Six Flags announces new partnership with Miracle Whip(R)

[GAcoaster]

Press release from Six Flags:

 

NEW YORK, July 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Six Flags, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: SIXFQ), the world's largest regional theme park company, announced today a new partnership with Kraft Foods' Miracle Whip® brand. The companies will collaborate on a co-branded marketing initiative designed to reach consumers through multiple platforms and marketing touch points including grocers' shelves, digital media and targeted in-park signage at key rides and attractions.

 

This summer, Six Flags will feature a specially-themed and branded sandwich -- the Miracle Whip Roller Roaster -- to be sold at select food service locations at each domestic park and accompanied by custom signage and Miracle Whip branding.

 

Additionally, the partnership includes a national on-pack retail promotion for over 20 million 32 oz. jars of Miracle Whip offering consumers a discount admission coupon to all domestic Six Flags Theme Parks.

 

"With the addition of Miracle Whip to our stable of partners, Six Flags Media Networks continues to work with best-in-class brands that cohesively and seamlessly fit into the theme park environment," said Jeff Portugal, Six Flags VP of Corporate Alliances. "This multi-platform initiative illustrates the myriad of benefits available when associating with the world leader in thrills. Six Flags provides a dynamic and uniquely interactive setting to drives sales and increase brand awareness and loyalty."

 

Just in case anyone missed all those "Don't be so mayo" signs!

 

I hope the "Miracle Whip Roller Roaster" is a good sandwich...

[RobertDavid]

Just what the park needs, more inappropriate advertizing to ruin the atmosphere.

[GAcoaster]

Hey, if the money coming in from the advertising helps to keep the rides running, it's worth it.

 

MOST of the ads they have in the park are not that bad. The M&Ms sponsorship has been really clever in most cases, and the others (like Papa John's, Johnny Rockets and Coldstone) have actually been good additions.

[RobertDavid]

I must respectfully disagree with you. Johnny Rockets, Pappa Johns, and Coldstone have added to the homogenization of Great Adventure and all the Six Flags parks. They don't fit into any park theme and they are places people can go at any shopping center. A park should offer unique foods and products people can not find in their own neighborhoods. Otherwise, why would anyone want to spend a lot of money to get into a park that doesn't offer anything they can't get cheaper down the street? The food and merchandise should add to the experience of the park, not remind everyone of what they left at home. A theme park should be an escape from the ordinary, not a place where you just pay more for it.

[GAcoaster]

But when those restaurants serve a better product than what they replaced, they sell more and people like to buy what they know. If I ran the park, it would not be my choice to have them...but I would also hope I would not be billions of dollars in debt and have built up brands that people know and love in my park. These are desperate times and they call for desperate measures.

 

There are parks that CAN do better with their own brands (Busch & Disney come to mind) but they have had something that Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks have not- consistent management and ownership. They built up their brands and when guests go to their parks they know they'll get quality products. For visitors to Six Flags and Cedar Fair parks, quality changed from year to year and owner to owner, so adding a brnad name food option means guests KNOW what to expect and are more willing to pay theme park prices for it.

[Yoshi]

I like the idea of familar food places in the park. I haven't eaten anywhere other than the Carnegie Deli in 7+ years (and I have only gone to the deli twice) but I remember in past visits mostly in the 90's eating at places like the Character Cafe and thinking the food quality was very poor. At least with Papa John's for example, you know what you are getting.

Edited July 10, 2009 by Yoshi

[RobertDavid]

If you get the chance, check out "Amusement Park Eats" showing now on the Food Network. It explains how sucessful theme parks have unique foods that draw people to the parks as much as the rides.

[GAcoaster]

I know, I've seen it. It's true, there are many traditional amusement parks that do have world famous foods, but once again they have long histories of consistency, which is something that Six Flags lacks.

[RobertDavid]

It doesn't take a long history for a park to create a quality product, or for the public to notice it. A guest can tell on the first visit to a park if it offers quality and/or a unique experience. The program on the food network highlighted the irish stew in the Ireland section of Busch Gardens Williamsburg. Both the stew and the section are relatively new.

 

If you offer a quality product people will notice and come back for more. Six Flags realized several years ago that they had dug themselves into a hole by catering to a single demographic; teenagers. They realized that in order to be successful a theme park also has to attract families and adults. Adults want a unique experience when they visit a theme park, and the food plays a major role in that experience. They are not looking to just grab a quick bite between roller coasters. They are looking for an experience that makes it worth the trip, and the cost. If all they are offered is the same fast food they can get anywhere else, they will not come back.

 

Six Flags still does not understand the concept of a theme park. It should totally immerse it's guests in a world unlike that which they experience every day. They understood this many years ago when they first opened their parks, but lost it through the years. Now they seem to think a theme park is nothing more than an expensive shopping center with a carnival in the parking lot.

 

Six Flags Over Georgia was created with very specific themed areas. One of these areas was the Southern Plantation section. This is a great opportunity to offer a wide variety of foods that would enhance the experience. Instead they built a Panda Express right next to the Crystal Pistol Theatre. Then they built Papa John's in the Lickskillet country themed section. These out-of-place restaurants just added to years of inapropriately themed additions that destroyed the unique theming of the park.

 

I have not been to any other Six Flags parks other than Georgia and Great Adventure, however I assume the same mistakes have been made at them all. What has happened to Great Adventure upsets me the most because of my love of the park. From Papa John's and Panda Express diluting the dining experience and atmosphere, the removal of park icons, and worst of all the destruction of the forest itself, it just seems that each year the "Enchanted Forest" becomes less of a theme park and more of a shopping center.

 

There is no reason Six Flags can not offer quality food in a variety and setting that will enhance the park's atmosphere instead of detracting from it. The company will never turn itself around until it learns the basic fundamentals of theme park operation.

 

I apologize for my negativity, it is not my intent. I just love the park so much and get very passionate about it.

 

I will get off my soap box ( for today anyway )

[GAcoaster]

When MOST guests visit the park one day a year and they only have one or two meals in the park, many people want to KNOW what they are getting is going to be good quality or else they leave and go down the road to McDonalds, Burger King, KFC, and Wawa and spend their money there.

 

Believe me, I completely agree that the restaurants should fit theme first, but obviously Six Flags seems to be having success with the brand name restaurants throughout the park which is why GA is now up to FOUR Johnny Rockets, THREE Papa Johns and THREE Coldstones and they all get big crowds. At the same time, Best of the West is the MOST popular restaurant in the park, and does stick to theme and has a great reputation among guests who know the park and is the favorite of many.

[warnerleroy]

^^^Sorry I don't get the concept or purpose at all

[29yrswithaGApass]

I don't mind them changing over the secondary foodstands over to chain restaurants, just stay away and don't change GA's "signature" locations - Best of the West BBQ, Yum Yum Palace (Great Character Cafe), and Gingerbread Fancy (Granny's). And yes, theming the chains to the surrounding areas would help a lot.

 

 

[RobertDavid]

If Best of the West is the "MOST" popular restaurant in the park, that should tell you something. Sure the chains do well. They are very popular with teenagers and they are the only choice people have. This creates the very problem the company has been trying to correct; offer whatever brings in the most teenagers while snubbing the families and adults. In the short term it makes money, but in the long term it creates problems.

 

You can offer hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza and ice cream along with unique food items in themed restaurants that everyone would enjoy.

 

If most guests only visit the park one day a year, maybe it's because they don't find anything worth coming back for. They can stay at home and have Papa John's, for a whole lot less money.

 

warnerleroy - Which concept or purpose do you not understand?