Thoughts on the new Six Flags commercials?

The commerical has been airing in LA for a bit, and I was wondering about people's reaction to it? An improvement over Mr. Six or not? I was also wondering if it was a national spot? The ad is basically a teenage kid who is bored on the bus, climbs up on top, and then surfs under overpasses. It's pretty much targeted directly towards the thrill seekers, which is of course, pretty much the opposite of promoting the park as family friendly.

It's more like a really good Nike ad which is an improvement over some of their previous campaigns. But I was wondering if that was because SFMM is opening Tatsu in May? Are the other SF parks doing any family targeted tv spots for the parks that are not debuting coasters?

I've seen two ads for SFA... the first shows a kid sitting bored in class, all of a sudden something happens and they all rush out of the school and to Six Flags, from there it basically just shows clips of the park (some SFA, most not)... the other ad shows the Justice League suiting up, then appearing in the park to much joy and laughter, then shows some more random clips, then shows some parade in advertisement for the new parade... honestly, I don't know what they're trying, but I think the new adverts (while looking very professional) are quite lack-luster. I mean, the least they can do is get some actual footage of Batwing instead of using the same tired old footage of X-Flight.

Personally, I think the best commercial as of recent times for SF was the one last year with Mr. Six coming out of the retirement home... but if they want to get rid of Mr. Six fine.. I just don't think the commercials I've seen so far this year are all that great. What's even worse is when you see the MUCH better commercial for IJ at PKD right after you see the SFA commercial as both commercials seem to run on the same channels heavest around the same times of day (about noon till 8 pm).

On the other hand, even with parking up $5 and ticket prices up $13, SFA is still doing quite well (at least for these first few days). Crowds are at least at, if not above, what they were at this same time last year, and if that keeps up, it's good news... The radio commercials, MUCH better though...

^The bump may be due to the fantastic weather the DC area has experienced this month. Tomorrow its supposed to be in the 80s (and Im going to BGW :))

SFKK is airing pretty much the same commercials as the one Coaster Lover described. Spring Break Out crowds were down a bit, mainly due to the lousy weather, but we're doing pretty good, in my opinion.
Our radio ads are a lot better than the TV ones also!

I saw one of the t.v. ads recently and I thought it was fairly good. Who cares is they're using footage of X-Flight instead of Batwing? It's the same exact ride. It's not like someone's going to go to the park and go "Whoa, that ride was green in the commercial, there's no way I'm riding that thing!" If it saves them money, then that's a good thing.

I'd like to comment on the directed mailer (meaning I'm on the mailing list) I received the other day from SFA. It's about four pages long or so, and I thought it was really good. It had most of the correct rides pictured(except for the Morgan wooden train on the front page, but again not an issue). It's divided into seasons--spring, summer, and fall and there are helpful hints in each section such as when to visit. For example, there is a tip about visiting on Mother's Day (and Easter I believe?) and having the whole park to yourself. Another tip is to visit the park 1/2-hour before the published opening because Main Street opens up then.

So I don't know if other residents will be getting these mailers, but I think they're a good thing if they do. *** Edited 4/14/2006 4:34:55 PM UTC by Intamin Fan***

^I recieved the same mailer just yesterday & while it was done up nicely the one thing they failed to do was have a map insert like they had done on last year's mailer.

The radio spots, at least the ones airing in New York have been dull. There was one with a man interviewing the Tazmanian Devil, but it was lack luster and not worth the time it took torecord it.

I also (subliminally) kept waiting for the musical hook of the Venga Boys song, to bed (play under) the announcer's closing paragraph, but it never came on.

^^^Your signature blows my mind.

BFSFA, who needs a map insert when you can go online or go the park and get one of the huge maps that they're handing out at the parking booths?

Thanks Matt. I think. By the way...all true.

I have this weird intention of going back in August to customer relations and showing it to them. (The wristband - not the stain).

Maybe they will give me a new one gratis. Maybe they will kick me out for loitering. Who knows? It's a good story.

I do have a collection of wristbands that hang in my classroom like a general's stripes. Each one has a story. Each one represents a very good time. Sometimes when the kids go to some of the parks, they bring me back thier bands to add it to the collection. Most are from Adventureland (Long Island) but there are quite a few from Morey's Piers and Rye Playland.

In all honesty, people frequentlystop me to ask about it. It's quite a conversation piece. It's fun for non-enthusiasts to learn about other parks just to show them that there is an alternative.

Some people mistake it for a hospital bracelet.

It's just fun.

I also just realized that this post has nothing to do with the thread.

I am sorry.

I will assume the position.

You may hit me with a wristband.

I haven't seen any of this years commercials, but I too like last year's commercial. I saved it on my computer, it really made me get pumped for SF.

Most I see for SFGAdv are exactly like coaster lover described, cept they advertise for Bugs Bunny National park and El Torro "the worlds greatest wooden coaster" and so on. One funny thing is they show a bunch of clips of batwing, only horribly photoshoped or something so the color scheme matches Superman Ultimate Flight. This is kind of stupid especially after CL mentioned lack of clips of Batwing in the park that actually has it and Ive seen clips of the real SUF on commercials in the past.

The big problems with filming an individual commercial for each park are time and money. Large Advertising Agency fees are expensive and a typical TV shoot takes and couple of days and at least $250,000 - $500,000 per :30 second announcement. Agencies are usually reluctant to use canned/stock footage.

Now if you take into account that the same director and creative team are needed to film the commercial and factoring in travel time it would take close to 3 months to get the proper footage for all parks.

Also, it is unlikely that SF would want to pay for that many commercials tailored to individual parks.

Radio creative is much quicker to turn around in a short time frame (although you don't get the eye candy). Remember SF did not name their Ad Agency until February or March of 2006.

SF's target audience for advertising is most likely going to be adults with younger kids. For the most part, this target doesn't need to see the bigger rides and doesn't care if the coaster shown in a TV spot is at their park.

I'm not certain if the current TV ads people are seeing are running locally or nationally. probably locally if it has been airing in LA for a while.

My thoughts are that they should be running a base plan nationally to provide coverage for all parks with additional efforts funded by the individual parks. It costs more to run an advertising schedule in larger markets and it sounds like each park is going to be treated as its own profit center. Therefore, you want to put the parks in charge of efforts to drive local business. *** Edited 4/16/2006 10:30:43 PM UTC by larrygator***