Quassy Honored With International Awards

11/21/2006

ATLANTA - The International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) honored Quassy Amusement Park with three Brass Ring Awards at IAAPA’s Annual Conference and Trade Show at the Georgia World Congress Center here. The Middlebury, Conn., park won the honors for its radio commercial, media kit and print advertising. The Brass Ring Awards were presented Nov. 14 during a gathering in the Georgia Ballroom. “Once again, due to the hard work and creativity of Ron Gustafson of our marketing team, we have again been honored by our association with three major awards for our efforts,” said George Frantzis II, co-owner of the 99-year-old lakeside facility. “This worldwide recognition is a great honor and reinforces our commitment to providing quality and fun in all of our endeavors,” Frantzis added. IAAPA’s Brass Ring Awards is an annual competition that recognizes excellence in marketing for amusement facilities worldwide. The awards recognize originality, creativity and excellence in marketing among professionals in the industry. Quassy captured the awards in three of the seven categories honoring amusement/theme parks with annual attendance of up to 250,000, making the family-run park one of the big winners of the evening. Radio Commercial Honored The park’s award-winning radio commercial was a 60-second spot produced for “Magic In The Sky,” the outdoor laser light spectacular Quassy staged to benefit the Connecticut Food Bank. The ad aired on a number of stations in Connecticut, encouraging guests to bring canned food donations in support of the food bank. “Magic In The Sky” was recognized as the only free laser light show at an amusement park in the nation. The commercial - with a voiceover featuring a friendly Merlin the Magician - was played back for the IAAPA audience when the award was presented. Quassy creates all of its advertising scripts with studio production completed at each radio station. Media Kit Quassy’s award-winning media kit was produced in-house and contained dozens of photos, feature stories as well as background information about the property. Photos were all referenced as hard copy thumbnails for editors to easily access on an accompanying compact disc. Stories also appeared in hard copy as well as on the CD. A separate catered outing CD accompanied printed materials pertaining to group functions at Quassy. The CD contained a video segment, and additional information for groups interested in catered outings. All printing - including CD replication - and packaging of the media kits was done in-house, as was the park’s photography. The entire media kit was available in hard copy or via e-mail. Print Ad Quassy’s award-winning print ad was also designed in-house and appeared in a number of regional newspapers and magazines. The ad featured the park’s new “Tunnel Twister” waterslides. Gustafson, Quassy’s director of public relations and photographer, accepted the three awards on behalf of Quassy. Also attending the ceremony was John Frantzis, a park co-owner. More than 24,000 industry professionals from throughout the world attended the six-day IAAPA conference. Quassy Amusement Park features more than two-dozen rides and attractions, redemption arcade, restaurant, beach, “Saturation Station” interactive water play area and entertainment. The facility is recognized as one of 11 remaining “trolley parks” in the United States. For more information visit www.quassy.com or call 1-800-FOR-PARK. The 20-acre park is located on Route 64 and will celebrate 99 years of family fun in 2007. IAAPA is the largest international trade association for permanently situated amusement facilities worldwide. The organization represents more than 5,000 facility, supplier, and individual members from more than 85 countries. IAAPA strives to help members improve their safety, efficiency, marketing, and profitability while maintaining the highest possible professional standards in the industry. For more about IAAPA visit www.iaapa.org ---30--- With Brass Ring Awards logo and Quassy Amusement Park marketing sample photos Award-Winning Ad Quassy Amusement Park’s 2006 award-winning print ad is shown in this photo. The ad won an international Brass Ring Award. Radio Commercial For Laser Show “Magic In The Sky,” the laser light spectacular at Quassy Amusement Park in Middlebury, Conn., was promoted by an award-winning radio campaign this year. The photo is a scene from the 2006 show. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------