www.parkworld-online.com
Industry Insider
“It has been an honour to lead Merlin Entertainments as it lays the foundations for its next phase of growth"
and Thriving]. I did a lot of speaking and started investing in some early- stage companies, and then a recruiter called and asked, 'would you ever be interested?' and I said no. She said her name was Polly Jackson and asked, 'I don't suppose you know what Merlin is?' and I said, I don't. She said, 'well, why don't you Google it and call me back?' So, I googled it and called her back. And I was like, wow, this seems like an absolutely incredible company. So that's how it started.
MB: And what are you generally involved in; what are you hands-on with day-to-day? SON: Generally, I try to spend a third of my time on people, culture and talent - so asking 'do we have the right people in the right places?' A third of my time is on new business development, so 'what's the next Minecraft?' etc. We're putting 26 residences into the market over the next 18 months - 'where are they going?', 'what's the creative that goes in there?' And then a third
MB: And out of that core activity, have there been specific key areas that you've really focused on in 2024? SON: Absolutely. We have a chief operating officer, Fiona Eastwood [now stepping up as interim CEO in Scott's wake - Ed.] She runs the business, I run the company. She's driving the business, and I feel like my job is to try to figure out where we should put more resources, where do we have to put more emphasis, how do we supercharge what we're doing and where we're going. I feel like data - or as I like to say, day-to-day data - is where we need to spend a lot more time, effort and energy. And the second piece is just developing a commercial mindset. And the third piece is to make sure that our Merlin Magic Makers have the right resources and the right tools to not only compete, but to outperform the market and excel in leveraging the latest and greatest in A.I. and technology to make sure that we're delivering the best for our guests.
MB: What are the highlights of the recent announcement on the Minecraft deal? SON: Minecraft is one of the great brands in the world. We have the number one toy brand in the world with Lego, the number one toddler brand in the world with Peppa Pig, and now we have the number one gaming In terms of being able to partner with a brand as big as Minecraft, with leaders that have the vision to do something special and big and different, it's definitely been a highlight of my time with Merlin.
MB: And what are you expecting from the Merlin Magic Making team on that project? SON: The good news is that - as it is with all our great brands - we're in
2025
a co-creation mode. So, while we have arguably the best creative team in the world, I think Mojang Studios would argue that they do as well. So we have to bring our knowhow in terms of how you bring brands to life with their knowhow about their brand, and then we figure out how to bring those teams together. That is the magic of Merlin, so to speak: this notion of that you walk into every room with humility and a partnership approach, and an interest to learn, to grow, and this notion of together; it's a "we" versus "I" or "me" every time. And I think Paul Moreton, who runs our Merlin Magic Makers, and his team have done that extraordinarily well.
MB: SON: back to the basics approach. The world was running very smoothly up to 2019. Covid hit and then we had a revenge spending rebound. Then we had a reset. And now we've got to get back to what we do. And what we do is, as world class marketers, we understand our guests, we understand how to operate at a very high level, and we go find our commercial muscle again.
MB: Is there anything the company is doing now that you wouldn't have thought possible when you first got involved? SON: I wake up every day with big eyes and hope. There's never anything that I don't think that a group of smart, talented, incredible teammates can accomplish, so it's not that. It's the rate and pace with which we've been able what surprised me. The team is up for it; this is a group that run towards the fire. I love how they act and who they are and what they aspire to be. It's been fun to be part of that team.
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