Marketing and re-branding strategy for a 250,000 sq. m. tourist destination.

Using fixed assets to gain permanent advantages over the competition.

Goals

Obstacles

At the time, the park was the biggest of its kind in the GCC. But footfall was nowhere near potential and tour operators were having close to no business with this venue.

Having to travel for a long distance outside of the UAE’s main cities (Dubai and Abu Dhabi) was another serious setback that prevented growth.

In addition, a third of the park’s surface area was critically under-utilized.

Analysis

The venue had a lot of strengths: an exciting and unique mix of attractions, a waterfront location and enough space to accommodate 15,000 guests a day.

These strategic assets were not being used to good effect because the previous marketing strategy was completely misaligned. Pricing, promotion, services, distribution, personnel, and operations management were counter-productive and often worked against each other.

The company had no clear purpose or direction and as a result, it attracted the wrong target customers and didn’t benefit at all from the millions of tourists visiting the UAE.

Actions

Carried out marketing and brand audits.
Raised entry fees from $11 to $57 to replace price-sensitive guests with a higher end customer base.
Created a new premium service (Overnight Waterfront Camping site) to attract new segments, and to fully-utilize the premises and create a unique service the competition couldn’t match - because they did not have the surface area to accommodate it.
Created new and unique services sold at premium rates of $150 per guest.
Developed new packages that increased tour operator’s profit from $2 to $19 per tourist.
Led efforts to create new corporate and product identities and re-branding campaigns.
Cooperated with a Multinational advertising agency to launch an international advertising campaign in 10 Western and Asian countries.
Revamped the company's processes (all departments).
Trained the current workforce and drove a recruitment campaign to fill key positions.
Were designated as interim managers with full profit and loss responsibility.

Results

Grew volume of tour operators conducting business with the venue by 77% per year.

Multiplied revenues from $3.3 Million to $16.1 Million in four years, and drove up footfall volume by 41% CAGR and customer spending by 36% during the same period.

Turned the park into the N.7 top tourist destination in the GCC (as recognized by Gulf Marketing Review magazine).

On holidays, the park would operate at full capacity of 14,000 guests. Management on those days had to close the gates because of its inability to accommodate more people safely.

The park’s consultants won the prestigious first-prize award of “Excellence in Marketing Campaigns” that was organized by the Dubai Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) and Reed Exhibitions (U.K.)

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