Regional Entertainment Destination Increases Season Pass Sales and Drives Local Foot Traffic
Overview
Filling Seats and Driving Revenue for Premier Regional Venue
Every empty seat in a venue or on a roller coaster isn’t just a gap to be filled; it’s lost revenue, lost effort, and a lost chance to connect with a guest. With travelers having more entertainment options than ever before, competition for their attention and business is fierce. For tourism destinations, the challenge goes beyond creating lasting memories. These destinations must ensure rides stay full, lines remain lively, and every visitor leaves eager to return. That’s where innovative marketing makes all the difference.
Recently, a large regional entertainment destination and its advertising agency partnered with Simpli.fi to reach their ideal target audience and maximize local tourism with an annual programmatic advertising campaign. As a partner with Simpli.fi for more than eight years, the agency confidently implemented Simpli.fi’s hyperlocal, location-based solutions to precisely target several markets across the U.S., increase overall foot traffic to the destination, and granularly track conversions.
Targeting Lookalike Audiences with Household-Level Precision
First, the entertainment destination leveraged Simpli.fi’s Lookalike Audience Targeting to build a unique audience that shared similar interests and characteristics with their existing season pass holders. This approach allowed them to leverage their first-party CRM data and expand their reach efficiently while targeting people most likely to engage and convert.
Simpli.fi’s Addressable Geo-Fencing tool utilized the lookalike audience and identified nearly 2.5 million relevant households across more than 4,600 cities in the southeast. The tool then matched each individual address to the exact shape and size of the property based on GPS and plat line data and automatically built a custom-shaped target fence around each.
The advertiser focused on serving season pass messaging to audiences within a convenient driving distance of the destination, while serving broader park promotions to those farther away who would need to plan their visit and were unlikely to leverage a season pass.
Reaching Potential Guests Based on Real-World Behavior
The entertainment destination and its agency also implemented a Geo-Fencing strategy to engage travelers and attraction seekers while they visited other relevant locations. The advertiser targeted a total of 73 unique locations, such as outdoor venues for sports, entertainment, and recreation, including direct competitors, as well as malls, zoos, and museums. Simpli.fi drew target fences around these locations to capture visitors and serve them CTV and display ads for up to 30 days.
In order to track visits from users who were served an ad, the team also built several Conversion Zones around various locations within the park.
Connecting with Visitors as They Plan
Additionally, the advertiser deployed Simpli.fi’s Keyword Search Retargeting to reach users who indicated interest in amusement parks and entertainment venues based on their online searches. Simpli.fi implemented 22,007 keywords, including park, music, vacation, entertainment, and more, to serve ads to those actively searching for content related to their business.
To further improve brand awareness, season pass sales, and general ticket purchases, the advertiser also deployed Site Retargeting to re-engage users who previously visited the park’s site.
Building Brand Awareness at a ZIP Code Level
To drive general brand awareness of the entertainment destination and all it has to offer, the agency and the advertiser also implemented ZIP code level CTV targeting. Simpli.fi’s ZTV solution is powered by a proprietary weighted ranking system used to identify the most relevant ZIP codes out of 33,000+ ZIPs across the U.S. The system uses both Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) data and U.S. Census data to index ZIP codes based on age, gender, household income, and audience viewing habits.
The advertiser identified 96 ZIP codes across the nation that ranked best for reaching adults 25+. Throughout the campaign, the advertiser implemented over 7,000 blocklisted sites to ensure ads ran alongside brand-safe content and on the highest-performing placements. The advertiser deployed a variety of 15-second and 30-second ZTV creatives to encourage viewers to plan their visit.
Simpli.fi Drives Online and Offline Traffic
The nearly 12-month-long campaign drove a total of 17,488 online and offline actions, including ticket purchases, website visits, and in-person visits. The campaign also generated 35,868 clicks and a 98% Video Completion Rate (VCR). Throughout the campaign, the advertiser aimed to reduce creative fatigue by consistently implementing fresh ads and utilizing the most up-to-date first-party CRM data. They also worked to drive future visitors from brand awareness all the way to conversion by deploying a strong media mix and making mid-flight optimizations. This strategy ultimately drove a low Cost Per Action (CPA) of $13.08, surpassing the advertiser’s initial goal of $25.