Marketing communication plan merlin entertainments by A v Sterkenburg

Marketing Communication Plan Merlin Entertainments

Evi Kemeling, 2920409 Anouk van Sterkenburg, 2717751 Annelieke de Loyer, 2859874 Yasmine Vermeer, 2717697 Amy Langen, 2752816 Group 11 Class 2U Coach: Joep Peeters Year 2, 3rd Semester 2016/2017

Executive Summary Madame Tussauds Singapore, the Spirit of Singapore Boat Ride and Images of Singapore Live, are a part of the second largest leisure organization of the world ‘Merlin Entertainments Group’, asked Communication students of Fontys University of Applied Sciences to create a new campaign. Madame Tussauds contains of unique and globally famous wax statues. 200 years ago, Madame Tussauds opened her doors and is now known as a brand with a strong reputation. This is because it is one of the most important tourist attractions in the world, visited by people from all over the globe. Especially families and young adults. Even though, Madame Tussauds Singapore has her special boat-ride and Images of Singapore Live, it is unfortunately still relatively unknown under the European stop-over tourists. The challenge is to raise the brand awareness of these leisure attractions and to improve the behavior of European stop-over tourists. The marketing communication plan contains of only one question: ‘How to improve the sales and brand awareness of Madame Tussauds Singapore and Images of Singapore Live by European stop-over tourists’. To make sure that this question will be answered properly a lot of research has to be done about the product, target group, competitors and the market. Madame Tussauds has a broad audience, so it had to be divided into two target groups. The two chosen target groups are families and young adults. To get a clear picture of these two groups, a persona is made for each of them; family and young adult. Family Jones is a British family with three children. The family likes to travel, explore things, and are using social media. The other persona is Lisa, a Dutch student who is very social and likes backpacking. There are several objectives to make this campaign a success. These objectives must be achieved within a year during the campaign and are SMART formulated. For the marketing communication plan there is a budget of €50.000 to create a great concept for the campaign. With the concept the target group will see what they can explore during their stay in Singapore by the use of the Singawonders App. The main purpose of the app is that people explore all kind of things and sides about Singapore and of course, finally leed them towards the final destination : Madame Tussauds Singapore and Images of Singapore Live. It is an interactive game that brings more awareness among the target group about the brands. It also makes it more interesting to visit these attractions in Singapore than one of their competitors. Nowadays, most of the young adults, parents and children have a smartphone and are using it for social media, playing games and searching on the internet. The target group is able to download apps and search for hotspots in Singapore. The app will help them explore the city and the attractions by offering discounts. The proposition of this campaign is therefore:

‘Explore the wonders of Singapore!’

There will also be attention for the social media to make the target group more aware of Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the Boat ride during the campaign. Some (social) media will be used throughout the whole campaign and other media will be used during special periods (like the holidays). This is because there can be created an optimal use of those media. The campaign will start on the 1st of May 2017.

Contents 1. Introduction 2. Research into consumer, product, competition 2.1 Consumer 2.2 Product 2.3 Competition 2.4 Most important findings and consequences 3. Marketing communication target group 3.1 General level 3.2 Domain-specific level 3.3 Brand-specific level 3.4 Most important findings and relevance for objectives/strategy 4. Marketing communication objectives 4.1 Brand awareness 4.2 Brand attitude 4.3 Behavior 5. Marketing communication strategy 5.1 Positioning 5.2 Proposition 6. Concept development/creation 7. Marketing communication instruments and media 7.1 App 7.2 Social Media 7.3 Website 7.4 Flyers 8. Implementation/execution 9. Budget 9.1 App 9.2 Social Media 9.3 Website 9.4 Flyers 10. Evaluation

1. Introduction Merlin Entertainments is a British entertainment company which runs 117 attractions in 24 countries across four continents (North-America, Europe, Asia, Australia). Their aim is to deliver a unique memorable and rewarding experience for millions of visitors across their growing estate. The vision of Merlin Entertainments is to become the worldwide leader in a branded, location based family entertainment company. The strategy is to create a high growth of people that will return to one of the attractions. This is based on strong brands and a global portfolio that is naturally balanced against the impact of external factors. Merlin Entertainments has attractions all over the world. In Singapore there are 3 attractions located; Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore LIVE and the Boat Ride. These attractions are mostly there to inform people about the culture of Singapore and the highlights of this city. 200 years ago, the first Madame Tussauds opened her doors in London. At the moment there are more than 20 Madame Tussauds around the world. These museums consist of wax statues of famous and well-known persons in one-to-one life sizes. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not just a wax statue, the visitors of Madame Tussauds can also interact with the statues. For example playing soccer with Ronaldinho. Images of Singapore LIVE is a journey whereby the visitor will experience the sights, sounds and smells of yesteryear. In this 45 minutes actor-led attraction with 15 immersive themed areas, live actors, special effects and a spirit of Singapore Boat Ride you can see the history of Singapore for yourself. Visitors get to know more about the culture and history of Singapore. The Boat Ride includes enchanting botanical gardens, the Singapore Grand Prix and Singapore Airlines. Visitors get a small impression of the highlights of Singapore on this ride. This communication plan is written for Merlin Entertainments in Singapore to attract more stop-over tourists from Europe to Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore LIVE and the Boat Ride. This main goals will be achieved with an online app that is established into a game. Stopover tourists will be excited to play the game and will eventually visit at least one or more attractions of Merlin Entertainments in Singapore.

2. Research into consumer In this chapter it will be clear what the consumer, product and competition of Merlin Entertainments Singapore will look like. The most important findings are visible and their consequences for consecutive elements of the marketing communication plan. 2.1 Consumer How does the target group become aware of a product? Learn about it, select it, choose it, use it? How do they share their experience with others? This will become clear in this chapter. The research about the consumer depends on the involvement. Involvement has a lot of variables such as: immediate need, visibility of the product for others, the price of the product and the peer group behavior. The attraction of Merlin Entertainments in Singapore is not for immediate need. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a product for your spare time, whenever you want. The product is visible for others due to social media, on the social media pages there will be updates and the possibility to check whether your friends have been there. People can post something on social media so others will notice the attractions of Merlin Entertainments in Singapore. The entrĂŠe ticket online for Madame Tussauds Singapore is $25 for an adult (13+ years). There are also combo tickets: - Madame Tussauds + Boat Ride + Images of Singapore LIVE + Trick Eye Museum Singapore (museum with 3D art) for $45 (13+ years). - The Resorts World Sentosa Bundle: Madame Tussauds + Boat Ride + Images of Singapore LIVE + S.E.A. Aquarium or Adventure Cove Waterpark for $40 (13+ years). The prices are relatively cheap when you compare them to Universal Studios or other attractions in Singapore because you can visit more attractions with one ticket. The Peer group of Merlin Entertainments are people with similar interests. Persons with the same interests are likely to influence another person's belief and behavior. The peer group behavior of the consumers of Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore LIVE and the Boat Ride are all inclined to travel and have a big interest for other cultures. These consumers are influencing other people mainly with the use of social media by placing photos and updates of their visit to Madame Tussauds. People who are planning a trip to Singapore and see these updates will get triggered to also visit this place. 2.1.1 Involvement, FCB matrix (knowledge, emotion and involvement) How do knowledge (cognition) or emotion (affection) dominate the purchase process?

The target group is high-involved because they are in Singapore for a short time and they want to get the best out of their trip. First they will do some research and think actively about purchasing a ticket for Madame Tussauds because they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to risk that a visit to Madame Tussauds is a waste of time and money. The target group will search for some information of Madame Tussauds on the internet and they will read some reviews of other visitors especially because most people never heard about Images of Singapore Live and the boat ride in Madame Tussauds. The target group is as cognitive as it is affective. The target group belongs to category D because they let other people know that they visit Madame Tussauds. They want to show to the outside world that they can afford a trip to Madame Tussauds by means of souvenirs and posts on their social media pages. You can also consider that the target group belongs to category B because if you look at IOSL and the boat ride people want to gain knowledge about the culture of Singapore. That is why they are high involved in a cognitive way. 2.1.2 Involvement, R&P matrix (Rossiter and Percy) Function for the customer: solving problems or adding value?

The target group is a high-involved target group that belongs to category D; transformational (0 to +), there is less need of specific information. They want the product or service to be part of their lifestyle because they look for something that fits their personality. The promoting of Madame Tussauds is showing people that a visit to Madame Tussauds can add value to their trip. The aim is that the visitors of Madame Tussauds have gained more knowledge about Singapore (for example about the culture of Singapore). And also have a clearer view of what Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the Boat ride are all about. Madame Tussauds can change a situation from a neutral state to a positive state.

2.2 Product Merlin Entertainments has three products in Singapore. The best known is Madame Tussauds Singapore, the other two are Images of Singapore Live and the Boat Ride. 2.2.1 General description of product Madame Tussauds Museum of wax statues that reflects the culture, fame, success and emotions of an individual. In the museum there are wax statues of celebrities, sporting legends, royal figures, historical icons, political heavyweights, events and moments that made the world talk about them. The first Madame Tussauds was opened 200 years ago founded by Marie Tussauds a wax sculptor, Marie was known as Madame Tussauds. Marie made their first wax statues when she was 17. When she moved to London with her 4-year old son she opened her first museum in Baker Street. Nowadays there are more than 20 Madame Tussauds all over the world. Madame Tussauds Singapore exists since 2014.

The Spirit of Singapore Boat Ride A new product of Merlin Entertainments is the Boat Ride. This ride is a short journey through all the wonders of Singapore. The ride will include the Singapore Grand Prix, Singapore airlines and the enchanting Botanical Gardens.

Images of Singapore Live This show is a great way to get to know the history of Singapore. There is a roleplay with actors and a good dĂŠcor. The consumer will get to know all the facts about Singaporeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s history. This is also a new concept Merlin Entertainments edited to Madame Tussauds.

Marketing Mix This mix balances the product and services introduced into the market. These mix consists of the four Pâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s; Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

- Product A museum of wax statues. - Price The amount of money the consumer paid for the product and services. - Place The area where the product will be experienced. This is in Singapore on Sentosa Island. - Promotion Promotion is a communication tool that provides information and guidelines to the consumer. It will cover all the methods in which an entertainment company communicates about their product. Merlin Entertainments uses advertisements, sales promotion, public relations, direct marketing, sponsorship, personal selling, displays and events.

In the product life-cycle Merlin Entertainments is in the maturity phase. Madame Tussauds is not the only attraction anymore. The brand clearly wants to position itself among the consumers. There are combo tickets so you can visit some more attractions for one amount of money and you can get some discount. One of the benefits of Merlin Entertainments is that it is a big brand with a worldwide strong reputation. It offers a wide range of different experiences. With 13000 employees this company has an excellent technique to handle their customers efficiently. Madame Tussauds is a big brand which has a good present market. Even when the countries where Madame Tussauds is located get an economic fall or recession, this will not affect this leisure organization. The concept of Madame Tussauds has a great impact on visitors because they will gain knowledge and get entertained at the same time.

2.3 Competition In this chapter we going to compare a few of the biggers competitors of Madame Tussauds, Images of singapore Live and the Boat Ride. To do this, a SWOT analysis is made for every brand and their product. In these analyses brands are measured based on their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and treats. Based on these analyses a properties-benefits matrix is made in which each brand is given a positive, negative or neutral review of the product features that are important and beneficial to the consumers. SWOT Analysis for Madame Tussauds Singapore, the Spirits of Singapore Boat Ride and Images of Singapore Live (Brand A).

SWOT Analysis for Universal Studios Singapore (Brand B)

SWOT Analysis for S.E.A. Aquarium Singapore (Brand C)

SWOT Analysis for Adventure Cove Waterpark Singapore (Brand D)

2.3 Competition Properties-benefits matrix

The result of these analyses are processed in a Properties-Benefits Matrix pictured above. The first brand, brand A, is Madame Tussauds Singapore, the spirits of Singapore Boat Ride and Images of Singapore live. Brand B is the theme park Universal Studios Singapore, which is, just as Madame Tussauds, located on Sentosa Island and offers visitors a day out in a park with attractions, rides and performances. Brand C is the S.E.A. Aquarium, also located on Sentosa Island. This competitor offers aquaria with fish and other ocean animals, a museum and activities for children to learn about the ocean. Last of all is brand D, Adventure Cove Waterpark, a waterpark located on Sentosa Island that contains swimming pools, waterslides and other water related activities. Brand A dominates Dominates brand B, C and D because it is as good or better on all features. This is because brand A offers a product that is suitable for families with children of all ages. For stopover tourists a visit to Madame Tussauds can be a perfect day out, because it takes only a few hours of your time, is not expensive and by buying combi-tickets you can easily combine all available attractions at once. 2.4 Most important findings and consequences There are a lot of interesting things because this project was started with only a little bit of knowledge. An important finding is that the target group is mostly high involved in a cognitive as a affective way. Another important finding what became clear when making the SWOT analysis and comparing the competitors is that Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the boat ride fits with the target group. This is because Madame Tussauds is child- and family friendly and it is not very expensive, especially not for families because there are family tickets available.

Another important finding is that Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the boat ride are not that active on social media which is a shame because you can achieve a lot with it and a lot of people use social media. The last important finding is that there is a lot of competition for Madame Tussauds. Some attractions of the competitors are more interesting or attractive for the target group than the attractions of Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the boat ride.

3. Marketing communication target group This chapter will include the marketing communication target group for the game of Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the Boat Ride. Madame Tussauds has normally a broad audience and is therefore not specific enough for this campaign. The target group ‘European stop-over tourists’ is divided into two target groups: Families and young adults. The target group is described on the basis of : general, domain-specific and brand-specific. To get a better imagination of the target groups, two personas were made. Personas Family: Family Jones. They live in Croydon, a village under London in England. Jayden is the middle child and is 12 years old. He is very smart and a little bit naughty. When he isn’t at school he likes to play the guitar. Lynn is 10 years old and the benjamin of the family. Lynn is a diva and has a big interest in celebrities and fashion. She is in drama classes once a week and plays in some small musicals. Bryan is 48 years old. He has his own real estate agency in Croydon. He works full-time. He is a big fan of soccer club Chelsea and has an interest in world Politics. He graduated at the University of Cambridge. Every month he earns around 3.050 pounds. The 43 year old June is the mother of the family. Working at a woman’s magazine. She knows a lot about celebrities. June has a parttime job and earns 1.450 pounds a month. She loves to make culinary dishes for her family. June graduated at the University of applied sciences in London. Brandon is 17 years old and the oldest child in the house. He is a high school student that likes to play soccer and games (on the smartphone). He has a part-time job at the local supermarket and earns 4.35 pounds per hour. The house where the family Jones lives in is very modern and clean. There are 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms so there is a lot of space for everyone.

Young Adult: Liza, a 25 years old Dutch Student who lives in Utrecht. Besides her study Communication, she likes to go out and visit festivals. She is a very social person, in real life but also on social media. She has a middle/high income when you compare it to an average income of a student. This is because she works at a publicity agency in Amsterdam. She loves photography, especially abroad. She wants to explore the world and travels a lot during the summer holidays. Her favorite destination is Asia and she prefers backpacking. There is only one thing Liza canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t live without, she is addicted to her smartphone and is constantly checking her social media. Even while sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s traveling!

3.1 General level The general level of the target group are the behavior patterns and person characteristics. The main purpose for the target group on their trip is to discover Singapore. Visiting Madame Tussauds can be a part of discovering Singapore because there is a lot of history and culture in Madame Tussauds. Psychographic (interest, lifestyle) The interests of the target group is important for Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the Boat Ride because not everyone is interested in culture and history. If people are not interested in culture and history, they do not have to visit Madame Tussauds because they will not like it. Madame Tussauds is for example nice for people who are involved by the world of today, because they recognize the famous people in wax statues. Other interest of the target group are politics, celebrities and culture because some wax statues are for example political leaders. The target group is adventurous and enterprising, they want to see something of the world and they are open for new experiences. Social media is also a big part of their life because they spend a lot of time on their social media pages like Facebook and Instagram.

Demographer (income, education, age) The target groups are young adults and families who stay longer than 24 hours in Singapore. The age of the young adults is between 19 and 30 years, families can vary between 10 and 50 years. The income of the target group is important, because Singapore itself is expensive, they have to afford a trip to Singapore. The target group has a well-payed job, a middle or high income, so they can afford a trip to Singapore. They finished a high education (University) before they started the job. An example of a job of someone in the target group is PR-manager. Geographic (location) The stop over tourists are from Europe, from all different countries. These tourists are interested in the world of today. There is not a specific religion in the target group and there is no religion excluded in the target group. They be open for other cultures and religions. The advertising for the target group is for each country the same and will only take place in Singapore itself. The target group flies most with the following airlines; - KLM - Singapore Airlines - Air France - Flying Emirates - British Airways 3.2 Domain-specific level Involvement (high- or low- involvement?) The target group is a high-involvement target group because they are in Singapore for a short stay they want to get the best out of their trip. First they will do some research and think actively about purchasing a ticket for Madame Tussauds because they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t want to risk that a visit to Madame Tussauds is a waste of time and money. The target group will search for some information of Madame Tussauds on the internet and they will read some reviews of other visitors especially because most people never heard about Images of Singapore Live and the boat ride before in Madame Tussauds. Persona (Young Adult, in a short story) Liza is a 25 year old woman. She wears sportive clothes most of the time. But when she is traveling, she adapts her clothes to the culture and to the country she is visiting. Some characteristics of Liza are inclined to travel, interested in culture, social and empathy. Liza has a middle/high income for a student because she works at a publicity agency in Amsterdam. Her motivation to travel is gaining more knowledge and self-employing. Liza's hobbies are photography and reading magazines (for example glossyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s) and newspapers because she is interested in culture, developments in the world, politics and celebrities.

Persona (single person, in table)

3.3 Brand-specific level Brand awareness: The target group has a passive awareness of the brand, they recognize the brand by name and product but they may have never visited a Madame Tussauds before in another country and have never visited Madame Tussauds Singapore. Brand Knowledge and attitudes: The target group is not very familiar with the concept Madame Tussauds. They know Madame Tussauds by name and product but most people have no experience with Madame Tussauds Singapore. They know what they have to expect of Madame Tussauds Singapore but have no idea what Images of Singapore LIVE or The Boat Ride are. They think the boat ride could be like those in a theme park. That is why we will make Purchase intentions: When arriving in Singapore / arriving at Madame Tussauds Singapore or beforehand on the website. Purchase behavior and use: The young adults love to try out new stuff and broaden their knowledge of other countries and cultures. They will be a consumers of Madame Tussauds Singapore. 3.4 Most important insights The target group that has been chosen consists of European stop-over families and young adults. The reason for the choice of this target group is because the awareness of Madame Tussauds Singapore and Images of Singapore Live is not very high. They mostly Madame Tussauds by name, but they donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know what the version in Singapore makes it so unique with their special Boat Ride and Images of Singapore Live. If they look on the internet for attractions or hotspots in Singapore, Madame Tussauds and

Images of Singapore Live do not show up on recommended pages. A lot of these tourists are not even aware of the existence of Images of Singapore Live or do not know that it belongs to Merlin Entertainments. This is why it is important to use these target groups and raise their brand awareness. The strengths of Madame Tussauds and Images of Singapore Live are to give families and young adults the opportunity to enjoy entertainment and education in an interactive way. These elements are important for the target group because stop-over tourists like a fun experience during their short stay in Singapore. They want to know more about the country. It fits the lifestyle of this target group to explore things. The target group has a middle/high income, which means that they spend money on luxury things and leisure time. Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the Boat Ride are part of leisure goods. The target group is not very familiar with the brand, so the marketing communication needs to be changed. It is generally known that this group consists of fanatically smartphone users. They use their smartphone to do research on the internet, for the use of social media and to play games. This is an interesting part where Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the Boat Ride give little attention to in their communication right now. The objectives will refer to this target group, because it is an important group for raising ticket sales.

4. Marketing communication objectives To make a campaign a success, there are formulated objectives for the chosen audience. There are eight communication effect objectives that may occur separately or in combination. The objectives are SMART formulated. The objectives must be achieved by the end of the campaign. The visits of European stop-over tourists are not very high by Merlin Entertainments so the main objective is to increase these visits. Research has shown that almost none of the stop-over tourist ever heard of Images of Singapore LIVE and the Boat Ride. The second objective is all about increasing the knowledge of the other products of Merlin Entertainment. The last objective is about the interaction between the followers of the Facebook page and the company. To make sure the followers want to be part of this community. Brand awareness Objective: Make sure that 50% of the visitors of MT Singapore know that IOSL and the boatride exist and what they are, before the end of December 2017. - By increasing the IPM rate of the Facebook page by 30% - By increase the IPM rate of the website of MT and IOS by 30%. The target group has a passive awareness of the brand, they recognize the brand by name and product but they may have never visited a Madame Tussauds in another country and did never visit Madame Tussauds Singapore. The consumer of Merlin Entertainments recognize the logo and knows what the name stands for. Behaviour Objective: Increase the number of European stop-over tourists (families and young adults) that visit Madame Tussauds and IOS Live during their stay (of a minimum of 24 hours) by 40% before the end of December 2017. Stop-over touristst that travel by plane 85% van 1617241 = 1374655 Stop-over tourists that travel by plane for leisure 59% van 1374655 = 811046 40% of all the European stop-over tourists that come for leisure time (by plane)= 325.000 tourists. Objective: Increase the interaction with the (potential) visitors on social media (APP/FACEBOOK/etc.) of Madame Tussauds Singapore and Merlin Entertainments during the campaign.

Objective: Strive for at least 150.000 app downloads of European stop-over tourists in 2017. Behavior objectives can lead to interaction of the consumer. For Merlin Entertainments the consumer has to visit the product or like a social media page.

Attitude Objective: Maintaining market share of Madame Tussauds in Singapore, and to get into the top 10 of most popular attractions/sightseeings of Singapore (in the new statistics of â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Singapore Tourism Boardâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; of 2017.) The Attitude of a brand is often linked to an attitude towards other brands. The attitude of Madame Tussauds fulfills its promises because the wax statues are all in the complex and create a great atmosphere. When people hear Madame Tussauds they immediately know that it is about wax statues. Madame Tussauds is unique because no other entertainment company has wax statues of this A-list celebrities. People go to Madame Tussauds to get entertained and enjoy their spare time.

5. Marketing communication strategy 5.1 Positioning Madame Tussauds opened her first wax statue museum in October 2014 in Singapore. This makes Madame Tussauds one of the newest tourist attractions of Singapore. This new version of the attraction is opened 364 days a year and distinguish itself from other Madame Tussauds around the world by adding a unique boat ride. This boat ride is called â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The Spirit of Singaporeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;. This unique ride takes visitors through the stunning Nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s rich culture. It floats through the fantastic Botanical garden, the Singapore Formula 1 night race and the beautiful cityscape. This is with special lighting and sound effects included. A journey like no other in Singapore. Besides Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live is the only attraction in Singapore where people get interactive with the culture and history of Singapore. Both of these attractions are located in Sentosa, the city of fun. Images of Singapore Live is also a relatively new attraction in Singapore. To formulate a good communication strategy, it is important to know in which stage of the product life cycle Madame Tussauds Singapore and Images of Singapore Live are contained. Madame Tussauds falls under the maturity stage. But this version of Madame Tussauds with their unique Boat ride is globally the first one. It was introduced in 2014. Images of Singapore Live is also a new introduced attraction. Therefore it is for both attractions essential that the consumer is more familiar with the brand and there is more brand awareness among the target group. This is also mentioned in the objectives. The communication must clearly show the things where Madame Tussauds and Images of Singapore Live stands out in when you look at the competition. A clear positioning is important. The brand distinguish itself from their competitors because it is interactive, educational entertainment. Their tickets are relatively cheap and for all ages. They also have combo-tickets that give visitors the option to combine more attractions at once. These are the areas in which Madame Tussauds separates itself from the competition Means end-chain laddering for the service that Madame Tussauds Singapore and Images Of Singapore Live offers. Properties/ Features = activities, entertainment, quality, nature, culture, inexpensive, wax statues, boat ride Benefits = Relaxation, recharging from school/work/study, recharging from the flight, educational, solidarity, a taste of fun/luxury, unique experience Values = Spending quality time with the family/loved ones, exploring Singapore in a short time, Learning about the history of Singapore, exploring the culture, unique Positioning is the position of a brand with their features, benefits and values as compared to other brands/competitors in the perception of the consumer. The chosen positioning is a two-sided positioning. This positioning is a combination of informational and transformational positioning. The informational part is more based on giving the families and young adults information about the brand to raise the brand awareness. The message they give is a unique entertainment experience during their holiday. Applying this to the campaign, the target audience will be informed about new

features, like the new boat ride, Madame Tussauds and the unique Images of Singapore Live. There will also be information given about history and culture in an educative and fun way. Visitors will learn more about the culture and history of Singapore if they visit these attractions. This creates added value. It promises a unique and interactive experience which is important information, that can be a decisive factor for families and young adults to make a visit. Madame Tussauds added a special value, ‘a unique experience’. This plays an emotional role for visitors. It is transformational because Madame Tussauds and Images of Singapore Live fit into the lifestyle of the target group. European stop-over tourists, like families and young adults, feel a high priority to explore the county. The value of spending quality time with family, loved ones or friends has a huge impact on their emotions. These brands are meant for pleasure during their stay. It creates value like socializing with family or friends, happiness, learning, entertainment, fun, reloading after a long flight. These values can be the ones tourists are looking for during their stay in Singapore and therefore choose to go there. This is why there is a high customer involvement. 5.2 Proposition The proposition is about the main promise that Madame Tussauds and Images of Singapore Live keeps to the target audience. Their current main promise is that they offer the target audience: A full visit of education and entertainment. Applying to the campaign, there is created a slogan/proposition: “Explore the wonders of Singapore”. It fits the campaign, because it combines Madame Tussauds Singapore, Images of Singapore Live, the boat ride and beautiful hotspots of Singapore. Visitors do not only explore the wonderful wax statues in Madame Tussauds and the wonders of the culture and history of Singapore from Images of Singapore Live, but also the wonders of what the boat ride shows and the wonders that lie within the country itself. With the concept ‘Explore’, the app will give information about the attractions in Singapore and makes it possible to be interactive with other visitors while playing the game. The concept will be explained in chapter 6. Tone of Voice The tone of voice for the campaign will appeal to the entire audience. The reason for this broad choice is because the target group includes children. The language will be simple and informal, so children will understand everything. The purpose of the game is to educate stop-over tourists in a fun and entertaining way. The tone will appeal in a casual but motivational way, so they get triggered over and over again to use the app.

6. Concept development/creation The proposition of the concept is “explore the wonders of Singapore”. This means that the stop- over tourists will discover all kinds of sightseeings and attractions in Singapore. The big promise is that the customer will have an informative and fun experience with also a touch of adventure. And above all, a time at Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the Boat ride that is worth the while. This promise that is provided is because of the fact that stop-over tourists are only for a short time in Singapore so they deserve to get the best out of their stay. The title that is given to this concept is “Explore”. It describes what the consumer has to do on the basis of the app and it makes you curious for more… The app will lead you to the following places: Free Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live, Spirits of Singapore Boat Ride € Sentosa Island

X (only the South Bay is for free)

Gardens by the Bay

Paid

X X

Marna Barrage

Henderson Waves Singapore Flyer

X X

Helix Bridge Sri Thendayuthapani Temple S.E.A. Aquarium €

X X

Adventure Cove water park €

Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the Boat ride are working together with these attractions/sights so it remains payable for the stop- over tourist to actually visit more than one. There are a lot of media possibilities available for this concept because there are many ways to use media. The media possibilities that are fitting best to this concept are different social media pages to promote and update people, television and outdoor advertising like billboards.

7. Instruments and media 7.1 The SingaWonders App The app ‘SingaWonders’ is developed for European stop-over tourists. The primary goal of the app is to create knowledge in a fun and interactive way to engage the target group with Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the Boat Ride. By playing the game the target group will get to know the culture and history of Singapore. The interaction between Madame Tussauds and the potential visitors will be increased with help from the app. More people will know about Madame Tussauds Singapore, Images of Singapore Live and the Boat Ride. Two of these three Merlin attractions in Singapore are in the introductions phase, so it is important to provide customers with information about the product and entice them into consumption. The app responds to the characteristics of the target group, so they will feel emotionally involved with this product. 7.2 Social Media: Facebook & Instagram By using the social media channels (Facebook and Instagram) in a regular and active way, the brand awareness can increase. The target group is known to be very active on social media so the use of this instrument is very important and influential. These social media pages are also very suitable to make people curious about Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the Boat Ride. It is necessary to make sure that people want to find out more about them or even visit the attraction when they are in Singapore. 7.3 Website The website is a very important medium because this should be one of the first things the target group should come across when they are doing their research on Singapore at home. There are not a lot of changes necessary on the website, but the website will be used on its full potential when the home page of the website is divided in three categories: Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the boat ride. This way people can always find everything about the 3 attractions in just one click. The target group can also find a link to the App Store/Google Play on the website to download the app ‘SingaWonders’ and links to find more about the attractions on social media. 7.4 Flyers Flyers can easily be used for advertising. With advertising, the knowledge/attitudes and behavior of the target group can be affected in a positive direction for the marketing policy. The flyers can be found in hotels and information points. They will be used to inform people about Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the Boat Ride. If more people are aware of the attractions in Singapore the brand image can be improved.

8. Implementation/Execution Planning in the form of a month/ media matrix.

App: The app will be active during the whole six months of the campaign because our target group has at least one smartphone per individual or family. The function of the app is to create knowledge in a fun and interactive way to engage the target group with theme parks. They can play a game which leads the target group through Singapore. Social media (Facebook, Instagram): The target group (young adults and families) uses social media as a daily routine. Social media will be deployed during the whole six months of the campaign. The goal is to create more brand awareness, so it is necessary that the social media pages are up to date. There will be one employee that will be working on the social media platforms. There will be messages like app promotion and news facts about the changes in Madame Tussauds and Images of Singapore Live. Website: The website of Madame Tussauds will be deployed during the whole six months of the campaign. The website is a very important medium because the target group will do their research on the website first. The home page of the website is divided in three categories, Madame Tussauds, Images of Singapore Live and the boat ride. This is because you can directly go to the website of the attraction you want to visit or are interested in. The target group can find a link to download the app in the App Store/Google Play on the website. Flyers: Flyers of Madame Tussauds will be available in a few hotels in Singapore during the whole six months of the campaign because flyers are relatively cheap compared to other advertising possibilities. Flyers will reach a broad side of the target group because the flyers will be used in the hotels where the stop-over tourists stay. These flyers will be used to advertise for Madame Tussauds and the app by means of a QR-code, but the main focus lays on Madame Tussauds because otherwise all the advertisement will be put into one product and now it is spread over several products that Merlin offers.

9. Budget Here is an overview of the costs for the concept, production and media.

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9.1 App The app is really comprehensive and has more functions than a basic app. Because it has more functions it will cost more. The cost of the app is based on these 4 things: - GPS - interactive - more data sources required to make the app - complex functions 9.2 Facebook & Instagram To get the social media pages up to date there is an employee needed. This employee makes sure there is interaction with the consumer and a daily post. 9.3 Website The website requires some changes. Therefore, Merlin Entertainments needs a website developer. 9.4 Flyers The flyers are used in hotels and tourist information points. There are 1.897.373 European visitors in Singapore over 1 year (Singapore Tourism board, 2014). 750.000 flyers should be enough for all the visitors to notice.

10. Evaluation This chapter describes how the campaign is evaluated and whether we have achieved the objectives defined in chapter 5. 6 months ( 1 May until 1 November) after the start of the marketing communication campaign, there could already be a difference in reaching the goal that Merlin Entertainments has formulated for Fontys Communication students: gaining more European stop-over tourists by raising more brand awareness and increase the ticket sale of Madame Tussauds Singapore and Images of Singapore Live. This is the main objective of the study. To achieve this objective, we came up with several objectives to reach this goal. This main objective can be measured on the basis of the ticket sale during the 6 months of the campaign in 2017 (May, June, July, August, September, October) compared with the ticket sale of the same period from previous years (2015). We created the marketing communication campaign ‘Explore the wonders of Singapore’. The goal of Merlin Entertainments will be reached by means of this ‘Explore’ concept. The App SingaWonders has its content focus on European families and young adults. This audience has the largest smartphone use. By creating the campaign, the target group will be reached in a right way. The promotion of the App, Madame Tussauds Singapore and Images of Singapore Live take place on different locations, online and offline. After the 6 month during campaign, 40% of the European stop-over tourists must have visited Madame Tussauds Singapore or Images of Singapore Live before the end of 2017. The potential target audience in this period is 811.046 (European stop-over that come for leisure time and by plane). 40% of this target audience will actually make a visit to Madame Tussauds Singapore and/or Images of Singapore Live. 40% of 811.046 = 324.418 stop-over tourists. So the total amount of ticket sale has to increase by 324.418 by the end of 2017. This can be measured with the amount of ticket sale of previous years. If there are more tickets sold during the campaign period than previous years, the campaign was a success for the ticket sale and behaviour of the target audience. The increasing interaction with (potential) visitors on the social media of Madame Tussauds Singapore and Merlin Entertainments during our campaign can also be measured. The visits of the campaign period can be compared with the amount of visits of the same period of previous years. If the visits of the social media platforms are higher than previous years (2016, 2015), the campaign was successful for the social media and the behaviour of the target audience. You can measure these visits with the IPM rate of Facebook. At the end of 2017, there must at least been 150.000 app downloads. This can be measured by calculating the number of app downloads in 2017. If there are 150.000 or more downloads, the campaign was a success. The maintaining market share of Madame Tussauds Singapore/ Images of Singapore Live must get into the top 10 of most popular attractions/sightseeings of Singapore of the Tourism Singapore Board. This result is shown in the Singapore Tourism Board 2017, which will appear in 2018 on the website. MT and IOS Live never appeared in the top 10 of Singapore before. If they appear in the top 10 for 2017, the campaign has been a success and raised more brand awareness and the attitude.

Brand awareness: Objective: Make sure that 50% of the visitors of MT Singapore know that IOSL and the boatride exist and what they are, before the end of December 2017. - By increasing the IPM rate of the Facebook page by 30% - By increasing the IPM rate of the website of MT and IOS by 30%. To measure this we will use the IPM rates of Facebook and the website of Madame Tussauds, Images Of Singapore Live including the Boat ride. With these rates we can keep track of how active and involved people are with those 3 attractions. With the help of advertisement and social media we have a higher chance to achieve the 75%. When people see the advertisements of Madame Tussauds and Images of Singapore Live they will get curious and look up some information on the websites and the Facebook page. The people who already have plans to go visit MT and IOSL are high-involved so they already looked up some information about these attractions. You can say that it is almost a sure thing that people who are going to visit MT and IOSL know in advance about the existence of those attractions.

Epilogue After two periods working on the marketing communication plan, we hope to support Merlin Entertainments with the marketing of the brands Madame Tussauds Singapore and Images of Singapore Live. The marketing plan can contribute to achieve objectives of Merlin Entertainments, we hope that we came up with more insights for new marketing campaign ideas that contribute to the brand awareness and communication of the brand. Hindsights we can look back with a good feeling on this big project. We learned a lot from this project and from each other. The collaboration went well, we supported each other and the tasks were fairly divided. If there were ambiguities during the project, it was discussed immediately and tried to resolve the problem. I took us a long time to come up with a waterproof concept, because of the reduced budget. This makes the challenge to come up with a good concept only bigger. We optimally made use of the coaching hours. The Fetex days helped us a lot to create a creative concept. Even though we think they were planned to early in the semester, after these days the project went much better. The division of tasks went well and everyone held stuck to the agreements that were made. During the project, we become closer to each other and as a group. We now know everyoneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s strengths and weaknesses, we certainly made use of that knowledge. This allows us to look back with a good feeling on this project and we are certainly pleased with the end result. We hope there will be more consistency between the coaches next time. When our coach told us that we are on the right track, another coach told us something quite differently. This led to confusion at the end of the assignment. But still, I think that it is a good thing that you have two different opinions so you can look more critically to your own work. We want to thank Merlin Entertainments and Madame Tussauds Singapore for the information they provided and we especially want to thank HR-manager JoĂŤlle of Madame Tussauds Singapore for giving us a clear picture of what had to be done. We also want to thank Joep Peters for coaching our project. Amy Langen Evi Kemeling Yasmine Vermeer Annelieke de Loyer Anouk van Sterkenburg Class 2U, group 11

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