THORPE PARK'S HISTORY

In 1970, the site was an active gravel pit owned by Ready Mix Concrete and in 1971 work was granted for the construction of a 500 acre Water Park. Thunder River and its surrounding area were developed in 1987, and 1988 saw the opening of the 630 seat Palladium Theatre. In 1989 Canada Creek, incorporating Logger's Leap, was developed. Since 1991 many attractions have been added.

In 1996, X:/No Way Out, the world's first pitch dark, backward roller coaster was introduced and for two years running, in 1996 and 1997, Thorpe Park was voted the most Parent-Friendly leisure in the UK. Pearsons, who owned The Tussauds Group, bought Thorpe Park in 1998. On 19th October 1998 it was announced that Pearson had sold the Tussauds Group to Charterhouse Development Capital for £352m.

Europe's first 4D Cinema experience, Pirates 4D was opened in 1999 and in 2000, Europe's highest water ride, Tidal Wave was added to the excitement of Thorpe Park.

The Tussaud's Group Vision and Mission

Vision: "Entertaining People".

Mission: To deliver real growth in profits to take Europe's leading entertainment world-wide".

Other attractions in The Tussauds Group

* Madame Tussauds London

* London Planetarium

* Rock Circus, London

* Warwick Castle, Warwick

* Chessington World of Adventures, Surrey

* Alton Towers, Staffordshire

* The Tussauds Studio, London

And in association with British Airways - The London Eye

And Internationally

* Madame Tussauds Scenerama (Amsterdam)

* Madame Tussauds (Hong Kong)

* Madame Tussauds (Las Vegas)

* Madame Tussauds (New York)

MARKETING FACT SHEET: Thorpe Park

The Marketing Department are a small team who work across both Thorpe Park and Chessington World of Adventures. It is the overall responsibility of the Marketing dept to ensure that the brand identities of the two Parks are maintained in all communication both on and off the Parks.

They do this through first identifying the brand identity, target market, and visual representation of the brand, ie the logo. For Thorpe Park the target market is families with children over 12.

Each year the marketing department will put a marketing plan together which covers the following areas:

Product. Although almost with out exception a new attraction is launched each year, and the main launch communication will focus on that, general communication about the rest of the Park is required. Theme Parks provide a whole day out for the family and its not just bout the rides. The other attractions, places to eat, games, photography, the atmosphere all play an important part in delivering a great day out.

Pricing. There is a complex pricing structure for the Park which looks to maximise the revenue the Park can achieve with it's targeted number of visitors. Marketing will review the pricing each year and along with the finance department look at how the budgeted targets can be achieved through the pricing matrix. Advanced sales are important to the business so tickets booked in advance are discounted, also those booked via the Internet are further discounted as this is a more efficient way for us to produce the tickets. Advanced tickets reduce the queues at admissions as visitors already have their tickets and can go straight in to the Park.

Promotion. Promotion of the Park happens via a number of different communication channels.

Advertising. This is generally broken down into two areas; the creative production of the advert and then the choice of where to place that advert, TV, Radio, Press etc. For the year 2002 communication for Thorpe Park is the launch of the World's First 10 Looping Coaster, Colossus, targeting a young teen market. New adverts will be created for both TV and radio use.

Promotions. Promotions are very import in incentivising visitors to come to the Park. The incentive is generally either a Buy One get One Free mechanic or a discount of the full adult or child price. Thorpe Park runs promotions on it's own or in conjunction with the Tussauds Group, ie Tesco. Promotions are often run with a wide variety of retail and media partners, newspaper, or solus via a direct mail campaign to surrounding homes.

Public Relations. This area is all about getting positive exposure in the media, TV, Radio and Press. This is generally achieved through issuing Press Releases and conducting interviews with journalists.

Measuring the Success.

Throughout the year, how the Park is doing against its financial targets is constantly reviewed, but in addition Marketing conducts ongoing research in to how the Park is performing on a daily basis. Questionnaires are handed out to visitors as they leave asking them to rank the rides experiences, eating places, how friendly and helpful the staff were, etc. This provides information on where things may be going wrong and how to put them right.

New Media is a crucial area for involvement now and in the future. In addition to maintaining it's own site: www.thorpepark.com, the Marketing department looks to exploit other opportunities for advertising, promotions and PR on other sites.

Use of agencies. Thorpe Park uses a wide variety of agencies as they bring different areas of expertise and experience to the Park. We use and advertising agency to create the TV, Radio ads etc and also for all the design work for the Gate Map. The space for the TV, Radio slots etc is purchased by a media buying agency. We also use a Sales Promotion agency, PR agency and Internet design agencies. Some of these are different agencies to those used for Chessington World of Adventures.

Corporate Hospitality makes it possible for businesses to entertain their guests at Thorpe Park. Thousands of corporate guests can be catered for at any one time, or even hire the whole Park for an evening.

Education. An establishment like Thorpe Park offers the opportunity for students studying the leisure industry, business or animals to visit the Park and find out more about their subject. For this reason, it is possible for groups to incorporate an educational talk into their visit.

Most often asked marketing questions

Q Is the price of a new attraction affected by the viability of the ride?

A Careful research is undertaken before a new attraction is bought. The attraction may be put in place to address a gap in guest numbers for a particular age range. The new attraction will encourage that element to visit the Park and therefore increase guest satisfaction.
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Q Are ticket prices changed when a new ride is introduced?

A Ticket prices are reviewed annually. Any adjustments will consider the new attractions in the Park and other attractions in The Tussauds Group and competition in the market place.

Q How often do you introduce a new ride?

A It is our intention to introduce a new and exciting attraction every year. The nature of this attraction is dependent on a number of contributing factors based upon research results.

Q What is the time from conception to the completion of an project?

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