Amusement parks: Just the Ticket

Friday, September 05, 2008 Amusement parks: Just the Ticket The best marketing is generous marketing. It works on multiple levels, reinforcing relationships in a way that benefits the whole amusement park indsutry . It sells the uplift while positioning the product, and leaps over obstacles, objections and even rivalries. And, it’s easy to understand. Amusement Today’s annual Golden Ticket Awards is a fine example.

Reinforcing ties. According to Amusement Today, (see The Golden Ticket Awards Honour the "Best of the Best" in Amusement Industry ) the awards are decided by polling an international selection of amusement park enthusiasts. This reminds us that the ultimate goal of amusement and theme parks is to please their end users, and strengthens the bond between the industry and the layperson. Spreading the word. A park that has been crowned with an award is naturally going to crow about it, and the yearly Golden Ticket announcement is always followed by a flurry of news releases and announcements from the winning amusement parks. Some of the goodwill flows back to the giver of the awards, as Amusement Today is mentioned in each of those announcements, bolstering its place in the entertainment landscape and positioning editor Gary Slade as an expert in the field. Amusement Today promotes the parks with the Golden Tickets, and in turn the winners promote Amusement Today. That’s marketing synergy. Overcoming obstacles. There’s a natural competition between media outlets that serve the same industry. They aren’t instantly inclined to promote one another. But the Golden Tickets overrides that: You can’t not cover it, because that would mean not covering the winners. Thus, the Golden Ticket Awards enable Amusement Today to secure a mention from each of its competitors – multiple mentions, in fact, if you run several of the news announcements that the awards generate (and how can you not?) Simplicity. The Golden Ticket categories are uncomplicated and positive. They go straight for the top spot. Winners are unambiguously “best,” “friendliest” or “cleanest.” We can all hitch our wagons to that – it’s all about the quality of the guest experience. Kudos to Amusement Today for growing our industry, reinforcing ties and making us set aside our professional rivalries with an instructive and inspiring example of breakthrough marketing. (Memo to self: Talk to Charlie Read about creating the Blooloop Awards.) See also: And the Golden Ticket Goes To ... Cedar Fair!
Posted By Judith Rubin -- At 3:53 PM \| Comments (0) \| Trackbacks (0)
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Categories Tags amusement today, awards, gary slade, golden tickets, marketing
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