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Ryan

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Oh here we go...

A theme park has joined forces with airline giant Virgin Atlantic to create a treatment plan for people with a fear of rollercoasters.

Thorpe Park in Surrey said the move followed a spate of panic attacks and an increase in the numbers seen sweating and hyperventilating after going on the new Swarm ride.

A special half-day course will be offered to help people overcome a fear of rollercoasters, ending with a ride on the Swarm.

http://news.uk.msn.com/odd-news/afraid-well-take-you-for-a-ride

With a photo of G-Force at Drayton Manor....

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In terms of marketing strategy, I think Thorpe have got it bang on. Thye get people, in some cases, the world over (Storm Surge haunting making Australian news), talking about a relatively (on a global scale) small theme park in the UK. What's more, it's a free marketing strategy. It works excellently, even if the ideas are stupid. It gets people talking and that is never a bad thing.

But with what success? Unltimately, marketing always forms part of a business strategy, which in Thorpe Park's case is of course to get more people through their doors. To boost the publics awareness of the park will not neccesarily achieve this alone, the park need to draw people in. So, lets look beyond the PR stunts. For anyone who has been to WHSmiths or Burger King, to name just a few, you will have seen the 2 for 1 vouchers given out to every customer. Now, combine this with the mainstream marketing used, and it soon becomes clear how wide reaching the presence of Merlin's entertainment is outside of their attractions.

Essentially, the group manage to maintain a excellent presence in the public eye, through a number of different channels. Combine this with offers, and the customer becomes almost brainwashed into visiting the park.

But, then you have to consider the limitations of such a strategy. For example, this won't bring in the enthusiast types like you and I, as the majority of us are annual pass holders, we tend to represent the bread and butter customers. So how do they keep us? Through similar srategy of course! To an extent, this can be through memories of a past day out. For example, why do you think the marketing department press so hard for annual pass renewals early in the season? It comes as no coincidence this is whislt the parks are closed. People remember a good day out, along with the marketing for the future additions to the park, and suddenly, spending £150 that goes directly to the park (probably the single biggest spend they'll get from any one customer all year) becomes very attractive. They also try to avoid people visiting the park, the pass expiring, and them realising it's maybe not worth splashing out £150.

Of course, there is a huge variety of customer, but the two approaches here essentially outline two of the tactics.

In terms of personal opinion, I dislike, with a passion, the marketing techniques used by Merlin. IT's almost entirely over-the-top, over hyping rides, that would benefit much more from a solid theme. For example, Alton use much the same techniques to Thorpe, when Th13teen, for example, would have benefitted much more from a Hex style marketing campaign, than a SCARIEST RIDE IN THE WORLD OMG strategy, with no real story. The group, generally, in my opinion, lack imagination (notice any similarities in storyline and concept between Nemesis, Raptor, Swarm and Nemesis: Sub Terra, per chance?), and they need to really look to new strategies and ideas.

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Unfair to say that there are similarities between Nemesis and Sub Terra because well, they've used an extension of an existing backstory and moved to enlarge it...

And tbh, I much prefer Merlin's stories to places like Six Flags and Cedar Fair... At least we get attempts at stories here...

Agree with the hype machine for Thirteen though, and the PR stunts which have been completely stupid... (BO, limb loss, etc)...

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^ True, an effort is better than nothing, but there is only so many times you can do the same thing, just, based around a different creature. Sub Terra is fair, I'll reserve judgement until I ride it, but, it is nice to see them using the original story.

As for The Swarm's limb business, personally I'd say it is the cleverest so far. The others (haunted Storm surge, for example) have no relevence, however, this does; one of the key elements of the Swarm is the near misses, and by putting it in the news, it really highlights this to the public and makes them more aware of the near misses, subconsciously almost making everything that bit closer. Shame it didn't achieve the hype it could have. Then there was the morphsuits 'swarming' the London Underground. Almost seems to have gone forgetton how irrelevent and utterly shambolic that was.

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