Crappy Marketing

Here's my biggest question with the current marketing plan they seem to have, as it relates specifically to advertising and media outlets, etc...Define for me the target market that Cedar Point has established in its recent campaigns. See, in my (still growing) knowledge of marketing as a business student, I'm seeing a plan that's rather inconsistent in its target. The best way I can think to put it at the moment is that they are trying to be everything to everyone all at once in the same advertisement, or are mixing up their target markets with their respective media outlets and ads. It would be reassuring, to me at least, if I could precisely figure out who they're targeting in each ad in each respective situation, because that would then indicate to me that they're making their point clear to that specific target market. It doesn't seem that they are currently doing that, so I think there's room for improvement.

I have to agree. Being an international IT business professional, I must say that the target market CP is attempting to reach is very vague. I work for a UK firm, and whilst I'm at the headquarters south of London, I find most adverts there to be extremely focused on their respective target market, some almost ridiculously so.

Many may argue it is a geographically centered market of family's and younger citizens, however the variety of individuals I see in attendance there doesn't always hold that model true.

Perhaps they should spend a little time with some intensive research firms and tap other venues of potential as the others here have stated.

The old motto most definitely holds true... "You have to spend money to make money"

Cedar Point used to have awesome commercials. They always got me (as a kid) overly excited about going to Cedar Point which in turn made me nag the parents to go; then we'd go. :)

With a website, they can have catchy commercials that get people excited about going and then use the website to get across the idea of "value proposition." But, you don't have the time in a TV (or radio) spot to get across excitement/family fun/thrills/vacation destination/value proposition.

I completely agree that CP's website is one of the best in the industry. It's very informative, gives tons of information about price, and is easy to use. I'd actually say it's MORE informative than Disney's website which is overly complex.

I'm a huge fan of Disney's Holiday commercial, their Halloween ad, Alton Towers Rita ad, their hotel ad, and of course the Mr Six ads.

I still remember the "Cure for the Summertime Blues" commercial they ran back in the 80s. Plus, whenever I hear that song, I want to go to Cedar Point. The last "ad" I can remember loving for Cedar Point was their absolutely amazing ad which I don't even think was on TV (because it's over two minutes long. But, it was very well done.

^Those two Alton Tower ads are exactly what I would like to see. They're not very complicated either like Disney's. I really like the Mr. Six ad too.

Here's a CP ad from 2001, now add a couple rides in there and change the jingle a bit and you now have a 2007 ad and most likely you're new 2008 ad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqR7lAEGFMs&NR=1

Disney's web site has a lot of potential, but its navigation kills it. Also they kind of do this already, but separating the parks from the rest of the Disney stuff is another they need to work on.

I picked the ads I did because Cedar Point needs more than just "we have the most coasters" ads. Most of their target audience knows they have the most coasters and that they rock. They've done this for years. Isn't this what you wanted them to get away from? Move towards something new?

They just need something to get up the excitement level and build brand recognition. Direct people to their website and they'll come. I think their biggest problem is their commercials try to do everything and they can't. They should have several versions each year that share a theme, but have different "topics". Pick a thrill ride, do the resorts and do the "family thing". Have em all related by a jingle or something and make them so people have the "I NEED to go to Cedar Point now" feeling after they watch.

If you scan through YouTube at the Alton Towers ads, they almost ALL have the same jingle in the background. But, done with different themes. That's why their marketing is so successful. Common theme with a variation. That's what good design is all about.

Keep in mind that, relatively speaking, Cedar Point (the business unit, not the parent company) isn't all that large. I have no idea what their marketing budget is for broadcast media buys, but I can't imagine it's that big.

The truth is that they'll get a lot more mileage out of things like the Pepsi cans and grocery store tickets (the kind you scan, like gift cards).

Besides, this whole discussion is predicated on the idea that they're not meeting their attendance goals, and we don't know that.

I'd be curious to see the differences between the budget CP has compared to Alton Towers.

Even if the park is meeting their attendance goals they could also go above and beyond that goal.

I have no idea what the to cost or efforts are currently in place, I'm just saying how the ads on the radio, TV, and print aren't the greatest and show way to much roller coasters and way little of much else.

*** Edited 12/12/2007 2:56:52 AM UTC by Gomez***

Why can't we have a discussion to just discuss? Why does it have to be based on anything other than ideas that people who like Cedar Point have?

Not to mention that we now have two opinions (me, a business student, and a business professional) that agree on a lack of a specific target market. That says a lot about the marketing right there. Effective marketing takes an effective knowledge of your target market(s), and the park doesn't seem to be displaying that in recent campaigns. I have a feeling there are more business students and professionals around here that could add to this discussion, and I'm interested in more input.

I've got a final in Business Foundations final tomorrow, and this along with the pay scale announcement gives me a few very good examples if I need them.

Marketing is a key part of a business, and if you aren't performing in your marketing, then you're going to have some trouble performing elsewhere.

Jeff, would you agree on the target market aspects that have already been discussed? *** Edited 12/12/2007 3:37:30 AM UTC by BlueStreak64***

I'm sure that down is not their goal.

Plus, discounts and tickets for sale don't do anything if people don't have a desire to go to the park in the first place.

Re: The ad links posted on the previous page. Just watching them once, then analyzing what I saw: I didn’t like the Alton Ads. I turned them off before they finished. I can’t stand Mr. Six as a character personally. But he’s effective, singular & memorable. The Disney ads were the most effective and the highest production value (no surprise there). There’s also a Disneyland Halloween ad on youtube that has a little girl witch on a broom stick like Tinkerbell flying thru the exciting things that represent the park.

The Disney & Six Flags ads have a simple effective element in common which are character(s) that are intended to have personality & create a brand recognition that you visually focus on immediately when you see the commercial while the catchy music plays in the background (interesting they don’t use creepy Halloween music) and you follow them in the entire ad through essentially what the park has to offer, doing things that visitors would do in a more exaggerated manner. It communicates quickly so you can’t take in the details but it holds your attention. They tell a little quick short story in a sense. It makes it look like a fun place to go or a fun thing to do without getting specific by creating a positive attitude & feeling of excitement.

People usually relate to seeing people or characters. You’ll notice the target market in most of those ads is in the background reacting to the main character having fun. And in Six Flag’s case, doing mundane things they’d rather not be doing like yard work. POV’s on roller coasters aren’t as effective in an ad.

I’d also think CP probably doesn’t have a huge ad budget to make a slick presentation which is part of the appeal of the Disney ads. They’re are essentially pretty darn simple concepts when you get down to it. Which is another thing that makes them effective. You watch, you get the vibe, the idea and you remember it long enough to think about checking out the product. At the very least it’s brand awareness. You know it’s out there. Ad placement is another thing altogether.

With all that said, I don’t pay attention to CP’s ads. I live closer to KI. I just know CP was busy as heck this HalloWeekends due in big part to the nice weather.

BlueStreak64 said:
Jeff, would you agree on the target market aspects that have already been discussed?

I don't even understand what you're asking. Does CP know what its target demographic is? Of course they do. But they're not selling zit cream, which you can safely say is targeted to teenage boys with acne. They're selling something that has a far more broad appeal. The only qualifiers I see is that the demo lives in Northern Ohio or Southern Michigan.

Sure, some customers are more ideal, like 30 and 40-something parents with 2.2 kids and a household income of $100,000, but you can't survive on them alone. Broadcast media in particular is one of the most inefficient ways to target very specific demographics like that. But you can send a broader message.

Advertising is not a silver bullet for anything. First you need to sell something people actually want, then you need to price it right. Awareness is not an issue in this area. "We're open" is the only message they really need to get out.

If you think there's an attendance issue, I wonder if you visited the park this year, especially for Halloweekends. The park will always have between 3 and 3.5 million guests a season. They're likely closer to the bottom of that range, but with the exodus out of and economic decline out of Michigan, I doubt there's much they can do about that.

^^ I'm curious as to what you didn't like about the Alton ads that made you turn them off before 30 seconds was even up. That's interesting to me.

Also, I'm not sure why everyone thinks CP has some tiny marketing budget. Did you see how much effort they put into the Maverick website alone? They had live actors, vignettes and a big intro just for the Maverick page. Plus, they had different professional looking ads on TV too like this one.

No one is claiming Cedar Point is hurting for visitors. But, I see no harm in discussing ways they could produce better marketing to bring in even more people. Saying all they have to do is say "we're open" and people will come is pretty short sighted in my mind.

I always though advertising was to sell people something they didn't know they wanted. If people knew they wanted something, why would I have to convince them to buy it?

I think Jay had an idea of where I was going with what I was talking about. I'm still learning all this stuff, so its difficult to adequately get my point across at times. Jay, maybe you could elaborate on the target market discussion?

Gomez said:
Even if the park is meeting their attendance goals they could also go above and beyond that goal.

Perhaps its a matter of not getting justified return after a certain amount of advertising. Sure, they could spend twice what they're currently spending, but would it get them twice the attendance? And, yeah, that's an absurd example, but you get the idea.

halltd said:
Why can't we have a discussion to just discuss?

I thought that's what was going on here...

No one has mentioned this, but has Cedar Fair ever done any advertising as a whole and included all the parks, or does each park advertise individually. When I was first introduced to CP, I didn't know that it was owned by CF and that CF owned other parks.

Maybe be advertising all the parks together might draw people who normally only visit one park, to visit others as well.

Although I realize that if we are talking about television media, that is alot to squeeze into a 15-30 second slot.

"Awareness is not an issue in this area. 'We're open' is the only message they really need to get out."

First of all, those two sentences contradict each other.

"We're open" is the message that is already out there. Trying to put that message out is a waste of money. People KNOW Cedar Point is open every summer. It has been open every summer for more than 100 years. Imagine if you saw a TV ad for soap that just said "Soap: You can use it to wash your hands!" What would you think? You know that already because soap has been around. So what kind of soap ads actually exist? "Feel young again" "Look young again" "Keep your skin healthy" All things that create emotion and desire in their audience.

Secondly, I'm sure CP has some idea of what their target market is, but they don't seem to put any effort into actually targeting them. And don't kid yourself thinking that CP has too much to have definable target markets. Every product and service does. Soap targets specific people, McDonalds targets specific people, bookstores, grocery stores, car companies, and yes, even amusement parks. They most certainly have more than one and that doesn't break any rules. But they lump them all together into one marketing messages. One TV ad, one brochure, one...uhhh.. soda can. They did break out of that a little this year with two halloween ads: one scary and one fun.

Advertising isn't a silver bullet, but it is part of the foundation of success. The basis of marketing is the 4Ps: Product and Price (like you said) along with Place (which isn't too successful for them right now, but it can't be helped) and finally PROMOTION. All 4 of these Ps work together to create business for the company. You can have the best Product in the world (see: Playstation 3) but if you screw up one of the other Ps, like Price it wrong ($600?!) your product isn't going to fly. Similarly, Cedar Point has a great Product (I think we can all admit that it is one of the best in the world) and average to good Pricing and Place. The only thing they lack is good Promotion.

Tennessee_CP_Fan said:
No one has mentioned this, but has Cedar Fair ever done any advertising as a whole and included all the parks, or does each park advertise individually. When I was first introduced to CP, I didn't know that it was owned by CF and that CF owned other parks.

I've noticed some print ads at Michigan's Adventure for Cedar Point, but that's about it.

I think electronic advertising for all the parks would be unfocused and cluttered. If I'm here in Michigan, and a fan of Cedar Point, finding out that Knotts is owned by the same company isn't going to make me take a trip just to go there. If I'm taking a trip to California, and I find out that Cedar Points parent company also owns Knotts, I'm not going to then decide to go there. The connection doesn't happen.

However, knowing that Knotts is there (whether they are still owned by CF when I get there or (k)not(t)) I'm going to try and make it to the park. I'm more of a park sniper. When I am making a trip to somewhere, I try and see what parks are in the area that I can go to, regardless of CF affiliation. I don't go on trips just to go to parks (except CP).

I know not everyone is like this, and there are some (Tim) who do make trips just for parks, but I have a feeling that is a pretty small group of people.


**EDIT** - Fixed Useless Article Usage (UAU)
*** Edited 12/12/2007 4:18:25 PM UTC by JuggaLotus***

Ok now i finally read all these posts. I now have the six flags jingle stuck in my head. I don't think i read this in all the posts but i may have missed it. Are we also forgetting all the free advertising they are getting. ACE is one of them. Having ace members knowing the park exists is a pyramid effect. They have the media days for new rides. I don't know if those are free though. CP gets awarded the Golden Ticket awards and that is publicity. I didn't start going to cp every year until 03. I just happened to see the dragster ad in the Pittsburgh area and i wanted to go to ride it. If im lucky i go to Kennywood here once a year for a day, but i stay at cp for a week. I think their marketing scheme is working in some places and not working in others.

^Am I the only one that feels that a very large portion of Cedar Point guests are not familiar with ACE and the Golden Ticket awards. Yes, its free advertising, but to me, it is still very limited exposure.
*** Edited 12/12/2007 4:52:38 PM UTC by Tennessee_CP_Fan***