Rodelio Flores Concepcion

Media Planning Individual Assignment

Ocean Park: Advertising Campaign launching the Amazing Asian Animals

Media Execution

Ocean Park has launched the latest addition to its roster of leisure facilities called Amazing Asian Animals. It is a themed area that displays some of Asia’s rarest animals, like the giant pandas, red pandas, Chinese giant salamanders, Chinese alligators, goldfish displays, birds and otters.

Ocean Park released its advertising push to promote the launch of its newest attraction, which includes a 30-second and 20-second television commercial that features these rare Asian animals singing an upbeat Cantopop song by the Chopstick Sisters in the 60’s. TV spots on TVB Jade and Pearl were bought to show this new television commercial.

The launch also includes:

-Print advertisements – double page spread ads published in magazines and full-page ads in newspapers from Apple Daily, Oriental Daily News, and Metro1

-MTR ads - huge, attention, getting and cute peripherals on MTR stations (ex. Taikoo Station)

-Bus ads (bus shelters and in-bus TV’s)

Aside from advertisements, marketing promotion campaigns jointly offered with Maxim’s MX, Columbia Sportswear Co. Ltd. Pricerite and Johnson & Johnson further pushes the launch’s promotion.

It also employed doing road shows and displays before the launch. A maze with animal displays were set up in Ocean Terminal Forecourt where guests can take photos and join maze games to win some prizes. Aside from this, a road show was organized where mascots meet and greet guests at KidX Lobby of Harbour City with performance shows.2

Media Brief

1 http://marketing-interactive.com/news/12405

2 http://www2.oceanpark.com.hk/aaa/html/en/promotion.html

I. Date – launching of the TVC on April 23, whole campaign to last for 7 weeks

II. Brand Team Members – brand manager, marketing director/ manager; account manager and creative team from advertising agency and media agency

III. Brand – Ocean Park (Amazing Asian Animals)

IV. Segment – Themed Parks

V. Brand positioning – to position Ocean Park as a premiere tourist attraction offering unique and distinct recreational and educational theme park experience

- Positioned towards mass consumers / guests

VI. Brand Vision

Short-term – to increase public awareness of the new addition of attractions in the themed park

- To increase number of visits of the park for 2009

Long-term – to differentiate Ocean Park from its competitors while increasing the economic viability of its operations

- To continue Ocean Park as an educational facility that is updated, maintaining and appealing to the increasingly sophisticated visitor and resident markets

VII. Marketplace Assessment

A. Competitive Overview

Major competitor – Hong Kong Disneyland

While there are other parks and tourist spots in Hong Kong, the theme park segment has been majorly dominated by Ocean Park and Disneyland.

Disneyland’s entry into the market poised a threat in Ocean Park’s business performance. Going against a global competition is a huge task for Ocean Park, wherein its ticket sales were dropping prior to the entry of the competition. However, with its careful planning and adherence to its unique offerings, Ocean Park was able to set a record of 4.38 million visitors in 2006.3 Ocean Park also ranked 16th in the TEA/ERA Theme Park Attendance

3 http://www.forbes.com/2007/02/13/zeman-ocean-park-face-cx_vk_0213autofacescan01.html

Report 2007 with approximately 4.9 million visitors, higher than Hong Kong Disneyland at 21st place with 4.1 million visitors.4

In December 2007, the Disney Park admitted that the park had only attracted 4 million visitors in the year 2006-2007, which had fallen 23 percent when compared to the first year attendance.5

Ocean Park has shifted most of its marketing to local and Mainland Chinese visitors, thus increasing more visitors by tapping the new and vibrant mainland market.

VIII. Business and Marketing Communication Objectives

1. To increase ticket sales by inviting old visitors to come back to the Park to see the new attraction

2. To reinforce Ocean Park as an established educational facility for environmental and animal preservation and appreciation.

3. To strengthen Ocean Park’s unique real-world and environmental offerings in contrast with the fantasy theme of its competitor.

IX. Performance Benchmark

1. Increase ticket sales by 10%

2. Establish 60% awareness of the launch of a new facility

3. To reinforce 60% agreement from the target audience that Ocean Park is unique with it being reality-based and environmental.

X. Target Audience and Profile

Consumer and Purchaser target

1. Core Target: Young, small families consist of the following:

Parents – male and female, around 35 – 45 years old; start-up or newly formed families; either or both are income earners

Kids – around 3 – 10 years old; dependent on parents’ purchasing decisions

- These families are looking for quality time together during weekends, holidays and non-working days

4 TEA/ERA Theme Park Attendance Report 2007 - Top 10 Amusement/Theme Park Attraction Chains - World (2007), Park World. Retrieved on 25 March 2008.

5 "Disney profit down after 2006 sale gains", AP via Yahoo News, February 6, 2008.

2. Teenagers aged 14 – 18; going with peer groups

- Seek places where to spend time with friends and peers

3. Adult animal enthusiasts

XI. Consumer Behavior

Families go to Ocean Park during their free time from work or school. Parents bring their children to Ocean Park during weekends and non-working (and schooling) holidays. There are some occasions when going to Ocean Park happens when there is a special family occasion (e.g. birthday of the child).

Peak season would always be the long holiday weekends (Chinese New Year, Christmas, Labor Day week). During summer vacations, students are most likely to visit the theme park to spend a day of their vacation trying some rides and entertainment facilities of the themed park.

XII. Campaign timing – the campaign has started in April 23 and will run for 7 weeks

XIII. Geographic Priorities

Since the target audiences are in Hong Kong, all marketing and advertising push will be within Hong Kong vicinity. Preference will be areas near large residential areas like Quarry Bay/ Taikoo (Eastern District), Kwun Tong, Sha Tin6, as well as high traffic areas like Central, Tsim Tsa Tsui and Wan Chai.

Bus ads will be in

TVC will help reach out to the majority of the population.

XIV. Creative Consideration

Advertisement should be cute, fun and colorful to attract the young and hip crowds. Employment of an old element reinvented into something contemporary is also appealing in delivering the message to target other spectrum of the target segment.

Utilization of mass media through high-impact advertising is key in order to generate noise and blitz.

Advertisements should be a standout and easily noticeable to attract more eyeballs.

XV. Other planned marketing activities or initiatives

6 http://www.citypopulation.de/Hongkong.html

Promotions in collaboration/partnership with other brands used by the target market

XVI. Media Budget – estimated only

TV commercials – 2,000,000 HKD

MTR advertisements – 150,000 HKD

Print advertisements – 500,000 HKD

Bus advertisements – 300,000 HKD

Promotions – 100,000 HKD

Roadshows – 200,000 HKD

Displays – 200,000 HKD

XVII. Response Date - n/a

XVIII. Other Relevant Information – n/a

Analysis of the media strategy

Hong Kong is a melting point of tourists and visitors. It is also a melting pot of expats and foreigners who eventually choose Hong Kong as their home.

Nostalgia gives connection and affinity to a product for adults who were taken to reminisce their youth. For young people and kids, something cute and unique drives their attention.

Playing with these concepts and insights, the development of Amazing Asian Animals as Hong Kong visitors who will eventually stay for good is best executed in TVC’s, print and outdoor advertisements. The launch of the added attraction of Ocean Park is effective with its utilization of traditional mass media in a sense that the wide reach of media was able to extend to its target segments that much.

I. TV Commercial

The utilization of the television commercial as the primary contact point in launching the advertising campaign, though still a traditional way of doing advertising, is the best way to create noise with the consumers because of its wide reach. With the leading viewership of TVB Jade, the television commercial is assured of widest reach in terms of TV audiences. However, this still depends on which programs these television commercials are shown. As Ocean Park is a mass product, it is but wise enough to show the tvc around 21:35 to 22:35 at

weekdays. This timeslot is when TVB Jade has the most audience rate.7 Consideration of placing the tvc on children’s programs will also be helpful to attract kids.

According to the Synovate Young Asians Survey of 2007, TV still remains as one of the key media used by Hong Kong people aged 8 – 24.8 This is also the same results given by Synovate Media Atlas Hong Kong. With people aged 15-64 that was surveyed, TV still emerged as the most utilized media in Hong Kong. With the aim of the advertising campaign to create noise, mass media (especially television) are still the best ground to create impact on the target market.

The hip and cute presentation of the tvc with nostalgic elements also encompasses the wide generation gap of its core target market (parents and their kids). For parents, the use of an old song by the Chopsticks Sisters gives them a nostalgic and reminiscing feel (they could have been kids singing to this song during the 60’s). For kids, seeing the cute mascots and hearing the upbeat song make them enticed to go to see the Amazing Animals.

II. Out-of-home advertisements (MTR, bus and outdoor ads)

Aside from this, given the high mobility of the target segments (most of them are going to work or to school), outdoor collaterals and advertisements help to reinforce the message of the campaign. Most of the parents leave the house everyday to go to work, as well as their kids go to school daily, and having advertisements on MTR stations and buses provide good out-of-home contact points. These segments are highly mobile, outdoor advertisements are effective tools in increasing awareness about the launch of Amazing Animals.

Also, the execution is satisfying in a sense that with the advertisement clutter the outdoor environment has, the out-of-home ads of Ocean Park is still eye-catching and outstanding for its target.

The locations of these MTR ads are also strategic. For example in the Taikoo station, since it is one of the big residential areas of Hong Kong, these ads generate more eyeballs from its target segment.

Bus advertisements are also essential as this is the widest mode of transportation network available in the territory.

III. Print advertisements

The use of double page spread ads on major dailies always signify a significant event or promotion from the advertiser, and the employment of such media denotes the significance of this new attraction of Ocean Park to the community and to its target.

7 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVB_Jade

8 Synovate Young Asians Survey 2007, published by Synovate.

Choosing newspapers that get the highest readership (Oriental Daily News, Apple Daily and Metro) is also effective in coming the message across mass market.

This will be more effective if the days and frequency of the ads are carefully planned (ex. every Friday as target market might already be planning where to spend the weekend)

IV. Promotions

Partnerships with Maxim’s MX, Columbia Sportswear, Johnson & Johnson, and Pricerite for discount tickets and raffles are effective ways to cross-target the consumers who are also patronizing these products. These products are the same products that Ocean Park taps for their campaign. These partners are carefully selected to tap the family decision makers (parents, e.g. fathers for Columbia Sportswear, mothers for Price Rite) to entice them to go to Ocean Park with the discounts they get after purchasing any of these partner products.

V. Road shows and Displays

This is far to be the non-traditional media employed in the campaign. Deployment of these media is strategically used before the launch as the displays (maze with animal displays) as well as the meet and greet and photo opportunities set a preparation and preliminary mood for the audience to anticipate such launch. These were set up in Harbour City and Ocean Terminal, however if these were also extended in other locations or malls, the impact could have been grander.

All in all, while the campaign is still on-going, the media and creative strategy employed has satisfactorily achieved its goal in terms of reach and widening awareness. Mass media’s powerful reach was able to deliver Ocean Park’s message that they have something new and distinct to offer. However the execution could have been more enticing if there are more creative ways employed to make the medium as a message, like a 24-hour monitor window (video streaming) of these animals on the internet. Speaking of the internet, this could have also been utilized as a powerful tool as Hong Kong has been predominantly online in the past years. This could have contributed in terms of reach and engagement to the environmental cause of the theme park.

A PR campaign focusing on environmental awareness and love for endangered animals (in relation to the launch of Amazing Asian Animals) is also highly recommended as this will foster in building the brand image of Ocean Park as a pioneer educational facility in Hong Kong.

In order to measure how effective the media campaign is, some measures are suggested as per below:

- Ratings and audience share of television shows where the TVC was shown

- The circulation of the newspaper issues where the print ads were shown

- MTR foot traffic (inside the station) during the duration of the campaign, if available from MTR.

- The total number of ticket sales comparing before the launch and after the launch

- Counting the total daily foot traffic trend to the Amazing Asian Animals section starting from the launch

- Total number of visitors who availed of the discounts offered during the promotions with partner products

- Conducting a survey of visitors determining the location where they come from (in order to measure how effective the outdoor advertising locations are)

- Conducting surveys and phone interviews asking respondents how and where they got to know about the launch and if they were enticed to go to Ocean Park