New Marketing Strategies

I just received a recent FunTimes email and CP is pulling out all the stops. They have a deal for $52 to receive admission to Cedar Point and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. This is a pretty good deal, as the regular admission to the Rock Hall is $22.

So the question of the day is:

Is this new marketing campaign Cedar Point's way of saying "attendance is down, so we're trying anything we can" or just an example of some refreshing new marketing ideas from the park?

Or trying to market to all those on "staycations" in Cleveland. Not to mention, that Im sure R&RHOF is eating some of the cost of the discount so its giving people more value without hurting the bottom line as much.

New marketing strategy? You mean this thing they're doing that they've done in Orlando for decades?

Jeff, Ive been to Orlando and let me tell you, Cleveland is no Orlando ;).

Not new, but defiantly new for Cleveland, not exactly a huge tourist mecca and a new spin at least because I don't remember ever seeing a museum/theme park combo ticket before.

Yes, I realize that it's not new anywhere else - but that's why I wonder if attendance is really down. Cedar Point has a reputation for not changing how they do anything unless it's absolutely necessary.

So if attendance is average or better, you just stop trying new things to make it better? You're trying to make a connection where none exists.

You yourself have said that the Cedar Point resorts are awful, yet they choose to do nothing to remodel or make them better (until Sandcastle this year, that is) because they consistently fill up no matter what. If the hotels suddenly stopped being full, they'd likely make some sort of change.

This is not any different. In the past, Cedar Point has not tried innovative new marketing strategies such as this because what they had been using was working to their satisfaction. All I'm suggesting is maybe their old marketing strategies are not working (read: attendance is sagging), so they're trying something new.

My favorite "marketing strategy" (read: desperation) is the one on WWK's site for the cabana rentals.

Don't Forget: Season Pass holders are entitled to a 50% discount onCabana rentals Monday through Friday. (It would actually be lessexpensive to buy a season pass and rent a Cabana during the week thanit would be to buy single day tickets and rent a Cabana.)

When you have to spell it out then it just reeks of desperation.

And here I thought that offering swimming lessons was clutching at straws . . .

Haha... I do love that blurb on the WWK site...

In response to Jeff Young's last post, I do find it interesting that they are now offering Platinum Passholders 10% off resort stays... Wonder if there is a reason for that?

^ its not like pass holders have to stay at the resorts for early entry.

Dick said resort bookings are down, which is not surprising in this economy, so they're discounting them. That's what you do when demand decreases.

Jeff Young said:
You yourself have said that the Cedar Point resorts are awful, yet they choose to do nothing to remodel or make them better (until Sandcastle this year, that is) because they consistently fill up no matter what. If the hotels suddenly stopped being full, they'd likely make some sort of change.

Yeah, and there are a finite number of rooms. There is no cap on attendance, so how is that even the same?

Don't Forget: Season Pass holders are entitled to a 50% discount onCabana rentals Monday through Friday. (It would actually be lessexpensive to buy a season pass and rent a Cabana during the week thanit would be to buy single day tickets and rent a Cabana.)

When I first read that, I thought that you had added the text in parentheses to inform all of us, but then I had a good laugh when I discovered that was actually on the official site. Thanks, that made my day. :)

-TedFuzz

No matter what, Cedar Point will always be doing marketing and attempting new marketing techniques. I don't think we can automatically assume that any marketing campaign is in direct response to lower attendance.

Ensign Smith said:And here I thought that offering swimming lessons was clutching at straws . . .

Actually. you would be surprised how popular the lessons were last summer.

I can't believe they haven't moved yet toward selling more single day packages. Like a package that includes two adult and two junior tickets, parking, two adult and two children's meals and refillable soda mugs for a certian amount. I think offering even a small discount on parking, food and drinks would do a lot to help families compensate for gas prices and drive up attendance.

Well, if you "give away" away the gate, parking, food and drink, where do they make their money? I realize you're not suggesting they literally give it away, but do you see my point? While they want to drive up attendance, they want to make money of those who do attend. I'm not so sure such a package deal would make much sense in that regard.

Package deals make plenty of sense. Especially if it means getting a person into the park who wasn't going to be there originally. And if you package it with food and drink, you might get incremental revenue from someone who would have brought their own food and drink.

The art of the package deal is to make it seem attractive, but in practice most people don't take full advantage of it. I have it on good authority that the Disney dining plan tends to work that way. And I've done the math on Universal's meal deal, and I know for a fact that would never pan out for me (of course, they don't include drinks either). In both cases, people readily plop down cash for them.

I'm not so sure that the deal with the Rock Hall is new, because I know I have heard of this before, way back when I used to live in Mansfield and went to Cleveland often. I think they're just pushing it more aggressively now, and maybe Cedar Point is actually pushing the deal instead of just the Rock Hall.