Success Story: Dollywood
The Challenge
- Dollywood, one of North America’s most popular theme parks, was seeking to increase park visits and drive online sales for season passes & single day tickets via market expansion.
- Due to budgets, the market investment had always been focused on six core drive markets.
- Opportunity markets with similar drive times and target audience saturation were not affordable with current budgets when focused on traditional media.
The Solution
- Reduced market specific digital investments and emphasized tiered-level targeting based on driving distances to park and audience segmentation to drive more visitation without increasing budget.
- Expanded performance tactics including SEM & Retargeting to a year-round approach vs. campaign specific initiatives for an always-on approach to the most cost-effective channels.
- Created and deployed custom data segments beyond demographic variables including Customer Match, Look-a-Like, and Purchase vs. Non-Purchase.
Extended traditional Broadcast campaigns with Digital Video & Streaming Audio channels as more efficient ways to reach new markets.
The Results
- CPA for online ticket sales improved by more than 20% in the first 6 months of the campaign.
- By the end of the first year, return on advertising spend (ROAS) increased by 300% for digital media with no change in the budget, leading to record-breaking sales for the theme park.
