Universal and IOA attendance is still behind Animal Kingdoms...

[robvia]

USF/IOA has been advertising heavily on TV lately. I saw the commercials on my trip to Virgina, and they're also on down here in South Florida. It's the same format as before, showing a person's face thinking something, then they're on a ride. The latest one ends with Shrek on stage, and the Donkey in the first row.

Disney is advertising their play 4 for Florida residents, which ends September 30th, but only on the radio.

I think that USF/IOA commercials need to show more of the rides. Just have someone come out and say, "Here are the rides at IOA." and then show them. And then do the same for USF in another commercial. I'm sure the heavy advertising will help attendance even more this summer.

 

[Robinrs]

I agree, robvia, advertising works (it's my job, after all) but you have to remember who you're marketing to.

The USF commercials are targeted to the onsite staying, Emeril's eating, money making 25-54 year olds with kids. They are the ones who make the decisions that equal revenue. Rides are not the top priority to this market so showing the rides, like the Six Flags ads do, would not make that much of a difference.

What I think they should emphasize is the Universal Express perk. FOTL is something Disney does NOT offer it's guests and I think is the perk of a lifetime. Not enough people know about it, though. I personally know lots of people who told me that they would never go back to Orlando because of the lines. Drop that problem and the floodgates open!

 

[the Dark Marauder]

A few of us had a discussion yesterday about avdertising and said that one of Disney's downfalls is its arrogance. They think because they're such an icon, they dont need to advertise that much. Universal (and Sea World), on the other hand, goes and advertise thoroughly, and it's helping.

 

[BarryHom]

I think Disney is in the position IBM was a few decades ago. They considered themselves as the big boys and didn't do much to keep up with the competition. Then the sharks came and took over IBM's marketplace, from which they haven't recovered. Especially in Orlando, the other theme parks are sharks swimming around Disney, waiting for the mouse to go under the waves.

 

[DocBosch]

I think the BEST peice of advertisment that Universal ever did was sponsoring the complimentry Florida state maps at the welcome centers near the state lines. If you haven't had a chance to see these, they are really something.

Image a Universal park guide, as if the entire state of Florida were part of the Universal Orlando Resort. The front cover says "Florida's Map!" in a theme park font right above a very happy family standing in front of the Lighthouse, the Gates and the Globe. When you open it, the first verticle flap has consecutive pictures of Spider-Man, MIB, Citywalk, and all three resorts under the title of "Two Amazing Theme Parks, Non-Stop Nightlife, World Class On-Site Hotels" with the Universal logo at the bottom. Open up that flap horizontially, and there's a map of the entire Universal Orlando resort, with all the gritty details, right above the close up area map of Orlando. Then, to top it all off, in the full Florida map, the little highlighted area that represents Universal Orlando gives off the impression that the resort is just as big as Disney's.

This is a perfect ploy on the part of Universal, as it targets the right demographic in the right way. It can be asumed that the family driving into Florida to vacation has the idea of Disney in their minds, and most likley has no idea about the "other stuff". Such a family picking up this promotional tool will think "Wow, geez, this place is just as big and impressive as Disney!" At this point, you can figure that the family driving into Florida hasn't pre-purchased tickets or made hotel reservations (figuing that they probabaly would have flown if they had that level of preperation). That, compounded with a bored kid in the bac seat who has nothing else to entertain himself with but the map, can mean that the family may advert some of their attention away from Disney to check out Universal for a couple of days (or the entire vacation).

-Kevin