The Strong National Museum of Play Out of Home Case Study

Travel + Tourism

Getting there is half the fun.

Increasing attendance with an unconventional billboard and wayfinding campaign.

Challenge

A massive expansion needed a massive response.

The Strong National Museum of Play, located in Rochester, NY, is home to an immersive children’s museum and the National Toy Hall of Fame. They were planning a significant expansion in the summer of 2023. For this plan to work economically they needed to increase their annual attendance from 600,000 to one million visitors. But Rochester and the surrounding markets of Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany were already saturated, so the museum would need to draw visitors from out-of-state to meet their attendance goals.

Approach

A campaign for the kid in all of us.

We focused on Toronto – literally connecting the fourth largest city in North America (2.93 million people) to The Strong. And to command attention, we tapped into the power of toy nostalgia, speaking to more than just kids. After all, we also needed to get parents amped up to initiate the trip.

Photograph of a Strong National Museum of Play billboard that looks like an open box of crayons. It says, "Draw the best day ever in Rochester, NY."

Photograph of a Strong National Museum of Play billboard that looks like an Etch-a-Sketch. It says, "Design the best day ever in Rochester, NY."

Photograph of a Strong National Museum of Play billboard that looks like a Scrabble board. It says, "Score the best day ever in Rochester, NY."

Photograph of a Strong National Museum of Play billboard that looks like an box to store Hot Wheels toy cars. It says, "Start your engines for the best day ever in Rochester, NY."

Photograph of a Strong National Museum of Play billboard that looks like the board game Battleship. It says, "Launch the best day ever in Rochester, NY."

Photograph of a Strong National Museum of Play billboard that looks like the video game Oregon Trail. It says, "Blaze a trail to the best day ever in Rochester, NY."

Photograph of a Strong National Museum of Play billboard that looks like a clown's face made on a Lite Brite. It says, "Light up the best day ever in Rochester, NY."

Photograph of a Strong National Museum of Play billboard that looks like the game Connect Four. It says, "Drop in on the best day ever in Rochester, NY."

Solution

Your best day ever is just ahead.

In the summer of 2023, we launched “the Path to Play” campaign. Using a series of playful toy-themed OOH boards, we created a sequential path from Toronto to Rochester. To fill the gaps between billboards, we tapped into geo-targeted Waze alerts to send ads to gamify a day trip and make it irresistible fun. This potent combination of messages and tactics enticed drivers to find their “best day ever” in Rochester, NY, at The Strong Museum.

Phones showing how pins, preview screens, and inbox messages look for The Strong National Museum of Play in the Waze app.

Results

A new day trip destination was born.

Families looked forward to discovering each new billboard and the campaign blazed a trail straight to the museum’s door. Bringing carloads of curious new guests in to explore everything the expanded museum had to offer with results that spoke for themselves.

108.6M

Impressions

700%

Web Traffic Lift

35%

Increase In Visits

Gold Jay Chiat Award
Regional Strategy

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