Case Study: Jolly Roger Amusements

Jolly Roger Amusement Park® has been an Ocean City, MD staple since 1964. Conceptualized by Charles “Buddy” Jenkins and golf legend Arnold Palmer. Throughout the years Jolly Roger® has grown to feature five separate parks, each jam-packed with adventures at every turn. Including SpeedWorld®, Splash Mountain®, Jolly Roger Mini Golf®, Jolly Roger at 30th Street® and Jolly Roger at the Pier®.

Behind the magic at the Parks, the team at D3 collaborates across all platforms and areas of service. Synchronizing each level of marketing throughout the in-season, and the off-season. From running contests throughout the year to increase Jolly Roger’s email lists and grow their social media following, to creating marketing materials for their World-Famous Black Friday Sale, and so much more in between.

When it comes to social marketing, it’s all hands-on deck to maintain nine social pages between Facebook and Instagram for each park. Our digital team manages Facebook, Google, YouTube and programmatic ads throughout the year driving traffic for each unique campaign as well as in-season and out-of-season pass purchase pushes.

Not only is D3 there when things are going well, but in early 2020 when COVID-19 hit and Jolly Roger Amusement Park® had to delay their opening season, D3 came through with the ID3AS to keep Jolly Roger® relevant and at the top of people's minds.

D3 assisted Jolly Roger® in creating essential verbiage to keep guests up to date on park updates and pass procedures. D3 also helped to keep things light during uncertain times and gave families who had to stay indoors things to do to keep them entertained. Creating fun word searches and coloring pages, as well as My Jolly Summer Activities for ‘do it yourself’ fun. Jolly Roger® was able to reach success by providing joy, even while the parks were closed down.

Let’s not underestimate the importance of maintaining the Jolly Roger® website year-round. As families are planning their vacation months in advance, the D3 team ensures the website is updated with general information, hours and discounts. In addition, custom landing pages are built for each sale with unique coupon pages that have QR codes for accurate tracking.

Each week the D3 team meets with Jolly Roger® to discuss how we can level up each area of our marketing. What did we love? What could have gone different? What out-of-the-box ideas can we bring to the table and make work? The creative energy flows through each department and creates a multi-channel result wrapped up in a green and purple bow.

The most important part of the work that we do at D3 for Jolly Roger Amusement Park®? We have FUN! Laughter flows throughout each meeting, giving space for the next great thing to conceptualize.

"We started working with D3 about 15 years ago. But in the last five or six years, it’s been, tremendous. The things that we market now- way more things than what we used to do.”

- Steve Pastusak, Vice President of Bay Shore Development.