Great Wolf Lodge Southern California in Garden Grove, a 603-suite resort that features a massive indoor waterpark, this month ushered in its first guests—and its inaugural ad campaign.
The resort is taking an “entirely new approach to how we advertise and market the brand as a company,” said spokesperson Susan Storey, referring to four video spots developed by Hill Holiday in Boston. “We stepped away from the traditional use of branding and listing all our destination has to offer, and instead just showed the families spending quality time together. Each has their own unique triumphs and challenges, from divorce, military deployment, cancer and foster care, and that is the focus of the ads. They never say Great Wolf Lodge by name, nor do they extol the selling points of the park. Instead, the common theme of each film illustrates Great Wolf’s brand vision: Families run in packs great and small, and no one defining rule makes a family.”
Storytelling has become the “new normal” in brand marketing, Storey said, though she said the ads are “a gamble to run in a market with no prior knowledge of who we are.”
The 60- and 30-second versions of the ads will air throughout the year on ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX, among other TV stations. The production budget, excluding agency fees, was in the range of $400,000 to $500,000.
UK Market
Visit Newport Beach Inc., the city’s destination marketing group, said it launched its “largest-ever” marketing effort targeting U.K. consumers and travel agents.
The “Visit Newport Beach U.K. Holiday” campaign includes commercials airing in theaters across London and on digital displays at the Piccadilly Circus intersection.
The nonprofit group’s marketing goal is also to promote the Newport Beach Film Festival and encourage U.K. filmmakers to submit films for the festival’s U.K. Spotlight. It held a red carpet event on Feb. 11 at the Bulgari Hotel in London honoring the movie “Brooklyn” for “outstanding achievement.”
About 50,000 people from the U.K. spent vacation time in Newport Beach last year.
“Every year we welcome more visitors from the U.K. and hope they tell their friends and family, and plan another visit to our charming coastal destination,” Gary Sherwin, president and chief executive of Visit Newport Beach, said in a statement.
The city in the 12 months ended June 30 welcomed 7 million visitors who spent $1 billion.
New Flame
Flame Broiler Inc., a Santa Ana-based franchiser that had about $92 million in systemwide sales last year, is working with DreamBox Creations in Diamond Bar on a new look for its 179 locations in five states.
The rebranding effort includes a new store layout that features an open-concept kitchen, which will allow guests to watch chefs while they make their meals, according to the company. New “more user-friendly menu boards” will offer step-by-step instructions on ordering a custom bowl of food, plus show calorie and protein counts. A “revamped website” is scheduled to launch in the spring.
Bits & Pieces
Volcom Inc. in Costa Mesa kicked off a clothing collaboration with artist Don Pendleton. … El Segundo-based TEN: The Enthusiast Network, which runs about a third of its operations out of Santa Ana, signed a media and production partnership with the Vail Valley Foundation, owner and operator of the GoPro Mountain Games. TEN’s GrindTV.com, along with its SUP, Bike and Canoe & Kayak brands, will produce and distribute video and other content from this year’s event, which is scheduled for June 9 to 12 in Vail, Colo. … Vans Inc. in Cypress said its Vans Custom Culture design competition was named a finalist in the education category for the 2016 Cause Marketing Halo Awards. … True Drinks Holdings Inc. in Irvine hired Aubrye Foote, influencer and part owner of the social education community Club MomMe, as the company’s new “Chief Mom.” Foote will build brand awareness of the maker of children’s beverages by “harnessing her perspective as a mother and a parent and engaging the vast network of moms in the social space.”
