The freckle-faced, little girl runs up to the bathtub, a towel in one hand, a snorkeling mask in the other and flippers on her feet. A row of toy sea creatures perches on the edge of the tub.
No sooner does her swimsuit dip beneath the surface, she becomes a famous marine biologist studying a pageant of coral-reef fish, dolphins, a prickly puffer fish and a shark. When she comes up for air, there's even a bit of seaweed caught in her face mask.
The National Aquarium hopes to use those images, captured in a colorful 30-second television spot, to remind viewers that a visit to the aquarium is a fun, educational experience that sparks the imagination long afterward. The TV spots mark the first time the aquarium has launched a campaign not linked to a specific exhibit.
"They're so used to computer-generated stuff and things they see on TV and in movies, that it's what's alive and breathing that seems to ignite wonder in children," said Ken Majka, executive vice president and creative director for Richardson, Myers & Donofrio Inc., the Baltimore advertising agency that designed the campaign. "It's an interesting thing to me that the natural world has become what's rare."
The television ads, which started yesterday, will air on five stations in Baltimore. Eventually, the $700,000, yearlong campaign will include print ads that will appear in Washington, Philadelphia and other markets in the mid-Atlantic.
The idea for the campaign, whose tag line is "Living, breathing fun," grew out of the experiences of employees at the agency.
"Having gone to the aquarium so many times, our children take a toy home and they're playing with it in the bath and they just get totally absorbed in a fantasy," said Margie Weeks, associate creative director at the agency. "The concept is to take the experience home with you. That is so rare, but it's so easy to do at the aquarium."
The aquarium, which opened in 1981, reported 1.7 million visitors in 1998, and hopes to match that number this year. Annually, an average of 650,000 children ages 11 and under visit. Most of them are between ages 5 and 11, according to a spokeswoman for the aquarium.
In planning campaign strategy, the advertising agency was provided results from vis- itor surveys showing the top reasons people visit the aquarium. Among those are that the attraction is a good place for children and a fun way to learn.
"This campaign really does capture the essence of what the aquarium is," said Denise E. London, senior director of marketing for the aquarium. "It shows the wonder and mystery and the educational aspects as well."
Although the aquarium has marketed its special jellyfish and venom exhibits in the past several years, the new campaign was designed to promote the entire aquarium experience. However, as the campaign wraps up, promotion of the venom exhibit will be tacked on, London said.
"We thought it was time to remind our visitors about what the aquarium really stood for," London said. "There's no other venue like it. This commercial really does hit it, because our vision is that connecting people with aquatic wildlife makes a better world for both."
Pub Date: 3/16/99