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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Magic Mountain’s New Strategy Using Corporate Branding to Attract Families

Three months after taking the Valencia theme park off the selling block, the financially troubled owners of Six Flags Magic Mountain are taking a new approach to raising money: corporate branding. This season, the park for the first time will feature Cold Stone Creamery ice cream stands, Kodak photos, Heinz ketchup, Papa John’s Pizza pies, Nintendo Wii and Johnny Rockets storefronts. The introduction of corporate names at all 21 Six Flags properties is a change for the company, which had featured non-branded kiosks and food stands at its properties. The shift is an effort by Six Flags to both generate money through sponsorships and appeal to the much-sought-after family demographic. “When they see a Johnny Rockets, when they see a Cold Stone Creamery, they’re familiar with it,” said Magic Mountain spokeswoman Sue Carpenter. She said the park wants to have products and stores that families know and frequent. “These are brands that families are used to seeing.” Tim Girvin, a branding expert and principal of Girvin Design in Seattle, said Six Flags is clearly picking brands that match its desired customers. “Six Flags, in re-thinking itself, has wisely looked carefully for partners that are more than merely being vendors on site, but rather brands that are stories that will resonate to the guest experience,” he said. “And any brand is really about a story that people can get and embrace.” Transition period Park officials and those familiar with the theme park industry agree that this is a transition period for Magic Mountain. Opened in 1971, the park just west of the Golden State (5) Freeway operated for years with a relatively modest marketing campaign, attracting the bulk of its guests locally. The park, like many in the Six Flags chain, also didn’t have sponsored kiosks or large corporate sponsors, aside from Coca Cola. Instead, Magic Mountain, starting in the 1990s, made a name for itself through its collection of highly intense thrill rides, which eventually rose to 17. (Some are so intense that a report released this month by the Amusement Safety Organization found that 18 people blacked out during one ride on the 255-foot Goliath in 2006. Park officials say they’re investigating.) The intensity and quantity of rides also brought in a crowd of mostly adrenaline-starved teens, and fights became common, causing some families to avoid the park. Attendance drop In 2006, Magic Mountain’s attendance dropped an estimated 10 percent to around 2.5 million guests according to a study by TEA and the Economics Research Associates. The decreased numbers were a clear reason Six Flags, saddled with $2.1 billion in debt, mulled over selling Magic Mountain last year. Now with the park now off the market, this month is the first time park-goers will see a newly envisioned Magic Mountain, one focused more on families than on thrill rides, Carpenter said. “We’re making it a more family-friendly atmosphere,” she said. Park officials have refurbished existing attractions, dismantled two aging coasters, Psyclone and Flashback, and introduced new entertainment. Carpenter said the directive for the company-wide branding came from corporate headquarters. Six Flags would not disclose the financial arrangement with specific companies other than to say that many are multiyear, but forms filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show the company has about $38 million in corporate agreements. Captive audience The arrangement is highly lucrative for the companies featured because guests confined in the park especially the much-sought-after families, who are more likely to buy several meals or products have no choice but to use Heinz, Coca Cola or Kodak. “It’s exposure,” Carpenter said. “Our park alone, we have millions of guests.” But Rob Frankel, a marketing expert and author based in Encino, said the Six Flags’ re-branding effort is a major challenge because the company never had a true Magic Mountain brand in the first place. Using “mini-brands” to shore up their corporate name merely dilutes Six Flags’ existing identity among consumers, he said. “They are so strategically bankrupt in ideas to what should be bringing people to the park,” he said. “This is like what people do when they try to hitch their brand to a celebrity.” Frankel thinks the new approach could hurt the already foggy corporate identity. “The more distractions you put between your consumer and your brand, the less chance you have for them to come to your brand,” he said. “If they really wanted to build a brand that appealed to families, they’d build a brand that’s appealing to families.”

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