Mystic Seaport

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Insights

Too often, “historical” sites are something you visit once on a school trip…not a destination that both parents and children can’t wait to go to for fun.

So we knew we couldn’t just promote what you could do here. We needed to tap into the emotional motivators driving why families would want to be here. What we discovered was that many parents feel “guilty” that they aren’t providing their children with enough intellectually nourishing summer fare—beyond theme parks and video games. Fortunately, we had just the solution to assuage their guilt—without having to drag their children! 

Ideas

We didn’t promote Mystic Seaport as a museum. We positioned it as an adventure. Under one overarching theme, we called on parents and children alike to Earn their Sea Legs by doing something different.

Through every aspect of this integrated rebranding campaign, we helped give a historical site contemporary relevance.

Impact

Despite the fact that the economy had driven attendance down 10% at other local attractions:

• 10,000+ new visitors came to the online hub (earnyoursealegs.com)
• a record 12,000+ coupons were downloaded
• better yet, more than 51% of those coupons were actually redeemed
• Facebook likes increased more than 500%, providing ideal prospects for remarketing