KennyWood Advertising streches far and wide

Now, I've been living here in DC for about 3 years, but this morning on the Baltimore Fox affiliate I for the first time saw a commerical for KennyWood. Usually, there are ads for Hershey, SFA, PKD, and BGW but I've never seen a Kennywood one before. Kdub is about 4 hours away from B-more so it's a little suprising.

Moreover, they had the nerve to call themselves "The Thrill Capital of the World". A strech to say the least. There was, however, som nice footage of the Aero360, Racer and PittFall. Though I'd have liked to have seen a little of Phantom's Revenge, but I'm at least a little biased when it come to that.
lata,
jeremy

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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do

That seems really odd. I mean, DC to Shi.. I mean, Pittsburgh is no small trek. Buffalo, Columbus and Cleveland I could see, but DC? How odd.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"We used to hate people, now we just make fun of them. It's more effective that way." - KMFDM, "Dogma"

Well Jeremy, being from the Pittsburgh area, I see those commercials all the time obviously. But the new one that started popping up around here that caught my attention and caught me a little by surprise, is one for BGW. BGW is a 6 - 8 hour drive (depending on how you drive) from here.

Kennywood's attendance is down this year, so that's probably why they are reaching so far. Could the same be said for BGW?

*** This post was edited by loriu on 7/11/2002. ***

I could see Baltimore though - its actually about a 4 or 4 1/2 hour drive from Pittsburgh (at least I've made it in that many times) which is only 45 to an hour more than Cedar Point from Pittsburgh - and CP advertises more than Kennywood around here sometimes!

And the Thrill Capital of the World thing is a "hometown" touch. To yinzers it really is the thrill capital of the world - plus before CP and SF and Busch etc. decided that roller coasters were actually worth the investment, Kennywood still had Racer, Jackrabbit and Thunderbolt - making them at the time, the thrill capital of the world.

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Steel - #1 Mantis, #2 Millie, #3 Wicked Twister
Wood - #1 Thunderbolt, #2 Beast, #3 Blue Streak
"The key to a happy life is moderation" -- Jon Stewart

Although I have not seen the ad, I live north of DC and it only took me 3 hours to drive to BGW and 3.5 to drive to Kwood. If it is on a station that reaches me I'd say that's very reasonable.

Interesting note: Dorney is closer than Kwood and about the same as BGW, but most people around here don't even know what it is.

I guess with all the "fear of flying" these days, not to mention the endless lines at the AIRPORTS, a long drive is more in tune with *small* vacations....

or, that's at least what I'm thinking they're thinking....

Then I'm surprised KW hasn't been advertising in Columbus, being only 3.5 hours away.

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He let the contents of the bottle do the thinking; can't shake the devil's hand and say you're only kidding.

I see comercials for Cedar Point all the time and it is 8 hours away from here (Bloomington, IN).

But in Columbus they'd have competition from CP, PKI and SFWoA ... all much bigger parks with much bigger advertising budgets - if Kennywood tried, I think they'd get buried.

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Steel - #1 Mantis, #2 Millie, #3 Wicked Twister
Wood - #1 Thunderbolt, #2 Beast, #3 Blue Streak
"The key to a happy life is moderation" -- Jon Stewart

Many of the peeps here in Pittsburgh have been going to SFWoA instead of Kennywood. It's all my Daughters friends talk about. That could explain the attendance drop at Kwood.

I told her that we are going to CP next week and she said, "What's Cedar Point?".

Yes, Dorney doesn't do much advertising. They have one commercial that I see about 3 times a week. SFGAdv runs those "celebrity" commercials roughly 3 times a day here.

What's odd about this is that I live in Allentown right in Dorney's backyard.

I've also seen Hersheypark & BGW advertisements.

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www.coasterimage.com
Dorney Park visits in 2002: 13

PittDesigner said:
But in Columbus they'd have competition from CP, PKI and SFWoA ... all much bigger parks with much bigger advertising budgets - if Kennywood tried, I think they'd get buried.

Very true, but one could say the same about BGW, PKD, SFA, SFGAdv and Dorney in DC. Lots more choices that are indeed closer for those folks.

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Jeff - Webmaster/Admin - CoasterBuzz.com, Sillynonsense.com
"We used to hate people, now we just make fun of them. It's more effective that way." - KMFDM, "Dogma"

Yes, but I think that although this is totally based on opinions and views from this board, the draw of SFA and PKD does not match that of SFWoA and PKI ... and as someone said, Dorney rarely advertises - the only reason I knew the park existed was the Pitt band took a trip to the Rutgers game which we travelled via Allentown and I saw this park with a huge coaster (later find out it was Steel Force) come out of nowhere - I had thought only GAdv was the major park in that area of the country.

And I have also noticed that people in Pittsburgh are very excited to go to SFWoA this year, but mainly thate because the people that I've talked to think that it just opened this year - they're pumped for the "new" experience. I don't think that would drag Kennywood's attendance down that much, although they are experiencing smaller crowds this year than normal.

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Steel - #1 Mantis, #2 Millie, #3 Wicked Twister
Wood - #1 Thunderbolt, #2 Beast, #3 Blue Streak
"The key to a happy life is moderation" -- Jon Stewart

WoA's PR department has really done a good job in Pittsburgh. Every other spot on Nickelodeon is WoA and, for some reason, the kids go nuts over that whale. Then they get the adults with the "so big, so close" ad during the news. Plus, you get a lot for your money at WoA.

Jeeze I Live A Little Bit Away (Like 1-2 Hours) From Kwood, But NoAdvertising Up Here, Strange.....Very Very Strange

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Virtual Coasters - http://www.virtual-coasters.tk

I actually want to see parks advertise all over a whole region. There is a CP ad on the way to SFGAm from my house of Wicked Twister...I'd love to see CP commercials here in Chicago, as I usually have to tell everyone about CP

PittD: and you think SFA, PKD, Hershey and BGW DONT have big budgets? I'm not so certain that Kennywood has anything to offer B-more folks that they cant get MUCH closer besides perhaps PittFall. But more power to them.
jeremy
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"To get inside this head of mine, would take a monkey-wrench, and a lot of wine" Res How I Do

I live in Aurora and always see Cedar Point and SFWoA commercials. But I have never, EVER, seen a commercial for PKI. Most of my friends have never heard of it and those who have been there only remember riding The Beast.

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

jimster said:

Many of the peeps here in Pittsburgh have been going to SFWoA instead of Kennywood. It's all my Daughters friends talk about. That could explain the attendance drop at Kwood.

You can't be serious? Kennywood has had a much higher attendence this year then SFWoA. If anything, KP is much better off then WoA this year. But both are down as far as attendence goes in comparison from last year's attendence.

Jeremy - was the commercial you saw the really sappy one with, "Come make a memory with us."? They've been showing that one up here alot.

Coasterman Mike

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Kennywood, Celebrating 75 Years of Racing Sperm ;)

2Hostyl - It's impossible to explain to you what Kennywood has to offer over those parks if you haven't been there. It's not something you can put into words, but it is different than any of those parks. PittFall is the best drop ride anywhere, but the Thunderbolt at night, potatopatch fries ... its all in the experience - for thsi reason, the commercial you saw was probably the rather sappy one that Mike is talking about.

Also, I'm not saying they dont have money at those other parks to spend - I'm saying that in my opinion, the 3 in ohio have as much if not more to offer than all those parks combined.

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Steel - #1 Mantis, #2 Millie, #3 Wicked Twister
Wood - #1 Thunderbolt, #2 Beast, #3 Blue Streak
"The key to a happy life is moderation" -- Jon Stewart