Lake Compounce: A Fun-omenal New Beginning

Submitted by ckwebacct on Tue, 2011-07-12 11:30
The Challenge: 

When Kennywood Entertainment became the new managing partner of Lake Compounce, the nation’s oldest amusement park, the company also inherited a mountain of negative publicity related to 12 years of problems. A concert promoter had absconded with ticket sales from a sold-out rock concert that was never even scheduled. Hershey, a major sponsor, had abruptly pulled out. For several years the park had opened only on Labor Day weekend with a skeleton crew and practically no promotion. Because of unpaid back taxes, two towns were threatening foreclosure. To turn this situation around, the company asked Cashman + Katz to help create and promote a new identity for Lake Compounce.

The Approach: 

Focus group research we conducted for Lake Compounce indicated that Connecticut residents had fond, family-oriented memories of the amusement park, but their memories had been tainted by the recent problems that had occurred under several different owners. Consequently, our solution was based on positioning the Lake Compounce experience as wholesome “family fun for everyone,” using a multi-media campaign unified with the theme “Happy Days Are Here Again.” To ensure the market was receptive to our advertising campaign, the advertising was preceded by an aggressive public relations campaign anchored to Kennywood’s years of successful amusement park ownership. To combat deeply rooted skepticism, we generated favorable media coverage months before the park re-opened by bringing the media in during every key phase of Lake Compounce’s renovations. As themedia saw all the improvements to the rides and facilities they became, in effect, cheerleaders for the park.

The Results: 

Our public relations effort produced more than 235 favorable stories and features in state and regional newspapers, scores of radio interviews and significant, ongoing TV coverage that included all five Connecticut news stations as well as regional exposure on New England Cable News, New England Sports Network, and national coverage on the QVC and Discovery Channels. Though the park’s competitor outspent Lake Compounce by at least 5-to-1 on advertising, our campaign was so successful that the park hit capacity and had to turn people away on July 4, only one week after the Grand Opening. Hundreds of thousands of people visited Lake Compounce during the shortened season, exceeding management’s goals by 25%. Cashman + Katz received the Gold Mercury Award (First Place) for Integrated Marketing Communications from the Connecticut Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).