Vision XS Leisure Operators’ Conference 2012


Above: Family attractions specialist Innovative Leisure was among the exhibiting companies at the conference


Exploring the latest developments in visitor attraction pricing, product and strategic marketing


THE Vision XS Leisure Operator’s Conference 2012 took place at the end of June, this year’s event having an overall theme of ‘Strategies to Win More’ under which title speakers and attendees explored the


latest developments in visitor attraction


pricing, product and strategic marketing. The day commenced with a welcome


by Vision XS chairman Julian Bagwell who introduced the two conference hosts, Bob O’Connor,


from Howletts and Port Lympne


animal parks, and Pippa Craddock, from Paignton Zoo, Living Coasts and Newquay Zoo. The first of several keynote addresses, Learning


entitled from the Experience


Economy, was given by international speaker and business consultant Joseph Pine II, author of The Experience Economy and founder


Pippa Craddock and Bob O’Connor hosted this year’s Vision XS conference


of Strategic Horizons LLP. Pine’s presentation covered a number of key areas by posing several questions, including how can you stage real experiences and create memorable impressions, how should theatre influence operations and how can operators can create new value for their customers with offerings that fuse the real and the virtual? He told his audience that they need to innovate in


experiences, noting that people are willing to pay for an experience. “You need to recognise that you are in an experience business but we are moving into an experience economy so everyone is competing against the world for the time, attention and money of people,” he said, adding that “time is limited, attention is scarce and money is consumable.” Among other things, he went on to discuss how to create more engaging experiences,


the role of employees and


the fact that they should be directed to act because their work was “theatre,” while also suggesting operators “mass customise” their offerings.


20 InterPark July–August 2012 “We are seeing this more and more,” he said.


“Customisation is key to repeat visits. Learn about your visitor, customise their visit; you benefit, there’s more interaction with them and they’ll come back again and again.” Pine was followed by Anita Waddell of Agility Marketing


with a session on Result benchmarking, in which she looked at two main areas of marketing, namely what attractions should spend on marketing and the location’s marketing potential. She also discussed online marketing for different venues targeting different age groups, and social media. Another keynote, entitled Tours, Events, Attractions –


bringing programmes to life and the case for IP licensing, was presented by Philip Murphy, managing director, live events at BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC. He explained how BBC Worldwide’s remit was to exploit the company’s IPs, working with partners and selling these around the world, and to extend various IPs to create experiences with the creation of shows like Strictly Live and exhibit based attractions such as Doctor Who Live. The following session took the form of a number of


interactive workshops under the heading of Power up your Marketing. Delegates chose from five separate sessions presented by various experts, including Ensure you deliver your brand promise, the Psychology of messaging, New revenue streams, Reputation management in the age of TripAdvisor and Mobile internet – are you ready?


Duncan Phillips, managing director of 360 Play

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