National Trust x Disney Pixar, Hoppers

Challenge

The National Trust’s strategy has a clear ambition: to inspire more people to care for nature and take action. Delivering this means bringing nature into everyday spaces – bustling city centres and high-footfall locations – reaching audiences who might not usually engage with conservation.

As part of this approach, the National Trust partnered with Disney Pixar around the release of Hoppers, a new film rooted in the natural world. The ask was to use the film as a springboard to inspire people to pause and engage with nature and wildlife.

Doing that well across two very different locations, Sheffield's Winter Gardens and London's Bernie Spain Gardens, was the real challenge. The creative had to work indoors and outdoors, for families with young children and for adults passing through on a Saturday afternoon, and it had to do all of this while meeting the brand requirements of both Disney and the National Trust simultaneously.


Audienceology in Action

The insight that shaped everything was simple, people don't engage with what they don't feel welcomed into. So before anything else, the experience needed to feel open, free, and genuinely fun!

We designed the activation around six distinct zones: Soil, Tree, Wood, Water, Den, and Leaf, each offering something different, collectively creating a trail that rewarded exploration rather than directing people through it. The stamp collecting was central to this, a physical, tactile thread that gave visitors a reason to keep going and something to take away. The WildQuest virtual treasure hunt sat alongside it, connecting film characters to real wetland data and wildlife facts, making the learning feel like part of the adventure.

The audience was nominally families with children aged 6 to 11, but the experience was designed with broader appeal in mind. The data proved it with 40% of visitors immediately beginning an ongoing relationship with National Trust. Volunteers confirmed it with strong engagement from adults in their 20s and 30s, tourists, and existing National Trust members who arrived knowing exactly what they were there for.

Delivery

The production quality was high throughout, built from natural materials, that reinforced the nature-led aesthetic and made the spaces feel considered rather than constructed. Six zones worked both as individual moments and as a coherent whole, with the flow between them encouraging people to linger rather than move straight through.

The volunteer and Brand Ambassador teams were central to making it work. Enthusiastic, well-briefed, and knowledgeable about the National Trust's cause, they were the connective tissue between the activity and the action it was meant to inspire, directing visitors towards properties, facilitating prize redemption, and carrying the message out with them.

Outcomes

3,880+ people actively participated across both sites over the two weekends, finishing 21.3% above the overall target of 3,200. Of the 890 feedback cards completed, 97% of the comments were overwhelmingly positive, with 0% negative feedback recorded. Feedback themes were consistent across both locations: fun, interactive, educational, visually appealing. Visitors described it as something they hadn't expected to find in the middle of a city. The 'Insect Dig' and 'Connect 6' activities were particular highlights, and the stamp collecting trail proved a reliable draw, pulling people in and keeping them engaged throughout.

The reach extended well beyond the participation numbers. A significantly larger audience had visibility of the large-screen content and overall activation without directly engaging, a passive awareness layer that the figures don't fully capture.

Proof

What made Hoppers work was the combination of a culturally resonant hook, a genuine understanding of how people engage in public spaces, and the discipline to keep every detail in service of the same goal. The experience landed in cities, reached audiences who weren't looking for it, and left people with an experience they'll remember. That's what nature-led brand experience can do when it's designed around people first.

Photos by Megan Taylor.