern, and most importantly, fun design.

Integrated Campaign

To help promote the zoo's 70th birthday, we created an ad campaign that let the animals show everyone how they each like to party in their own particular way. The ads served as birthday invitations to zoo lovers across the region to join the fun in seasonal events throughout the year.

    

Campaign Event: Cougar Crossing

To promote the zoo's new Cougar Crossing exhibit, we teased a giant present arriving soon. We even had artwork in a local art gallery defaced by mysterious claws. Then we took our larger-than-life gift around town, where it growled at passersby before the big reveal.

Campaign Event: Carousel Reopening

When the newly refurbished carousel was about to reopen, we placed life-size carousel animals on already existing lamp poles to let everyone know another gift was headed back to the zoo.

Cahaba Brewing Partnership

The party continued all year, and when the annual "Zoo Brews" event arrived, we partnered with Cahaba Brewing Co. to create custom Blonde Ale and Hazy IPA designs. The perfect drinks to raise a toast to 70 years of wild.

Results

The 70th Anniversary campaign helped drive record community engagement and position the Birmingham Zoo as one of the region’s premier attractions during its milestone anniversary year. Through an integrated mix of creative, media, social, and experiential marketing, the campaign contributed to more than 500,000 visitors while increasing regional visibility and tourism interest.

The momentum generated during the anniversary year helped the Birmingham Zoo earn recognition as the <a href="https://bhamnow.com/2026/05/08/birmingham-zoo-named-1-attraction-in-the-city-heres-whats-new/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">
  Greater Birmingham CVB's "Attraction of the Year"</a>, further reinforcing the Zoo’s impact on the city’s cultural and tourism landscape.

The campaign also earned American Advertising Federation "Best of Show" honors, demonstrating the power of creative work that drives both awareness and measurable impact.

Recognition & Impact

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Travel & Tourism

Everyone knows that branding is much more than colors and a logo. It's an experience. We craft every touchpoint with thought and care. Creating a symphony of memorable moments from beginning to end. Crafting brands that feel once-in-a-lifetime every time.

Branding

The quality of video production says a lot about the quality of a brand. Whether it's a scripted commercial on TV or a customer testimonial on social media. Our in-house production team provides full-service capabilities. Lighting, shooting, casting, editing and finishing—we do it all from beginning to end. Growth is beautiful. And we make sure it looks that way.

Content Production

Behind every return on investment is a lot of number crunching. The same is true for marketing. We're equal parts left brain and right. Using data, analytics, and deep insight to inform standout creative. It's how we create advertising that moves the needle and brings measurable ROI. And that's a beautiful thing.

Marketing

Brand Identity is the systematic visual language—from logos to usage rules—that define your brand’s inward and outward appearance.

Brand Identity

To celebrate the Birmingham’s Zoo's 70th anniversary, we partnered with Cahaba Brewing Co. to create custom Blonde Ale and Hazy IPA can designs for the annual Zoo Brews event. The limited-edition packaging extended the anniversary celebration beyond the zoo, combining bold illustrations with playful branding to create a memorable keepsake for attendees.

Cheers to 70 years of being wild.

Approach

We developed a collaborative packaging concepts that captured the spirit of the zoo's milestone anniversary while elevating the Zoo Brews experience. The custom can designs were crafted to feel celebratory, collectible, and unmistakably wild.

The brewery partnership transformed a seasonal event into a memorable brand experience, giving guests a unique way to celebrate the zoo's 70th anniversary. The limited-edition cans reinforced the anniversary campaign, generated excitement around Zoo Brew, and left attendees with a lasting reminder of  the celebration.

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Great packaging does more than protect a product—it creates connection, builds recognition, and influences purchasing decisions.

Packaging Design

Protect The MoonPie

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Mobile, Alabama is the birthplace of Mardi Gras — a point of pride often overshadowed by New Orleans. And at the heart of that raucous celebration is the MoonPie, hurled by the millions from parade floats to eager revelers lining the streets. More often than not, these delicate pastries end up crushed underfoot before the first bite. It’s a tiny tragedy every Mobilian knows by heart, but no one has ever thought to name.

Working with the City of Mobile, Lewis launched Protect The MoonPie, a homegrown movement that began with a parade snack and became a rallying cry the community chose to own.

Giving a city born to celebrate its next great tradition.

The Execution

Through a website and social media accounts, Protect The MoonPie enabled parade-goers to share their MoonPie moments—saved, crushed, or celebrated—using #ProtectTheMoonPie. Throughout downtown and on parade nights, the team went “boots on the ground”, passing out buttons, posters, and stickers along the route.

Protect The MoonPie moved beyond social and into the community itself. Parade-goers recognized it on the route and participated without being prompted. Local media covered the movement. Local businesses, civic leaders, and public institutions joined in, including the Chamber of Commerce, the Sheriff's office, and the Mayor. People didn’t just engage online. They wore it, shared it, posted it, and talked about it on the route. The city recognized itself in the idea.
Protect The MoonPie didn’t interrupt tradition. It honored it. And in doing so, it showed what happens when an agency creates something authentic and impossible to ignore—proving that participation, not media spend, is what builds cultural relevance.

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Food & Beverage

International Motorsports Hall of Fame

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The International Motorsports Hall of Fame set out to transform the Bill France, Sr. Room into a more engaging and immersive exhibit experience—one worthy of the legacy of the man who helped shape modern motorsports. The goal was to create an environment that better tells his story while enhancing the experience for racing fans and Hall of Fame visitors alike.

Lewis served as the turnkey creative partner for the renovation, leading everything from exhibit design and storytelling to video production, vendor coordination, and installation oversight. By bringing together environmental graphics, multimedia content, and a network of specialized production partners, we helped deliver a modernized space that celebrates Bill France Sr.'s lasting impact on the sport and preserves his legacy for future generations.

Honoring a Racing Visionary

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From corporate headquarters and retail destinations to museums and public spaces, we create environments that bring brand stories to life and leave lasting impressions.

Environmental Design

Birmingham CVB

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The word “Birmingham” instantly conjures up strong impressions. We’re deeply proud of our city’s role in civil rights history - but there is a larger story to tell. The Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau came to us with the need for a new website and evolved brand identity that reflect today’s thriving Greater Birmingham region.

Say hello to today’s Birmingham.

Insight

Birmingham has a complicated past. And we didn’t want to gloss over it. Instead, we leveraged it, turning the region’s story into one of hard-won progress and joyful growth. To do that, we used dynamic animation, bold typography, and storytelling that was modern and confident. We also carefully considered the needs of business segments like meeting planners and sports marketing.

The new site design has welcomed more engagement from users, evidenced by a +12 point lift in site engagement rate and a +13% lift in engaged site sessions.

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We design and develop websites that combine strategy, compelling creative, intuitive user experiences, and scalable technology to help organizations grow with confidence.

Websites

The Ability Machine

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When a creative agency focused on empowering neurodivergent individuals asked us to help define their brand and design their website, we were all too happy to jump in. Our efforts went beyond establishing a visual identity—we built a brand platform rooted in inclusivity, creativity, and spirituality. Through thoughtful strategy, accessible design, and clear storytelling, we created an expression of the brand that feels both professional and deeply human. The strength of that foundation quickly translated into visibility, with The Ability Machine featured in [Fast Company](https://www.fastcompany.com/91484340/this-new-ad-agency-has-a-secret-advantage-and-its-not-what-you-think) as part of the campaign’s early impact.

Designing a Platform for Neurodivergent Talent to Thrive

The Concept

The Ability Machine logo was designed to convey the ideas of growth, connection, and balance. The triangular form is meant to subtly evoke the idea of the Holy Trinity while simultaneously conveying the notions of strength and stability. The interconnected shapes illustrate the relationship between thinking, creation, thriving and collaboration. Together, these elements reinforce the agency’s mission to create pathways for neurodivergent talent to grow, express ideas, and find their place in the creative world.

The Brand

Building the brand meant striking a careful balance between professionalism and inclusivity. We developed a visual identity and voice that felt credible within the creative industry while remaining warm, expressive, and inclusive. Every decision—from typography and color to tone and messaging—was guided by accessibility and clarity, ensuring the brand could be experienced confidently by a wide range of users. The result is an identity that reflects the agency’s values, highlights the talent it represents, and creates a foundation for long-term growth.

The Website

Along with the branding, we built a website that is fully accessibility compliant and true to the Ability Machine’s mission. The site was designed to meet WCAG standards while showcasing their creative work and sharing the story behind the company. The result is a clean, user-friendly platform that highlights their capabilities, celebrates neurodiversity, and strengthens their brand presence.

This project was a reminder that design can do more than communicate—it can create opportunity. The resulting brand and digital presence provide a flexible, inclusive foundation that reflects the mission, elevates talent, and supports continued growth. The early impact of the campaign was underscored by The Ability Machine’s feature in Fast Company, bringing national visibility to its unique model and momentum to its mission. Ultimately, it shows how creativity, when guided by purpose, can make a lasting difference.

Conclusion

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Retail & eCommerce

A full-service marketing, creative branding and digital communications agency specializing in strategic content creation.

A Full Service Branding and Digital Agency | Lewis

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Unless you like wasting money, return on ad spend is a necessity. We take a deep and constant look at every touchpoint in your customer's journey. Optimizing areas that are potential hiccups. Why are so many customers abandoning carts? Is it taking too many clicks to get to what they want? Could they be upsold before checkout? In the end, if your marketing dollars aren't converting into sales, something is wrong. And that's exactly what we're here to fix. 