Monterey Bay Aquarium Conservation Messages Front-End Evaluation Report

The Monterey Bay Aquarium is planning to redesign existing conservation-related interactives as well as add new experiences on the Aquarium floor. In preparation for this project, the Aquarium sought to gain a better understanding of visitors’ awareness of and engagement in conservation-related actions and responses to conservation-related messaging. The Aquarium contracted with MWA Insights to conduct a front-end evaluation study to help inform the planning for these conservation stations. Specifically, the evaluation sought to understand:

• Are visitors aware of issues affecting the ocean and actions they can take to help the ocean?
• What are visitors currently doing in terms of ocean conservation? What motivates them or prevents them from taking action? What actions do they perceive as feasible and impactful?
• How do visitors feel about the Aquarium’s existing approaches to conservation messaging? What stands out to visitors—either positively or negatively—about the current messaging?
• How do visitors respond to potential approaches or messaging for articulating conservation actions? What do they find appealing or attention grabbing? What might they find off-putting?

Appendix includes instruments.