Yoshi Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/cedar-fair-entertainment-company-selects-reflectmedia-for-strategic-in-park-advertising-and-sponsorship-management-2019-02-05 Quote Reflect, the premier turnkey solutions provider for place-based media, today announced that Cedar Fair Entertainment Company, one of the largest amusement-resort operators in the world, has chosen ReflectMedia to activate a strategic in-park advertising and sponsorship program. This agreement represents not only a continuation of a partnership that started in 2014 but also an expansion of Reflect's role with Cedar Fair. It will be interesting to see if they get any of the complaints that Six Flags always gets on other park and coaster message boards about the same kind of advertising. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 Hopefully they don't go as blatant as Six Flags has. There is a way to work advertising and corporate sponsorships into a park and a way not to... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medusa42 Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 Think of all the untapped ad space on the Top Thrill Dragster tower. Listening to the earnings call this morning and looking at the presentation Cedar Fair provided was a bit alarming. The new long term strategy gave me deja vu of Shapiro's strategy for Six Flags in 2006. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted February 13, 2019 Report Share Posted February 13, 2019 Yeah, it sounds like they're following Six Flags lead now with memberships, in-park advertising, cost cutting on new capex, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 (edited) Well this sucks. Operations at Dorney have already degraded by a large amount over the past few years. Seems like SF is somewhat of an industry leader, in a bad way. Edited February 14, 2019 by The Master Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
29yrswithaGApass Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 It is all Wall Street driven. Every major amusement park company has done/is doing this except perhaps Universal because they need to play catch-up after being stagnant for so many years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medusa42 Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 Here are a couple of big things I found concerning. 1) Cedar Fair management predicted in 2015, 2016, and 2017 that they would meet their goal of having an Adjusted EBITDA of 500+ million by early 2018. The chart in today's presentation shows they moved the goal to $575 million Adjusted EBITDA by 2023 because they have had two years of negative EBITDA growth and were unable to achieve the goal. 2) If 2019 is another weak year, future growth of the dividend will be reconsidered or reviewed. Quote Brian Witherow Yes. James, it’s Brian, just dovetailing on Richard’s comment. The balance sheet over the last several years was rebuilt really at management’s urging and the board’s urging to sustain a year like a 2018 where the growth in EBITDA wasn’t there not because of a fundamental shift in the underlying business or a change in the consumer, but because of sort of a macro disruptive event like the weather that we saw for six to seven weeks during the key months of June and July. So, as Richard said, the board’s confidence, our confidence in the business model underscored that. But your point is a good one or a question is a good one in terms of 2019, we need to deliver the growth that we’ve indicated as is available to us. Minus that, if that were not to happen I would say that the distribution isn’t at risk. Growth in the distribution would be reviewed should 2019 not turn out to be as strong of a year as we believe it it’s going to be, but the distribution in terms of sustaining where it’s at isn’t at risk in our minds. But growing it would be would be up for discussion. https://seekingalpha.com/article/4240755-cedar-fair-l-p-fun-ceo-richard-zimmerman-q4-2018-results-earnings-call-transcript?page=12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 (edited) CF is probably pushing high EBITDA figures to distract investors from the firm's profitability level. I don't want to even think about what new sources of cashflow they will come up with to put into their parks. Hopefully not upcharge lockernazis. Edited February 14, 2019 by The Master Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 I'm expecting them to change SP price structure to be more inline with Six Flags. Their multi-park passes are priced way too high compared to Six Flags. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pineracer Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 2 hours ago, GAcoaster said: I'm expecting them to change SP price structure to be more inline with Six Flags. Their multi-park passes are priced way too high compared to Six Flags. But don't all SF pass levels access all the parks though? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 Most do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuddyChrist Posted February 14, 2019 Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 Well at least Shapiro and Snyder left a lasting impact in the industry. Unfortunately, it had to be obnoxious advertising 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yoshi Posted February 14, 2019 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2019 7 hours ago, GAcoaster said: I'm expecting them to change SP price structure to be more inline with Six Flags. Their multi-park passes are priced way too high compared to Six Flags. I agree the Platinum prices are too much. When I was renewing my Dorney pass for 2015, I wasn't sure if I was going to Ohio or not and didn't get the Platinum Pass because I didn't want to spend an almost extra $75 to upgrade to Platinum without being sure I would visit other parks. It was almost the same price to buy a Dorney Gold Pass and buy a Kings Island and Cedar Point Combo ticket for around $175 vs around $180 for the Platinum Pass although I had to pay around $12 each at both Ohio parks for parking. In 2006, I think my Dorney pass got me into all the parks at no extra cost and for 2007, it was only $10 to upgrade to have access to all the parks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted February 15, 2019 Report Share Posted February 15, 2019 Their Platinum Passes are way too high. I suspect they will try pushing memberships like SF to allocate payments over time to create a more consistent cashflow. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemur Posted February 19, 2019 Report Share Posted February 19, 2019 On 2/13/2019 at 8:33 AM, GAcoaster said: Hopefully they don't go as blatant as Six Flags has. There is a way to work advertising and corporate sponsorships into a park and a way not to... No point in paying for advertising that isn't blatant. Subtlety is lost on the masses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Master Posted February 20, 2019 Report Share Posted February 20, 2019 Yep, the formula for advertising is attention, interest, desire, and action (which is hopefully to buy). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GAcoaster Posted February 20, 2019 Report Share Posted February 20, 2019 But if it's done as a sponsorship the way it used to be, it's relatively unobtrusive. It's the coaster wraps, banners, and billboards in the parks that are too much. Just about every park has had sponsorships of attractions and food since the beginning of theme parks. It's generally been something that (when done right) works with the theme and isn't a blatant ad in your face. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lemur Posted February 20, 2019 Report Share Posted February 20, 2019 3 hours ago, GAcoaster said: But if it's done as a sponsorship the way it used to be, it's relatively unobtrusive. It's the coaster wraps, banners, and billboards in the parks that are too much. Just about every park has had sponsorships of attractions and food since the beginning of theme parks. It's generally been something that (when done right) works with the theme and isn't a blatant ad in your face. They're also the most lucrative. I used to say if it keeps the passes cheap, so be it. But you get the feeling now that it's not going to keep the passes cheap or the parks upt to date but rather right into shareholder dividends. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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