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TheBuzz Erika Engle |
Last laugh over
Lilo & Stitch ends up
with Disney OnlineExecutives at Disney have every right to look at the state of Hawaii and exclaim, "Wop your jaws!"
Disney Online has won two online advertising awards from the Web Marketing Association. One is the Best Travel Integrated Advertising Campaign award for the Lilo & Stitch "Ohana Island mini-site and sweepstakes." Its FamilyFun.com Weekender Newsletter won the award for Best General Interest Newsletter HTML e-mail campaign.
On the Lilo & Stitch front, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau had agreed to spend $3.9 million over three years for joint marketing of the set-in-Hawaii animated movie and the islands.
The contract cost $1.7 million in state funds for the first year, but the Hawaii Tourism Authority later cut funding for the second two years. The first year ended in April, according to bureau President Tony Vericella.
The award "just reinforces the fact that it was a very creative and integrated way to reach targeted consumers," he said.
It was the first time Disney had ever done a mini-site with any destination other than its own theme parks and the first time they'd done a mini-site of that nature for any of their film releases, Vericella said.
At the time funding was cut, Ken Goldstein, executive vice president and managing director of Disney Online, said "Disney has so overdelivered," given the company's contribution vs. what the state had paid.
The linkage remains powerful, Vericella said.
"I think it just points to the fact that the first year was one where it turned out to be a terrific alliance," he said. "Disney clearly delivered above and beyond what we all had expected. It reinforces the fact that the first year was very positive for Disney and for Hawaii and for the Islands a lot of benefit there is still accruing."
Disney Online agrees the Lilo & Stitch partnership was "very successful," according to spokes-woman Kim Kerscher. The promotional agreement culminated last month with the awarding of 25 trips for four to Hawaii in partnership with the HVCB, Hawaiian Airlines and Hilton Hotels. The trips are each valued at $4,000.
Vericella would not express regret that the partnership was cut short.
"You can't always go back and second-guess," he said. "I think you have to be happy about the fact that this worked very well. Disney was a great partner during that time and hopefully down the road there will be another opportunity for Disney and Hawaii to do other things together."
Some Lilo & Stitch pages at Disney.go.com still display HVCB's "Hawaii - The Islands of Aloha" logo, but none linked to the HVCB site.
See the Columnists section for some past articles.
Erika Engle is a reporter with the Star-Bulletin.
Call 529-4302, fax 529-4750 or write to Erika Engle,
Honolulu Star-Bulletin, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., No. 7-210,
Honolulu, HI 96813. She can also be reached
at: eengle@starbulletin.com