In a grim little post-industrial town on the edge of Lake Erie, there is an amusement park called Cedar Point. I will confess that amusement parks, bus terminals and Iowa caucuses leave the reasonable person in the role of contemplative human observer saying- "God, what were you thinking?"
Cedar Point is known for one thing - roller coasters. They have 5 of the top 20 roller coasters in the country. They have 17 roller coasters in all. This is why people travel thousands of miles to a place where the "T to T" ratio, (tattoos to teeth) exceeds 1.0 and it seems that even the fountain drinks are deep-fat fried- because this is the holy place of roller coaster thrill seekers.
This past weekend I kept thinking, "Why is this place packed!?! Why am I paying Manhattan prices for Pocono rooms? How come every person I know across the country knows about this place, and yet I can't find hardly any marketing or media campaign that is memorable?"
It's about the roller coasters. Period. They spend unholy amounts of money on one thing, they neglect almost everything else, (trust me, the listless zombies running the rides were the gold star level of service for the whole joint), except the roller coasters.
What about us? What is the absolutely laser-etched thing that you and your company are known for everywhere? Can you name it in less than 3 words? Can your clients?
People are lining up at Cedar Point today at 7:30am for a 10am opening time. Roller coasters.
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1 comment:
Awesome point.
On the opposite side of this idea, my book club is reading THE SHACK..and I was struck by the shameless and (IMHO) "Monkees-esque" marketing around this title. It's the equivalent of a packaged boyband. You can't fake viral, no matter how often we marketers try!
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