Entertainment (tourist attraction) Launch
Paid Search & Paid Social Advertising
Social Media
Public Relations
Project Overview
ideas. If there is one thing Central Florida has no shortage of it is tourist attractions. Disney. Universal. Sea World. Machine Gun America, however, was different. Machine Gun America wanted to introduce the market’s first adult-oriented tourist attraction; an opportunity for everyday people to feel the excitement of shooting fully automatic machine guns. A true “bucket list” experience. Evok did a deep dive into the local market and the visitor to Central Florida. The agency’s understanding of the central Florida market specifically, and the travel and tourism industry in general, helped confirm for the client the business opportunity. We knew the market had a limited number of non-family-oriented activities for adults to enjoy. This was particularly important to the large number of meetings and convention attendees that visit the market each year. Surprisingly, of the nearly 60 million visitors coming to the Orlando area each year, nearly 70% of then were adults who traveled alone. By all accounts, Machine Gun America had a large and viable adult audience in the Orlando area. However, the challenges were daunting. Given the family-friendly perception of the market, Machine Gun America was going to need to tackle head-on the polarizing topic of “guns.” work. Evok recognized that for Machine Gun America to be successful we needed to communicate the excitement and rush that came with shooting a real machine gun, balanced by reinforcing the safety measures that MGA had taken. Evok positioned MGA as an exhilarating, yet safe “Automatic Adrenaline Attraction,” located in a state-of-the-art facility and staffed by highly train ex- military and police Range Safety Officers. This messaging carried throughout a fully integrated communications campaign. Evok was involved in all aspects the brands’ communications from interior design and signage to hotel rack cards. However, given the polarizing nature of guns America, we recognized that public relations and social media needed to be at the core of any communication plan. MGA needed to manage the message rather than just react to it. The agency executed aggressive public relations and social media campaigns focusing on excitement, with reassurance of the safety aspects of the facility and staff. The social media strategic plan included Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and TripAdvisor. Tactics included advertising and posting brand content highlighting the unique firearms at MGA, the accomplished staff members, the state-of-the-art facility, including military-grade simulators, and special pricing provided through Facebook offers. Evok also executed a digital display and PPC campaign to efficiently drive traffic to the evok designed and developed website. The website helped potential guests to quickly and easily learn more about MGA while seamlessly guiding them toward ultimately reserving a shooting package. The website also integrated with MGA’s point-of-sale system. results. In just six months, public relations efforts generated 958 print, broadcast and online stories, and 3,416 blogs, discussion board posts and YouTube clips. Further, PR helped generate a total of 36,560 website referrals. The estimated Ad Value exceeded $2.77 million, creating 22.5 million impressions across the globe. Social media efforts also exceeded goals. Facebook page impressions grew +2,448% to 1.7 million, with engagement rates five times the industry benchmarks. MGA became the #1 business within the ‘Things to Do’ category on TripAdvisor. Most importantly, store traffic exceeded stated objectives by +75%, reaching 12 month goals in just 6 months. Further, 50% of the visitors purchased live shooting experience with the average spend more than +33% above goals.Client
Machine Gun AmericaTags
tourism
travel
hospitality
advertising
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