Tiffany Quilici, marketing manager for the Roaring Springs Water Park, wanted to increase revenue, but not necessarily by increasing the number of season pass sales. Instead, she wanted pass holders to come more often, stay longer ... and spend more money.
Following a Chamber of Commerce presentation by BlueLine Grassroots Marketing, the concept that fewer people are responding to advertising coupled with the importance of word-of-mouth as a cornerstone grassroots strategy resonated with Quilici. "After all, what consumer group is better at 'word-of-mouth' than mothers," she notes. Quilici took a leap of faith and engaged BlueLine to work with Roaring Springs to develop an entirely new marketing strategy based on customer evangelism.
Roaring Spring began by training its employees to conduct face-to-face guest surveys. Based on this feedback, Roaring Springs learned that the "joy killers" associated with their park were long lines, crowds and lack of shade. Roaring Springs quickly installed $10,000 worth of additional shade structures, invested in a dispatch system that expedited the waiting period at more popular attractions and added numerous special benefits to enhance the experience of its season pass holders.
Roaring Springs also set up a MySpace account for employees to enhance their own sense of community. Giving its staff an added feeling of ownership for the experience of Roaring Springs' guests has had a palpable impact on the water park's employee culture.
The financial result of this transformation? Roaring Springs sold twenty more tickets in its 2006 season -- but the revenue to date for the park is $120,000 more than last year! The meaning behind these numbers is plain to Quilici. "Our pass holders are coming more often, staying longer and spending more money in the process. Growing our revenue without crowding the park is exactly what we were hoping for."
Credit Information
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Client: Roaring Springs Water Park
Agency: BlueLine Grassroots Marketing
Budget: $30,000
Date of Campaign: 5/06-9/06
Case Study URL: http://bluelinegrassroots.com/results.php
