Working in-house for a brand that revolves around the exchange of fun was as challenging as it was rewarding. I had to find the balance between writing creative copy that solved business needs while protecting the integrity of an evolving brand identity.
At Universal, I developed concepts for campaigns on social platforms including video scripts, social content and technical AI bot scripts.
My team had to find the happy medium of fun and legal working within strict licensing standards. But the most important thing was to drive emotional attachment to an entire tourist destination—from resorts to restaurants to rollercoasters.
Holiday Like This Campaign
Goal: Position holidays at Universal a little differently.
Art Direction by Erik McGrew and Paula Marzetti
Let’s get the party started.
The Holiday Like This campaign was born out of positioning of Universal as the “fun”, “different” theme park. Universal has the energy and provocativeness that Disney lacks, and the new positioning seeks to harness that to its fullest potential.
While Disney, our more buttoned-up and old-fashioned counterpart, may wait to start celebrating the holidays when it’s deemed appropriate, Universal does the exact opposite. The holiday season is a mindset, and all rules and constraints should go out the window.
This campaign empowered the person, giving our fans the opportunity to let loose and get the party started.
The anthem that drove the entire campaign, these words spoke to the essence of Universal's holiday campaign positioning.
Then Universal's own Halloween Horror nights wanted to join the party. This campaign encouraged people to start celebrating the holidays early—so early that Halloween might miss its moment of glory. And of course HHN couldn't let that happen...
Taking things offline, we invited local influencers and theme park gurus to a Holiday Like This event to kick-off the season. This was the credential given to each guest.
Holiday Hotline
No matter where you are in the world, everyone needs some holiday cheer. Call the Hotline—and you too can Holliday Like This.
The Hotline was advertised on all of Universal's social channels, leading to holiday connections with people all over the globe.
Click to hear what you might have heard if you called the Hotline yourself.
Volcano Bay As Zodiac Signs
Strategy insights told us how much our fans wanted to be recognized and find their niché within Universal’s brand. This is a tactic where we applied that theory to Universal’s water park, Volcano Bay.
In a style very much á la Buzzfeed, people could interact with Universal’s IG story and find which Volcano Bay ride was most like them—their Zodiac sign that is.
