Marcus Theaters
Take a 2 Hour Vacation
Disrupting multigenerational streaming culture by taking the vacation to the streets.
When Marcus Theaters came to us, they had a problem: streaming services were dampening the inflow of their audiences. And why not? Home entertainment gets more entertaining every day. As creative marketers, though, coming up with a powerful answer to that “Why not?” was totally in our wheelhouse. But how do you get someone to leave their home to have an experience...that at its core they could totally have inside their home, in their favorite chair, in their gym shorts or in the buff, open blinds and neighbors be damned?
We started our by asking, What are movies, any narrative artform for that matter, but escapist by their nature? And then, Can you really, truly “get away” if you’re home? No, said our creative director. No, said our designers. NO, shouted our interns through the wrought-iron grate of the Intern Holding Cell. The consensus held...
And the “Take a 2-Hour Vacation” campaign was born.
We positioned going out to the movies as a self-contained 2-Hour getaway from the stress of home, the dog barking, the kids crying – your staycation from the noise of being anywhere but Marcus Theaters. We also recognized this challenge as an opportunity to fight home-furnishings with FOMO. For better or worse, the fear of missing out is a key driver in today’s hyper world – so we upped the ante by giving passersby something – and someone – to envy.
The “something”? That was easy. Marcus Theaters locations sport the most comfortable seating in the biz: DreamLoungers™ recliners.
If movies, films, are escapes — Marcus Theaters’ DreamLounger™ seats are rich, red, leathery, power-reclining, Purple®-level-comfort escape pods. And we put ‘em smack-dab in the middle of the busiest, most stressful locations we could find.
Downtown on Husker gameday? Check. That stunt nabbed 20,000 interactions the day the Huskers nabbed the win against Illinois. That’s twenty thousand, with a K. Our hired actors helped raise the stakes, spending all morning and afternoon “watching” and reacting to invisible flicks. It was goofy, and a little absurd – but it was also eye-catching, novel, and so bizarre that Husker fans headed to the next keg (or home with their kids) stopped dead in their tracks by the droves.
When Marcus Theaters came to us, they had a problem: streaming services were dampening the inflow of their audiences. And why not? Home entertainment gets more entertaining every day. As creative marketers, though, coming up with a powerful answer to that “Why not?” was totally in our wheelhouse. But how do you get someone to leave their home to have an experience...that at its core they could totally have inside their home, in their favorite chair, in their gym shorts or in the buff, open blinds and neighbors be damned?
We started our by asking, What are movies, any narrative artform for that matter, but escapist by their nature? And then, Can you really, truly “get away” if you’re home? No, said our creative director. No, said our designers. NO, shouted our interns through the wrought-iron grate of the Intern Holding Cell. The consensus held...
And the “Take a 2-Hour Vacation” campaign was born.
We positioned going out to the movies as a self-contained 2-Hour getaway from the stress of home, the dog barking, the kids crying – your staycation from the noise of being anywhere but Marcus Theaters. We also recognized this challenge as an opportunity to fight home-furnishings with FOMO. For better or worse, the fear of missing out is a key driver in today’s hyper world – so we upped the ante by giving passersby something – and someone – to envy.
The “something”? That was easy. Marcus Theaters locations sport the most comfortable seating in the biz: DreamLoungers™ recliners.
If movies, films, are escapes — Marcus Theaters’ DreamLounger™ seats are rich, red, leathery, power-reclining, Purple®-level-comfort escape pods. And we put ‘em smack-dab in the middle of the busiest, most stressful locations we could find.
Downtown on Husker gameday? Check. That stunt nabbed 20,000 interactions the day the Huskers nabbed the win against Illinois. That’s twenty thousand, with a K. Our hired actors helped raise the stakes, spending all morning and afternoon “watching” and reacting to invisible flicks. It was goofy, and a little absurd – but it was also eye-catching, novel, and so bizarre that Husker fans headed to the next keg (or home with their kids) stopped dead in their tracks by the droves.
Challenges:
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Solutions:
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When Marcus Theaters came to us, they had a problem: streaming services were dampening the inflow of their audiences. And why not? Home entertainment gets more entertaining every day. As creative marketers, though, coming up with a powerful answer to that “Why not?” was totally in our wheelhouse. But how do you get someone to leave their home to have an experience...that at its core they could totally have inside their home, in their favorite chair, in their gym shorts or in the buff, open blinds and neighbors be damned?
We started our by asking, What are movies, any narrative artform for that matter, but escapist by their nature? And then, Can you really, truly “get away” if you’re home? No, said our creative director. No, said our designers. NO, shouted our interns through the wrought-iron grate of the Intern Holding Cell. The consensus held...
And the “Take a 2-Hour Vacation” campaign was born.
We positioned going out to the movies as a self-contained 2-Hour getaway from the stress of home, the dog barking, the kids crying – your staycation from the noise of being anywhere but Marcus Theaters. We also recognized this challenge as an opportunity to fight home-furnishings with FOMO. For better or worse, the fear of missing out is a key driver in today’s hyper world – so we upped the ante by giving passersby something – and someone – to envy.
The “something”? That was easy. Marcus Theaters locations sport the most comfortable seating in the biz: DreamLoungers™ recliners.
If movies, films, are escapes — Marcus Theaters’ DreamLounger™ seats are rich, red, leathery, power-reclining, Purple®-level-comfort escape pods. And we put ‘em smack-dab in the middle of the busiest, most stressful locations we could find.
Downtown on Husker gameday? Check. That stunt nabbed 20,000 interactions the day the Huskers nabbed the win against Illinois. That’s twenty thousand, with a K. Our hired actors helped raise the stakes, spending all morning and afternoon “watching” and reacting to invisible flicks. It was goofy, and a little absurd – but it was also eye-catching, novel, and so bizarre that Husker fans headed to the next keg (or home with their kids) stopped dead in their tracks by the droves.
