by Graham Speak, Speak Consulting
Getting the balance right between having ‘something for everyone’ and providing a laser-focused offer for a specific audience is a strategic decision that businesses across industries grapple with daily.
In the attractions sector, there’s been a recent flurry of organisations making moves to narrow their previously broad targeting. Universal has announced its Kids Resort, coming to Frisco, Texas, and Drayton Manor in the UK has recently moved away from big thrills to cater squarely to the family audience.
Thorpe Park: “The UK’s most thrilling theme park”
One attraction that has been focused on a clearly defined ‘thrill-seeker’ audience for many years is Thorpe Park in the UK, and it’s a massive year for the theme park. Alongside celebrating its 45th birthday, the UK’s tallest, fastest and most weightless rollercoaster, Hyperia, also opened in May – now heralded by many enthusiasts and casual fans alike as the country’s finest.
But this park hasn’t always been associated with the biggest and wildest stomach churners. It’s evolved from a leisure and water sports-based park to a history-based attraction and then a family-focused amusement park.
In the 2000’s, that approach changed with significant investment into the wettest, loopiest, and fastest attractions in the UK market, aimed at appealing to teenagers and young adults. Meanwhile, nearby Chessington and Legoland, also Merlin-owned, focused more on younger and family audiences. Over time, this strategy has allowed each park to develop its proposition and focus squarely on each audience’s needs and wants.
We speak to Thorpe Park’s commercial director, Russ Gaines, and marketing director, Ruth Storey, about the lengths the team at Thorpe goes to understand their core audience, how they develop products that keep guests coming back, how being customer-centric drives commercial decision-making, and how partnerships and secondary spend opportunities are developed with an audience focus front and centre.
Focusing on defining and understanding the target audience
“Thorpe Park can’t and doesn’t try to be everything to everyone, as the danger would be that we become nothing to anyone”, Storey says when asked about the attraction’s positioning as a ‘thrill seeker’ destination.
“There’s so much competition for consumers’ time and spend – from other days out to staying in and watching Netflix, we have to work hard to stay relevant – and to do that, we need to understand and deliver for our audience”.
Storey details the vastness of insights considered by the Thorpe Park team:
“We go into detail around the whole brand funnel, from awareness through to repeat visit insights, as well as capturing brand metrics and barriers to visit, all split out by consumer demographics. We have path to purchase data, looking at the decision process and touchpoints, and daily guest surveys captured on the park. Also, we pay a lot of attention to the comments on social media and inbound contact with our customer service teams”.
Having lived and breathed theme parks throughout most of his career, Gaines adds: “We have a fantastic team on park too, who engage with and understand our guests every day. As just one example, our head of retail, Josh, regularly supports product development teams, combining his commercial knowledge and creative flair with feedback direct from our guests.”
Thrill-seekers are not all made the same
While thrill seekers may be a segment of the total market, they come in many shapes and sizes, with different demands, behaviours, and preferences. Focusing on the thrill seeker sector allows Thorpe Park to segment that group further to tailor its offer and the experiences it provides.
Acknowledging traditional demographics may not be the most appropriate way to differentiate between audiences, Storey says:
“We have been working on a new consumer segmentation, focussed on consumer mindset. People come to a theme park for many different reasons. Some people just want the rides. Some people want a connection with friends and family. For some, it’s a huge challenge to conquer their fears; for others, they want to see their kids take on their next big coaster.
“We focus on bringing the emotion into the theme park experience, not just focusing on the ‘metal’ – understanding motivations and mindsets helps us create better experiences, connections and memories”.
Bringing the concept to life, Gaines says:
“We welcome some first-time thrill seekers who have a certain date circled on their calendar a year in advance – eagerly awaiting the day they have planned to visit us at Thorpe; then we have some thrill seekers who have already ridden Hyperia 400 times this year. We have to understand what each visit means to each of them to offer the best products and experiences.”
“For example, our VIP track walks and behind-the-scenes tours are popular with theme park enthusiasts and annual pass holders, who visit more regularly and often look for a different experience with us. More casual fans and visitors typically focus on our core rides and attractions. We want to ensure we have an offer to delight both sets of thrill seekers.”
Feedback told Thorpe Park it needed a special coaster – and Hyperia was born
Of course, new attractions drive significant commercial impacts across the board for Thorpe Park. So, getting those investments right is critical.
When it comes to new rides and attractions, Storey says: “It’s important to balance the views of the thrill-seeking public alongside those of our very supportive and vocal enthusiast community, who together make up the main target audience for the park. But one message was heard loud and clear – the need for a new roller coaster” [having been 12 years since The Swarm launched].
“Our brief was to build the UK’s tallest, but we ended up with the UK’s tallest, fastest and most weightless coaster with Europe’s highest inversion and a world’s first element. We commissioned testing for the proposition, the name, the theming, and whether there should be an IP. Also, we had multiple rounds [of research] across both quantitative and qualitative studies. We tested the TV ad and marketing assets.
“Consumer insight and testing has been integrated at every stage of this coaster, and I honestly believe that’s why it’s been so well received.”
Hyperia also played an important role in enhancing the ride lineup at Thorpe Park for a key audience – families with thrill-seeking children.
Storey says: “We historically have targeted ages 12+ based on the height restrictions across the majority of our rides, but we are happy to welcome younger guests if they are tall (and brave) enough. We intentionally wanted Hyperia to be as accessible as possible and were therefore delighted that we were able to offer it as a 1.3-metre [minimum height restriction].”
Getting the commercial strategy right at Thorpe Park
Gaines adds: “Getting new attraction investments right is important, as they are a key reason for visits, but we also look at how we leverage the attraction to create other opportunities for guests. With Hyperia, our commercial strategy was super-planned and integrated throughout the broader planning cycle rather than bolted on at the end. We started way back in 2019 and have evolved our offer as the project has developed.
“For example, we worked upfront to understand what our different guests would want from a retail offer – to extend their enjoyment, take away a memory, and share their experience. We did our first ever merchandise ‘teaser’ on social media prior to Hyperia opening because we knew this was part of the overall experience and build-up for some of our audience segments.”
“It was important for us to think about product ranges and how the retail outlet was integrated into the experience. So, we planned a joined up, integrated store (rather than a temporary unit), and a considered range to appeal to different guest needs.”
“Some of our planning is more pragmatic, too – adjusting to opportunities and feedback. In addition, we don’t always get our propositions right, so we need to be open to adapting our plans. For example, we wanted to balance guest demand with the operational considerations for fast track from day one for Hyperia. But in doing so, we created quite a complex offer that didn’t resonate with our visitors. So, based on feedback, we reviewed that and made things simpler.
“Putting our depth of audience understanding at the heart generally means we get more things right than wrong!”
Guests want retail to be part of the experience
“I had my own experience recently visiting some parks in Europe for the first time”, Gaines says. “On this particular trip, I didn’t want specific ride merchandise but rather something to remind me of my overall visits to Europa-Park and Heide Park. It made me question different motivations for guest purchases back at Thorpe – and how we can consider guest mindset more as part of our merchandise planning.
“By segmenting our thrill seeker audience, we know some ‘enthusiasts’ want limited run, exclusive product ranges – like the opening day, dated fleeces we had for Hyperia; whereas some guests want to remember the once-a-year visit they had with their mates.
“We also try to think about the barriers to purchase. Some of our guests love our fully branded ride clothing; some want more subtle designs that let them take home a souvenir they can use in off-park settings, too. So, we try to develop sub-ranges that appeal to different usage occasions. Based on our experience and insights, we know much better now how much range and volume we need for the various audience segments.
“However, I must admit we are still pleasantly surprised by how popular the Hyperia merchandise has been!”
Events drive more reasons to visit and return for target audiences
Events are becoming a bigger part of the Thorpe Park calendar, helping to drive the frequency of visits and spending.
Storey says: “Over recent years, we have added Mardi Gras to the seasonal event lineup, which was born from consumer research for what people wanted to see at Thorpe. There is slightly more focus on the family thrill seeker audience with the entertainment and it adds such a feel-good vibe to the park. Oktoberfest is returning for its 5th year and focuses more on groups of friends who can enjoy a cool Stein of traditional beer and some great Bavarian beats.”
Now in its 22nd year, the award-winning Fright Nights is the jewel in Thorpe Park’s event crown. With competition in the Halloween market increasing, the team at Thorpe Park is focused on listening to customers and continuing to differentiate and evolve.
“We ask people for feedback every year about their reasons to visit Thorpe Park for Fright Nights. The number one reason is consistently to experience the rides in the dark, closely followed by the scare mazes and scare zones. This year, you will, of course, be able to experience Hyperia in the dark, which will give guests a whole new level of thrill.
“We also don’t want to alienate guests who want to experience the rides in the dark but do not want the scares from the live actors. Therefore, we’ve launched the ‘no scare’ lanyard, which can be worn visibly to prevent them from being approached by the scare actors. In addition, we had feedback about some of the mazes being less intense in daylight hours, so now all mazes are indoors.”
Fright Nights at Thorpe Park
Gaines says: “Fright Nights can be busier than summer, and so it’s a great opportunity to think about how our commercial proposition changes to adapt to what our different audience segments need to get the best out of the event.
“Often guests spend longer with us, which means they may enjoy two meals during their visit instead of one. We want to make sure our food choices enhance the event – be that roulette donuts or scary burger buns. The nights can get cold, so we also think about how our products can solve problems for visitors…like nice warm gloves.”
“We also know we have different audiences visiting us during events. Some may never have been to a Fright Nights before – and so may want to combine enjoying our standard ride offer with one of our scare mazes, but other guests visit multiple times each year – meaning we work hard to have a cross-park Halloween offer and mix things up with new houses and offerings each year.
“This year, we’ll be holding behind-the-scenes events for those guest segments who want to go deeper into how we create Fright Nights, for example.”
IP partnerships play a role in helping stay relevant with audiences
Thorpe Park has seen a diverse array of IP leveraged over the years, including the Saw franchise, Walking Dead, Angry Birds, Derren Brown, I’m A Celebrity (Get Me Out of Here) and Black Mirror. Understanding and focusing on specific objectives and audience segments is critical to forge partnerships with the right brands.
Storey says: “IPs have numerous benefits, such as the ability to help us reach a new audience, enhance theming and storytelling, and drive secondary spend in areas like merchandise. That said, getting the right IP and thinking about the longevity with your audience is important.
“Saw: The Ride is a perfect example of a very successful IP. The film franchise has incredible longevity and enhances the thrill level of the ride. But even if you don’t know the film, you can still enjoy a thrilling roller coaster.”
Retheming at Thorpe Park
Thorpe Park has also leveraged IP partnerships to update existing attractions:
“We can’t always invest in new rides and so IPs can be used to successfully re-theme existing rides, making them more relevant for our audiences, such as the re-theming of X:\ No Way Out into The Walking Dead: The Ride which gave a relatively tame in-door coaster a whole new level of thrill with the re-theming, live actors and special effects.”
Gaines says: “Guests come to us because of some of the great IP-based attractions we have, but often also want to take away merchandise related to that IP. Thorpe Park is the only place you can get some Walking Dead and Saw products, and we are continually looking at how we can create new ranges for fans of these IPs.
“Every year, we review the Saw: The Ride ranges, for example, to keep things fresh – and as a result, apart from Hyperia, Saw merchandise is our top-selling coaster range on the park.”
Well-known and loved brands are also important for guests
“It isn’t just traditional IP partnerships that are important for our guests, though. For example, we know many segments of our thrill-seeking audiences want a food offer that they recognise from the high street. That’s why we have long-standing partnerships with KFC and Burger King. But we don’t just copy the high street format – we do it in a Thorpe Park way – so KFC is built into our Amity area and has a huge shark jutting out of it.
“In this way, we combine our understanding of audience desires but put a unique Thorpe spin on it,” Gaines says.
“When it comes to our commercial partners, we also look to avoid badge slapping, as we don’t think that maximises value for guests, brands or ourselves. This year, Fanta is our headline sponsor for Fright Nights – a brand that our guests think is fun – and has become associated with Halloween over the past few years.
“We’ve worked with the team at Fanta to make the partnership more integrated. So, we’ll be adding to the offering this year with a Fanta Funhouse as part of the event lineup!”
Operators shouldn’t ignore local brands and businesses for partnership opportunities either. Gaines gives an example of a collaboration with nearby Nirvana Spa:
“We’ve partnered to create a calming, mindfulness space at the resort – for those guests that just need to take a break from the hectic thrills we offer. It’s a quiet area, kitted with heated beds away from the screams. As relaxation experts, it makes perfect sense for us to work with Nirvana Spa – and helps them access our audiences too.”
“If you have the money to build a coaster, build a coaster”
“We’ve been on a journey at Thorpe Park,” Gaines says, “and the future is really exciting. We’ve been living and breathing our new values internally for a few years now, and we have a really great team – refreshed and energised by what we are doing together.
“Alongside the team, we have the most amazing guests who let us know when we’re getting it right – but as importantly, when we aren’t. And it’s these factors together that mean we’re going to be able to do even more special things in the years to come.”
Storey adds that consumer insight and testing will continue to be at the heart of decision-making and that the park will leverage the power of Merlin “to deliver the best experiences we can.”
When asked what guests are saying they want to see at Thorpe Park, Storey points towards feedback from some of their biggest fans:
“Our enthusiasts are never shy of telling us they want to see a coaster at Thorpe Park built by RMC (Rocky Mountain Construction). They build hybrid steel & wooden coasters and are much bigger in the US than the UK, but the enthusiast community are determined to change that!”
Pushed for a teaser about the future at Thorpe Park, Storey provided a one-sentence reply, “If you get the money to build a coaster, build a coaster”…music to the ears of all of Thorpe Park’s thrill seeker audiences I’m sure.
The post Why focusing on thrill-seekers makes commercial sense for Thorpe Park appeared first on Blooloop.