"Dirty" amusement park advertising

OK so I admit I don't make it a habit to watch TV. But the other night I happened to finally catch the "famous" SFWOA commercial that had a bunch of Po!nters all up in arms over. After viewing said commercial now I understand why. SFWOA found it necessary to have TWO of the guests say something about Cedar Point. The 1st one saying something like "we drive past Cedar Point to come here" the 2nd something like "this is a better value than Cedar Point"
Putting my obvious feelings about CP aside I had to laugh when I saw the commercial. For some reason I imagined soon we'd be seeing Kmart commercials that has customers stating they drive past WalMart to go to Kmart, or how Kmart is a better value than WalMart ;)
SFWOA,. a better value maybe I would have to agree because SFWOA does have the water/SeaWorld sides, but WHY find it necessary to even MENTION CP in your commercials? Aren't you capable of holding your own without saying something about your competition? I don't believe CP or even PKI finds it necessary to mention SFWOA in THEIR commercials.

With that mentioned, my question to you out of Ohio Buzzers are there any other parks out there that find it necessary to mention their competition in THEIR ads too?

Jo
2000 Raptor Crew
Gemini 100 "Survivor"
Discovery Channel "star" :)

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Cowboys dig cowgirls in trucks
Cowgirls dig cowboys in Wranglers! ;)

I've not noticed it with parks, but c'mon, this is an OLD advertising ploy. Ever hear of "The Pepsi Challenge"? Pepsi has been biting at Coke's heels as long as I remember. Same with Burger King and McDonald's, they are often throwing jabs at each other. How many times have you heard comparisons between Honda and Toyota? I could name more, but I dont think it's needed to make my point.

Bottom line: This is an ADVERTISING thing, not so much an AMUSEMENT PARK thing. ;)
lata,
jeremy
--P.S. Jo, "T" says hi :)

You know what other commercials are having to resort to mudslinging to advertise? Mac. Those new crappy commercials are idiotic. "I'm too stupid to tie my shoes or be able to turn on a PC, but I like my Mac!" What an inferior product.

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.:| Brandon Rodriguez |:.
http://www.coasters2k.com

Really it shouldnt be surprising since many businesses compete like that (ie drugs! the advil vs tylenol), but since SFWOA is the only amusement park using the lame marketing skill, its pretty sad then.

I noticed that Value City has to mention that Marc's doesn't have the selection. I looked that a Value City circular and saw that VC has stores from Missouri to NY, and they are worried about competition from a chain of drug stores that exists only in NE Ohio. I think that companies do this whenever they want potential clientel to associate their business with something that is better than theirs. I don't know how effective it is because people will make an automatic comparison and that might be bad in some cases like the SFWoA/CP comparison.

I think that it hurts them. When a company starts to compair their product to another product, it always seems that the compaired to product is the better one.

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The worst day at Cedar Point is better than the best day at work.

Way back when Opryland was still open, Dollywood would often advetise "You can't go screaming down a mountain at 50mph at Opryland" and "You can't see Eagles Taking Flight at Six Flags" One time Dolly evan said that on one of the commercials. They were very funny.

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"The fish are eating the guest, sir

the better park never mentions their competition in their advertisments.

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"A tout le monde, a tous mes amis, Je vous aime, Je dois partir. these are the last words I'll ever speak, and they'll set me free" -Megadeth, 1983-2002

*** This post was edited by MillenniumXL_200 on 7/28/2002. ***

But 2Hostyl, do you see CP throwing jabs back at SFWoA? I've never seen a CP commercial saying that but I have seen them advertising what's in their park. All SFWoA does is say how there soooooo much better than CP. Honestly, EVERYBODY knows CP is better than SFWoA, or at least any Ohioan (like myself).

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If you like Wicked Twister in the back, does that mean you like to get screwed in the rear?

From a Burger King advertisement seen on I-81(?):

"Burger King - burgers fit for a king, NOT a clown"

WOF and SFSTL have thrown prices back and forth in their tv adds in past years.

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wof fan

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SpongeBobAlex said:
"But 2Hostyl, do you see CP throwing jabs back at SFWoA? I've never seen a CP commercial saying that but I have seen them advertising what's in their park"

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With divine intervention, I, thankfully, avoided moving to Ohio, so I've never even seen the SFWoA ads. But who knows if CP will bite back. For the longest time, Mickey D's just ignored BK as far as ads went. But now Ronald mentions the Whopper in commercials too.

CPismyhome: The people doing the comparison are not always the inferior product. Any computer geek will tell you that the AMD Athlon series of processors are superior to their Pentium counterparts, yet Athlon compares themselves to Pentiums. Not becuase Pentiums are suprior, but because Pentiums are more WELL KNOWN. Basically, the comparison attempst to cash in on the other company's good name. You can call it lame if you want, but Kia and Hyundai would not have the market share that they have if they didnt constantly point out that they are comparable to Honda and Toyota in quality...yet a better value because they give more for the money.

See the similarity?
jeremy
--who knows that if this line of ads for SFWoA doesnt work, they'll switch till they find something that does

I have memories of an OLD slogan for Six Flags, "Bigger than Disneyland, closer to home." It is crazy when a lesser product claims to be better than an obviously better one. This is not the case with Pepsi, Burger King, and Advil.

If you think about it, SFWoA is actually helping Cedar Point out. They are telling people about Cedar Point. It may not be positive but it still gets people thinking, hmmm Cedar Point would sound good. Cedar Point has actually done some mud-slinging at other parks too. Check out this 1985 brochure: http://www.pointhype.com/cponle/brochures/1985/2.jpg.

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(Coaster Con XXV, SFMM)ACEr Lady: Who would like to be at Cedar Point right now!? ACErs: YEAAAAAH!!!

Canobie Lake has dne a pretty good job in strecthing teir words. Many of their adds boast about how their the best in the region and even a few flame wars like the small talk to the guest that they put in,"Sure there's no Superman, but ths park is about family, a kind of park that you wont find anywhere else in New England." Then the second person said, "The Cannonball may not be the tallest or fastest, but is it the best?" (show a glamour shot of Yankee Cannonball) "I think it is!"(another glamour shot of Yankee Cannonball) "This is my Superman, right here."

Now I know that in 2000, Superman:Ride of Steel must have seriously stunted Canobie Lake's growth, but that news ad was just low and in no way a comback. I'd rather go to Storyland, Old Orchard Beach, Salsbury Beach, Quassy, Compounce, Funtown, and even kartland for my family experience. Canobie Lake, was doing good, then when Six Flags took over Riverside, Canobie just started to flip, throwning in these small, cheap attractions each year.

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Lake Compounce-So Fresh and So Clean Clean

Speedy: but who decides what is "an obviously better" product? Take my mother (*please!*), in her opinion, Coke is something only to be imbibed when abosolutely no other alternative is available. But she is also an avid Pepsi drinker. In her eyes, Coke is the far inferior product. Then you have people like me who think that Coke/Pepsi/Royal Crown/Safeway Generic Cola are all pretty much the same.

Same thing here. There are some people who will always feel that CP is a better fit for them than SFWoA. These people are not likely to be swayed by any advertising. Then there are others who sit the fence and see good in both. These "testimonials" *might* sway their opinion enough to go and try out SFWoA. If they like it, they may return, if they dont, they wont. But at least the park as a chance of getting new business.

Remember, advertising is just there to get people in the door. It is the experience one *in* the door that creates brand loyalty. I may love the Nike ads, but if I get blisters everytime I wear them, I'm likely to switch to K-Swiss or something. But at least Nike had the *opportunity* to impress me...
lata,
jeremy
--who has never owned a pair of K-Swiss

I think one thing that goes work well with the public in advertising is hearing "real" people sharing their opinions about the products.

In that way, the masses could believe that these people on TV who were "just like them" liked the park, so they might too.

Strange, but true... :)

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Xcelerator-
0-82 in 2.3 seconds! =Wow!

I think it's all in fun. CP and SFWOA are in competition but aren't "enemies." CP wants people and SFWOA wants people. CP should do the same thing with their commercials. SFWOA recognizes in their commercials that CP is competition. It's all part of advertising. Stores always say "we have better prices than so and so" or "our products are better quality than so and so." I'm pretty sure that CP's attendance isn't drastically down because of these ads. C'mon CP! Get in the action! Make some noise! :-)

I respect Cedar Point for having quality and integrity. They aren't just another SF throwdown, souless park. The reason that the ad irked me was that Cedar Point's been here for 100 years, and is a world class park. They let their park do the talking for them. And then, Six Flags, on another acid trip, plops down a crappy park, and in 1/50th of the time that CP's been there, claims it to be highly superior. I guess it's frustrating to me and others, because it's like someone coming onto your turf, and talking smack about your mom.

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-SD

"Good timber does not grow with ease; the stronger the wind, the stronger the trees."
-J. Willard Marriot

"we drive past Cedar Point to come here"

Last time I was at SFWoA, I was saying "Get me to Cedar Point NOW!" (I would be going there anyway shorty afterwards). The horrible experience of rude employees (NO PICTURE TAKING ON THE MONORAIL!!!) or the line jumpers and the ineffecent operations EVERYWHERE just told me to heck with that place! IMO, driving past Cedar Point when it's open is like driving past the only bathroom for 30 miles when you really have to go.

"this is a better value than Cedar Point"

Sure, it looks that way when you add in the wildlife section to the package. But when you visit the park on a typical day (like I did) half the rides are likely to be closed, and the coasters that are operating run at minimal capacity, even if the park happens to be crowded. And the line jumpers and other stuff just adds to the wait. So ask me, is that a better value than ten plus coasters that are OPERATIONAL, some even putting 1500 peeps per hour? Which is better, getting fed up with SFWOA after a few hours, or enjoying a whole day at CP?

Tom Allen, whose home park, PKI, advertises itself (and maybe other Paramount Parks)

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Come to Kings Island and forget it all.