press releases:

March 17, 2007

New National Aquarium in Baltimore Campaign Dives into the Weird and Mysteriously Wonderful Aquatic Underworld
TV spots playfully put "normal" underwater events in the context of the human world

BALTIMORE, MD — gkv announced the launch of a new advertising campaign developed for the National Aquarium in Baltimore. The campaign represents a shift in creative strategy and is designed to showcase the weird and wonderful aspects of underwater living.

The goal of the new advertising campaign is to use humor to help adults and children connect with some of the Aquarium's 14,000 underwater species in a fun and illuminating manner.

The new creative, which was developed by Baltimore-based gkv, breaks on Monday, March 26 in a variety of formats including TV, radio, print, online advertising, search engine marketing, out-of-home billboard advertising and taxi tops. Additionally, the campaign includes an exciting, new microsite that features weird interactive games and downloads.

Most exciting about the new creative campaign is the fact that it was essentially inspired by visitors. When researching what new creative direction to take, Aquarium officials and gkv spent time casually observing families taking in the various exhibits.

"We saw a lot of visitors of all ages staring at the exhibits in wonderment and putting their noses to the glass for up close, eye-to-eye encounters with our strange and wonderful creatures," said Suzanne Rothrock, Director of Strategic Marketing for the National Aquarium. "The phrase that visitors uttered time and again with smiles on their faces and amazement in their voices was 'that's weird!'"

That's when gkv's creative team, lead by Associate Creative Director, Dave Broscious and Creative Team Leader, Mark Rosica, decided to demonstrate what would happen if these seemingly everyday "weird" underwater occurrences took place in the human world. From there, the media buying expanded on the unconventional nature of the ads to develop an integrated media plan that would effectively reach the Aquarium's two key audiences using traditional and nontraditional media vehicles.

The five TV spots produced for the Aquarium feature the following humorous underwater depictions:

  • A middle school boy at a school dance winning the affections of a female classmate by mimicking a loud foghorn sound used by the oyster toadfish to attract females.
  • A businessman removes and replaces eggs in his mouth during a work meeting — much like the way a male cardinalfish carries eggs in his mouth until they hatch.
  • An office worker sets down a doughnut and coffee on a file cabinet and turns away. The top drawer opens, a man sticks out his head, grabs the doughnut and coffee, and shuts the drawer. It's an action similar to how the shy moray eel comes out of hiding when he senses food.
  • A man at a hardware store notices another male customer who is obviously very pregnant. No, it's not some science story for the Guinness Book of World Records, it's simply how things would function in the human world if men carried the children like male seahorses do.
  • A tall man walks down the street sloppily eating a chili dog dropping food morsels onto his jacket. No need for a napkin because a very small man has been riding on the tall man's back continuously scooping off the crumbs. Just another example of underwater happenings by the Damsel fish that snacks on the crumbs left behind on his buddy, the shark.

gkv's interactive division also created a unique microsite, www.aqua.org/weird, featuring downloads and two interactive games (Zoom Game and The Creatures) that allow Web users to submerge themselves in a virtual aquatic experience. Both games play off of the theme by allowing visitors to test their weird IQ or learn bizarre facts and strange truths about underwater creatures found at the National Aquarium.

Agency: gkv
Client: National Aquarium in Baltimore

Strategy: While humor is the obvious prevailing tactic in the new campaign, education and entertainment are two other important elements. The spots grab potential visitor's attention in a way that leads each parent and/or child on an imaginative journey into the weird and mysterious world at the National Aquarium.

The "weird" theme keeps with the attraction's mission to connect people to aquatic life and educate them about conservation. The campaign accomplishes this by leveraging unusual aquatic facts, sounds and images to help families realize that a trip to the National Aquarium can be more entertaining, interactive and educational than playing a video game or going to a movie. At the same time, the interactive Web site provides an outlet to catch the attention of potential visitors surfing the Internet.

Launch The campaign breaks on March 22 with paid advertising running through late
Summary: September 2007 in the greater Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, Harrisburg, York and Lancaster, Pa. areas.

In addition to TV, cable, radio, out-of-home and interactive ad buys, the campaign includes sponsorship of events that appeal to kids such as: The Kid's Choice Awards, Animal Planet and Nickelodeon's Let's Just Play campaign, and partnerships with Nickelodeon that pair the Aquarium with Fairly OddParents characters and the SpongeBob movie for two on-site events. Also, as a promotional tie-in, several radio stations will add weird-themed games and trivia to their Web sites.

Themeline: It's Weird Down Here

Markets: Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, Philadelphia, Pa.

Breaks: Radio — March 22, 2007
TV — March 26, 2007
Out-of-home — June 2007
Taxi Tops — April 2007
New Microsite off of aqua.org — April 2007
Internet Advertising — April 2007
Google Search Engine Marketing — April 2007

About The National Aquarium in Baltimore
The National Aquarium in Baltimore, a non-profit organization, is Maryland's most exciting and popular cultural attraction, as well as one of the region's leading conservation and education resources, hosting more than 1.6 million visitors per year. The Aquarium's mission is to connect people with aquatic life in order to create a better world for both. It is dedicated to education and conservation through more than a dozen programs that serve the environment and the community.

About gkv
gkv is a 25-year-old full-service marketing firm specializing in helping Challenger Brands compete in hyper-competitive categories. With billings of more than $121 million annually, gkv provides a complete range of communications services including creative development, graphic design, production, media planning and buying, interactive, community relations, identity development, research, public relations, direct marketing, crisis communications and social marketing. gkv's diverse international client roster includes companies in travel and tourism, snacks and beverages, financial services, health industries and cause marketing. The agency is headquartered at Tide Point, the renovated former Procter & Gamble plant in Baltimore, Md.

Agency Contact:
Heather Woolford,
gkv
410.234.2519
heatherw@gkv.com