Announcement time... the delay is bad!

Well, I think we all kind of expected an announcement by now, seeing as how whatever the new ride is (as if I don't know ;)), it's going to be big because they started some construction before the season even started.

So let's review why the marketing folks are in deep stuff if they keep puting it off, shall we?

First, you have your missed season pass sales. Ask yourself, if you're the casual park goer passing by the sign for the new ride in September, do you think you'll be more likely to order a season pass for the next year? Of course! With per capita spending going nowhere, do you think you'd like to sell more season passes? Of course!

Besides, if you end up with a parking lot full of parts, the impact of the announcement will be even further reduced. Any regulars remember Power Tower's construction? "There's nothing to see here!"

Then there's the gee-whiz factor. More and more enthusiasts know what it is, the industry knows what it is, so before you know it, a late announcement will be a, "Yeah, we knew that," instead of a, "Holy crap! I can't believe they're building that!" If they wait much longer, even the Sandusky Register will know what it is.

Add in the fact that your competition isn't screwing around next year. As long as Six Flags follows through on their plans to build a 200-foot hyper coaster next year, with the potential to be as magic as New England's Superman, you can bet that they can reduce the impact, and perhaps divert season pass sales, if they are first to market. This isn't even considering what PKI is building next year (and I'm not talking about Scooby Doo either).

You can't announce the first two weeks of September, because the news will be dominated by the one-year anniversary of the terrorist attacks. Not to mention that the IAAPA summer meeting is at the park, so that ties up your marketing folks. So by late September you have fewer weeks to sell passes, and that's even assuming that the weather doesn't suck and kill attendance, as it seems to one out of four Halloweekends.

Then there's in-house media production. Media kits, art, animation, media buying budgets, etc. all take time. The longer you wait, the longer it takes to get the word out.

And don't forget mainstream media attention. If you want to make the spring TV specials on Discovery and what have you, you need to get on their calendar NOW. Japan's Steel Dragon didn't get in front of a lot of eyeballs until a year later because they waited so long (not that the US was the intended market, but the result was still the same).

What are you guys waiting for?

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

Announce it tomorrow! It would be a good birthday present for me.

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If you like riding Wicked Twister in the back, does that mean you like to get screwed in the rear? ;)

Has SFWoA officially announced their hyper? If not, could CP be waiting in order to steal the thunder from them?

Just a thought.

The delay is killing us, I can't imagine how much it's bugging people who know for sure and want to say something already :)

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--Greg
My Home
MF count: 54

Jeff,

Do you have any idea when CP plans on announcing this thing?

From your post, it sounds like you know it's going to be later in the fall and you're taking issue with that.

On the other hand, you could just sincerely not know like the rest of us...

Those are some real good points. I've been thinking it'll happen around Labor Day all along, but you bring up a good point with the anniversary of the terrorist attacks being then. I also tend to agree with you that the sooner, the better, in terms of season pass sales. This is the busiest time of the year for the park and you'd think they'd want as many people to see a sign or something and pick up their passes for enxt year. Before you know it, it's going to be weekends only! Where has the summer gone?

On the other hand, perhaps CP thinks that the season pass sale benefit won't be hurt by waiting. People can get their passes online now as easy or easier than at the park itself. I think this thinking would be somewhat wrong, but maybe that's what they're up to.

Something tells me they want to wait until like a day after WOA's announcement, but WOA might not have the budget (ouch!) to make a big announcement, so there goes that idea!

-Matt
2001 Magnum Crew

I think that SFWoA is waiting to announce after CP. Look at it this way, and even SFWoA knows it, whatever goes to CP, will probably get much more attention. I don't think CP has to worry about it and will announce anytime soon while attenedence is atill high. Maybe on the last Saturday before September.

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If you like riding Wicked Twister in the back, does that mean you like to get screwed in the rear? ;)

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Jeff said:
So let's review why the marketing folks are in deep stuff if they keep puting it off, shall we?"

Actually I think the phrasing needs to not be marketing folks and put upper management in it's place. I have on good word that the announcement was all ready to go, and somebody up top decided to hold it off.

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gee, that sounds like WT in November...I'd have to go with Jeff, the annoucement will "probably" be sooner than you think

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Proud Member of the G.O.C.C
Webmaster: Po!Nt MaNiA!
http://www.thepointol.com/~pointmania

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PLayerPunk89 said:
I think that SFWoA is waiting to announce after CP.

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Well then we could have a big game of chicken :)

(Honestly I don't think "waiting for SFWoA to make their annoucement" has anything to do with this delay.)

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--Greg
My Home
MF count: 54

Why wait? Get some hype going in the park and it will really take the air out of the sails of SFWOA (*if they build thier rumored hyper*) and PKI.

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long live the sky slide

The way its sounds, I personally think if CP announces theirs first, then when SFWOA announces their hyper people will just blow it off, but if SFWOA announces theirs first, then people will have some hype about it until CP comes along and speaks up.

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If you meet me and forget me, you've lost nothing. If you meet Jesus and forget Him, you've lost everything.
*** This post was edited by forcedude04 8/8/2002 9:14:13 PM ***

I could see the announcement coming during the week of September 2. Just because that is the first week the park is not open for daily operation. Announcing a new ride, no matter if it is a small B&M flyer or something (IRC) else, will give some (not all) people a reason just to "wait until next year".

As Jeff said, if this ride is announced this "late" it would no doubt be overshadowed by last Septembers tragic events. While normally September would probably be a good month to announce, CP would have too much working against them if they did. Nobody would really hear much about the new ride and it would become lost at sea among the flood of terrorist related news.

That said, it is truly a judgement call. Will they risk being looked over just to save some customers from skipping their park a visit? I don't think they have anything to worry about because of Halloweekends, that is a completely different experience and many people will make a trip for that regardless if they announce or not...

There are so many sides to this situation that it isn't even funny, we could all argue until our fingers turn blue and fall off. The announcement will come when the park is ready to give it, no sooner and no later.

Patience is a virtue....

You sure do make a lot of good points, Jeff. I'm not one to always think I can do someone else's job better than they can, but you have to wonder with CP's decision to keep waiting for now. Millennium Force was announced just about this time in 1999 and look what it did for publicity and pass sales. It was the talk of the town for weeks before the park even closed. What good does it really do CP to wait?

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James Draeger
"Make it stop!"
"There goes the body buggy"

And that's just it. I remember someone at the MF media day mentioned to me that the brand recognition in the Cleveland area in particular was amazingly high, and that was in the late part of the 1999 season. Why would you want to throw that away?

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM

Yeah,remember when they put that huge sign of the artists rendering up near the old ferris wheel location? You had to beat people away from it to even get a look at it. If what they are putting up is really that stupendous, how could it hurt them announcing it now? It's not like another park is going to have a ride built and outdo them in the next 9 months or something.

It's almost as if SFWoA isn't even building their coaster. I remember channel 5 in Cleveland actually running a headline on their website for a day about how they applied for a permit to build something higher than 200ft. Other than that, there hasn't been a mention of it that I have seen at least,newspaper,tv or otherwise.
Infamous Rob
*** This post was edited by MFJedi 8/8/2002 9:47:15 PM ***

I can't wait until they announce it. They need to get on with it. If anything, they should most deffinitly do it by the end of August/Early September.

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"It will be the shot thats heard around the world"

I also remember the announcement for Raptor. It was Raptor that got me to buy season passes for the first time, and Banshee's announcement is what sealed my decision to purchase passes in September 1995 for the 1996 season.

I agree that earlier announcements make a difference. Especially to those of us who live further away and really have to think about the worth of it.

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I'd rather die living than live like I'm dead

TPOL makes it sound like the announcement is very soon, so I wonder if it'll be this weekend? I hope so because I'll be there! But really, if they announce it really late, season passes go on the fall discounts, generating less profit.

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Paul
Next Trip: TOMORROW!
(I'm REALLY pulling for an announcement this weekend!)

Yes, well they don't know what I do (and apparently what cp1984 knows).

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Jeff
Webmaster/GTTP, Sillynonsense.com
"Let's stop saying 'don't quote me,' because if no one quotes you, you probably haven't said a thing worth saying." - Dogma, KMFDM