Season Pass

Recently I saw an advert for Thorpe Park and a season ticket offering of £48... that was unlimited entry to the park for an entire year! It really got me thinking as although I've never been to Thorpe Park, I have been to the sister theme park Alton Towers and I remember how pricey it can be for a day out there.

A day ticket also costs £48 although you can save by booking online before you arrive. Many people would question why a day ticket is the same price as an annual pass- it seems ludicrous right?

But when you think about it from a different perspective, it's actually an extremely clever marketing tactic that is used in lots of different places where one might not recognise the marketing tactic is in place.

Once a consumer has entered the park once, and paid the £48 fee- the park covers the overheads such as electricity and staffing, and the initial costs of the ride building/ design etc. and any residual value of such assets. The initial costs of that person entering the park are covered. Great- but do these overheads increase as more people enter the park? No.... the staffing/ electricity/ insurance etc. costs are going to be exactly the same whether there are 100 or 6000 people in the park, therefore Thorpe Park's main objective is getting as many people through their gates as possible!

Thorpe Park make such a huge mark-up on added extras such as the car park, food & drinks, games and merchandise that the price of entrance probably doesn't have a huge profit margin. Once customers are through the gates, they are more likely to spend money inside the park ESPECIALLY if they have paid for an annual pass and therefore have the feeling as though their initial cost of the day out was "free"- they may be inclined to spend more on additional add-ons!

Pricing is a marketing tool which is often overlooked, even by myself and although it depends on mark-ups and margins and overheads etc. it can also create a perception of a product and sometimes even a cheap price can detract from a product or service.

So- where else is this tactic used? Night clubs offer free entry or guest list entry before a certain time in the hope that customers will enter and purchase drinks all throughout the night, another example is captive pricing- where a company offers a product for a low price, but then once they are hooked, they rake up the prices of captive products.

I think it is a very wise move from Thorpe Park and one which should see their entries sore and their additional spending therefore increase!

Stephanie

Inside Rolls-Royce

I've been watching the 'Inside...' series on 4OD, a must-watch if you are interested in the luxury goods market!
I especially loved the Rolls-Royce episode which gave an insight into the companies head office and the sales tactics used with high profile customers. Rolls-Royce were creating the Celestial Phantom- their most expensive model ever, containing hundreds of diamonds and documentary shows the rigorous process which is undertaken at the factory and during the design process. Clearly for such a prestigious brand, their cars sell themselves due to the status and authority that comes from owning one of the cars.

However, I was interested to see the types of marketing strategies that Rolls-Royce use in order to target such a highly regarded audience. The typical Rolls-Royce customer may be spending well over £50,000 and almost as much on optional extras to add to the car, therefore the customer service they recieve is fundamental to their loyalty to the brand.

The documentary displayed that most Rolls-Royce customers own 4 or 5 vehicles and therefore retaining such customers is a key priority in their marketing strategy. The salesmen in the car showrooms are highly trained, just as with any car show room, however it is their personal connection with the Rolls-Royce brand that means their passion is revealed and hopefully passed on the customer.

One of the key PR strategies used by the company, is the opportunity for key members of the press, celebrities and other senior influencers to test out the vehicles on a race track, in the hopes that they may write a review/speak about the experience and even that they may be potential buyers... this is classic 'try before you buy' but also an example of getting opinion leaders to form their own recommendations of products. They are also attracting a new selection of young, cool, hip customers which is important to help the brand progress in the future.

The fact that Rolls-Royce are perfectionists when it comes to product design and quality means that they are renowned for providing a consistently impeccable product- there are no reports of one-off disaster products or bad customer experiences as the product checking and factory processes are so strict that it simply doesn't happen at Rolls-Royce! This in itself is a fantastic example of PR!!

 It would be an absolute dream to work in the marketing department at Rolls-Royce, the staff seem to have an extreme passion and love for the brand and their marketing strategy is unique, admirable and seems to work to target customers who enjoy the extremely finer things in life!!

You can watch the show on 4OD- let me know your thoughts!

Steph