The number of Americans researching and booking their travel via the Internet increases every year. That’s why full-service marketing communications firm MGH, Owing Mills, Md., launched MoreFunHere.com, for the Ocean City, Md., Convention and Visitors Bureau and Department of Tourism as an extension of the beach town’s television advertising campaign.
MoreFunHere.com serves tourists’ core information needs, including lodging and restaurant options, event listings and a full directory of the town’s attractions. To add to the stickiness of the site, MGH created an interactive “Whack-a-Crab” game, a puzzle and coloring book pages that can be printed from PDF files to help get visitors in the mood for a trip to the beach. Video files of the TV ads are also available for viewing on the site.
The website’s design features icons of a minimalist white stick man engaging in fun Ocean City activities, such as boating, eating crabs and shopping on an equally simple blue background. This matches the look of the television ads, which show the stick man morphing into the dozens of fun things to do in Ocean City. The final tagline on all of these spots asks viewers to visit MoreFunHere.com for more information.
“The importance of using the same messaging in both offline and online media has never been more important for marketers,” said John Patterson, creative director at MGH. “The ‘More Fun Here’ message has been successfully delivered through television advertising, and the simplicity of MoreFunHere.com’s design makes it easier than ever for a first-time visitor or even a 100-time visitor to find the information he or she needs to plan the best Ocean City vacation.”
Patterson pointed out that since the idea for the More Fun Here character came from the television spot, it was important to keep the animated character “in character” for the microsite,
“He was essentially a two-dimensional painted icon–the kind you would see on a road sign–who comes to life. So we spent a lot of time discussing how to portray him in only two dimensions, but still allow him to do a lot of fun things. In other words, he needed to stay flat–without being ‘flat,’ said Patterson.
“We also worked a lot with the character’s body language, choosing quick, fun movements that made him more likable. In addition, we voiced the character in a somewhat abstract way to match his somewhat abstract appearance.”
MoreFunHere.com is a flash-based site, and its links lead to content housed at OCOcean.com, which continues to serve as the town’s main tourism website.
Hollywood Leaders, Theater Owners Gather For CinemaCon At A Critical Time In The Industry
The future of theatrical moviegoing is at a critical moment. More people have been going to movie theaters this year than last, but the foundation is delicate. Annual domestic box-office grosses are still down about 20% from pre-pandemic levels, competition from streaming has only intensified and there are very real worries about what consolidation might mean for the release schedule as Warner Bros. stares down new ownership under Paramount. It's under these precarious conditions that Hollywood executives and movie theater owners are gathering this week in Las Vegas for CinemaCon, the annual exhibition and trade show made famous — or at least slightly less obscure — by Seth Rogen's show "The Studio" and his "old school Hollywood buffet." Real-life Hollywood executives have bigger concerns than throwing a party, however. A critical time for movie theaters As "F1" and "Top Gun: Maverick" producer Jerry Bruckheimer said last week in a statement: "We are at a defining point in the future of this industry." Bruckheimer, "Oppenheimer" producer Emma Thomas and "Sinners" director Ryan Coogler are teaming up to do something about it. Just last week, Cinema United, the trade organization representing some 60,000 movie screens in the U.S. and abroad, announced that Bruckheimer would be chairing their newly established filmmaker leadership council, with Thomas as vice chair and Coogler as one of its inaugural members. Other members include Brad Bird, Celine Song and Jason Reitman, who will advise on issues facing theatrical moviegoing, including windows, referring to the number of days films play exclusively in movie theaters before being available to buy or rent at home, and consolidation. "Our industry is strongest when it works together... Read More