Howling Good Work
SNAPSHOT
Great Wolf Resorts, North America’s largest family of indoor water parks,
has worked with H5 since 2017 and tasked the agency with building excitement for its 20th and 21st new properties through year-long grand opening campaigns designed to spark excitement in the community, helping the property hire hundreds of employees and drive bookings to the new properties.
The two new properties represented the launch of the brand’s next generation resort design with new, immersive entertainment elements. The launch programming started from the ground up, literally. Hosting community groundbreaking and topping out ceremonies, local job fairs, influencer previews, media stays and star-studded grand opening events
THE ASK
Help Great Wolf Resorts, America’s largest family of indoor water parks, extend its reach by launching two new properties, back-to-back, in Webster, Texas and Naples, Florida, through a year-long launch campaign.
APPROACH
Developed and activated a pre-opening campaign initiative for each unique property and unique market including a ground-breaking, topping out moment, media desksides, community partner events, hard hat tours, and post launch FAMs. For the grand openings, H5 leveraged the local and national appeal of family-friendly celebrities Kelly Rowland (Texas) and Rob Gronkowski (Florida) for a charitable activation that drew local appeal and widespread media and social buzz.
RESULTS
The ramp up and grand opening moments drove positive earned media coverage and buzz to inspire pre-opening bookings in new markets without any supporting paid media campaign support.
- Media Attention: Local market media coverage (more than 1,250 stories!) showcasing the development along the way helped educate audiences and inspire bookings before each property opened
- Influencer Engagement: Relationship building with local market social media influencers helped the brand connect with young families and create relevant exposure for the broad resort amenities
- ROI: The all-earned media and social influencer programming effort drove $8.8MM in advertising value equivalency