Nothing will be the same. Nothing. Nada.
I believe our current times, July 2020, are the scariest for the attraction and themed entertainment industry ever faced globally.
Personally, I describe the entertainment and attractions industry as “ticketed experiences” -- a phraseology I started using 15 years ago.
The promise: buy a ticket in exchange for an experience that will reward you with (potentially a lifetime of) memories of happiness and joy.
What a pleasure (joy) to market and communicate this proposition during my professional lifetime to millions of visitors from all over the world at attractions all over the world!
However, prior to COVID-19, the marketing proposition for the attractions and themed entertainment industry was attempting to evolve as the industry was in real-time adapting to a significantly more demanding customer -- a proposition many destinations were trying to fulfill in different ways.
Prior to COVID-19:
· Shift in consumer behavior: Millennials and Gen Z are not interested in traditional brands/experiences and rather look for immersive, interactive “ticketed experiences”. As an example, how many times did I hear (the experience) “needs to be instagrammable!” The outcome of this demand by Millenials and Gen Z affected venues from a guest design journey perspective, as well, from a marketing and promotional angle. The rise of the Net Promoter Score (NPE) is the KPI obsession after sales KPI.
· A new paradigm offer: The value and search for experiences and concepts . Sadly, I recall some examples in New York City that failed including Gulliver’s Gate and The NFL Experience. Meanwhile, some other experiences such as THE VOID or pop-ups like MaisonRose entered the market gracefully. My observation is each of the failures had something in common – each brand misunderstood or underestimated one or more of the basic 4Ps: price, place, promotion and product. We can never dismiss these fundamentals.
· The erosion of well-established brands: Some well-established brands lost momentum by myopic expansion and leadership. The proposition for experiences like Ripley’s or Madame Tussauds struggling to keep up with the new generational interests.
· Innovation does not always equal technology, or does? Most of the city ticketed experiences and some major theme parks were (really late) embracing technology, either on experiential offer or through sales flexible platforms and ticketing systems. This chapter requires a post by itself in the future; however, Disney is ahead of the game, as always.
· Your competitor might not be who you believed: Many brands look at other experiential brands as their competition and threat, however, never questioned the threat on yield erosion by the distribution’s re-sellers and OTAs. As much it sounds disruptive, the price control and yield of your venue can’t be controlled by your distribution agents. There are many experiential brands that relied too much on companies like Groupon, TripAdvisor and Expedia killing and losing price control.
As we currently live in a world on standby, I don’t think any of us who worked in this field can pretend going back to similar marketing ticketed experiences prior COVID-19. It is gone. No más. Ciao.
I feel concern for all mass volume attractions, theme parks, concert venues and so on that will need a new filter of safety to bring back confidence to future guests and booking conversion.
What will it take to adjust to a new reality?
What will be the protocols and the right communication for concerned parents and individuals all over the world?
What do I know for sure? I know all destinations and brands will attribute their poor financial and reported 2020 results on COVID-19. This is undeniable! Yet, many if some brands had blatantly wrong forecasts prior COVID-19 with incorrect modeling, assumptions and expectations. We can call it “Garbage in, garbage out.”
While everybody is ready to re-open their venues and gradually welcome guests. I hope the marketing teams are doing a better job. As a marketeer with many years of experience I argue research is number one foundation for any future action.
Few brands have successfully collected consumer data for many years, yet most of the brands lack AI to trigger any proper marketing plan. Data collection is easy. Data management and AI requires technology investment and proper trained staff. My point is how important will be for the next months of recovery a data-based marketing.
Recovery looks in two phases for ticketed experiences:
- Prior to a vaccine, which is potentially 12 months away from implementation.
- Post vaccine.
Let’s attempt to examine issues facing the ticketed experiences industry may face in a post COVID-19 environment assuming no vaccine exists:
· New check in procedures: Theme parks are potentially thinking health check in procedures such as checking temperature on guests or following the new IAAPA guidelines.
· Reduced capacity:
Will airlines need to not sell and block seats?
Will casinos need to limit gate turns/occupancy?
Will theme parks need to limit occupancy at the gate as well as on rides/attractions?
Will movie theaters need to limit ticket sales as well as seating proximity?
Will restaurants need to limit occupancy/table proximity?
Will retailers need to stop allowing fitting rooms / trying on of apparel and shoes?
How will a hands-on, let me try the product company like Apple disinfect devices?
How will observation decks get their guests from ground level to sky-deck level safely and without impeding a safe distance bubble?
Are we doomed to a world of surgical masks and gloves?
Must every point of sale have a respiration plexiglass barrier installed?
Must a credit card machine be disinfected or wiped down after every transaction?
The new reality will be a remarkable impact in many brands. The well-established ones will get finance relief and can adapt better, however, the new brands will struggle to get the message out there. Building brand equity while competing on this scenario is not ideal. My favorite attractions, observation decks, will have the most challenging part as there is not much to keep social distancing. The impact on capacity will be un-deniable during a pre-vaccine period. The international visitors arriving to any country will decline as confidence to travel and air capacity is capped which was the most reliable source of clientele for many city attractions and theme parks. We need to think on the following:
· Virtual queues: Again, we need to look to more technology implementation. Are the theme parks ready? Most likely. Are the city attractions ready? Most likely not.
· Points of sale will continue its disappearance, accelerated now for the need of touchless POS and contactless transactions. This will be challenging for USA behind this technology; however, I am sure USA will catch up fast and furious.
· Rewarding loyalty. A brand of an example is Delta Airlines, who earlier on our pandemic days embraced clear leadership on future travelers’ concerns, again, data management and good AI behind the data. Sadly, I can’t name any entertainment or attraction brand with such leadership other than Disney and Universal. All the rest are quite behind on individual retargeting as most of the visitors might be a one-time visitor – think Sears tower or Eiffel Tower.
· Year one, demographics will be all about your audience within driving distance.
· Reward your employees: As soon as the re-hiring is possible. Bring back your talent home and show how important is to support your staff. Did you train your staff while they were working from home?
· Retail: Ensure that items are clean and the staff visible to help customers or shift the sales online using kiosks. Partnerships with Amazon on site can be clearly options to consider for purchase.
The summary on a re-opening obsession path for any business into the entertainment and attraction world:
1. Operations: health and safety combined with technology.
2. Obsessed on consumer research at the right time and understanding the key drivers in two scenarios: prior to vaccine and post vaccine.
3. Lastly, Marketing and communications shall follow with valuable content. It is not time to send the fashion shows. Let’s keep the message focused:
· Tell me is safe.
· Tell me you made all possible to avoid me touching anything.
· Inspirational content and price shall follow later.
· Don’t obsess on Instagram and social media. Get the basics right and the right content.
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