APRIL 13, 2015

Background & controversies

SeaWorld

Gabby Acosta Kristen Kastner Anna Steele Courtney Storey

Our group chose to perform a brand audit on SeaWorld as we feel there is much room for improvement in many areas of this company.

SeaWorld was opened in 1964 by four fraternity brothers named Milton Shedd, Ken Norris, David DeMott, and George Millay after they raised $1.5 million to build it. The four guys were graduates of UCLA and had originally set out to build an underwater restaurant and bar. When they found out that the concept they had hoped for was deemed unfeasible, they changed their mindset and decided to build a park instead. The first park to open was SeaWorld San Diego on March 21, 1964. The park was an instant success, drawing in over 400,000 visitors in the first year alone and it offered viewings of dolphins, sea lions, and two seawater aquariums. SeaWorld then began to offer its stock publicly, enabling the company to further its growth opportunities. Soon after going public in 1970, SeaWorld expanded into Ohio and shortly after traveled to Orlando, Florida to instantly become one of its most successful locations.

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich purchased the company in 1976 when SeaWorld expanded into Texas. All of the parks were originally opened year-round, but then shortly went to a seasonal schedule in order to gain financial grounding. The stress and financial resources it took to build and maintain state-of-the-art marine mammal facilities took a toll on the company. Jovanovich knew he needed to escape the disaster to avoid bankruptcy. Luckily Anheuser-Busch Company made an offer to purchase all of the SeaWorld parks. This purchase was very beneficial for SeaWorld, as Anheuser-Busch put millions of dollars back into the parks to revive and prolong their longevity.

In the past 5 years, SeaWorld has faced many trials with the treatment of their killer whale environment. After all the controversy with this topic, on August 15, 2014, SeaWorld announced the Blue World Project, which was a major renovation to all three of the SeaWorld killer whale habitats. The project will begin in 2015 with the SeaWorld San Diego park and is anticipated to be completed in 2018. This project will cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The company has also committed to spending $10 million in order to fund killer whale research. Although this is a good start to improve one of their major problems, there are still many more actions that need to be taken in order to rebrand SeaWorld.

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Why we chose to brand audit seaworld

For years, SeaWorld has been known as a family-friendly environment full of exciting memories and moments. With the recent controversies revolving around the captivity and care of the killer whales, our group felt that this company still has a significant opportunity for growth through our brand audit. Shares of SeaWorld fell dramatically after a documentary called “Blackfish” was released portraying the company’s violent treatment of their park animals and entertainers, which has led to harm and even death of SeaWorld staff. The negative effects this has had on the company has been detrimental to the success of the brand as a whole. Children now have grown to mentally pair SeaWorld with negative emotions and think of it as a bad place, resulting in parents avoiding SeaWorld as a vacation destination. Nearly 21 million people watched “Blackfish” when it first aired on CNN, but millions more have since viewed it since it was initially featured on Netflix. Through our research of this project, we feel that a re-brand is necessary for the sake of SeaWorld. The actual park itself hasn’t been the only thing affected; this controversy has tarnished the entire brand image. For example, Southwest Airlines, which owns a plane with a killer whale painted on it also received bad publicity and a fall in sales due to the correlation. Musicians began backing out of SeaWorld events and contracts. The brand image has declined dramatically, however we are confident that through our research and brand analysis, we will be able to successfully rebrand SeaWorld and increase sales and restore the brand image to its former glory.

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BRAND INVENTORY

SeaWorld’s success thus far can be accredited to several factors, including several established brand elements, pricing, communication and advertising. While SeaWorld has been known to have a unique and renown brand image, it has also tarnished that flawless reputation recently, which will also be covered in this section. BRAND ELEMENTS For more than 50 years, SeaWorld has been a leading theme park& entertainment company delivering personal that works to blend imagination with nature in order to enable their guests to celebrate, connect with and care for the natural world. The company is not solely about the entertainment, however, and prides itself on being one of the world’s largest animal collections’ caregiver on the continent. SeaWorld takes part in animal welfare, training, husbandry and veterinary care. PRODUCT SeaWorld opened its gates for the first time in 1964, originally planned as an underwater restaurant, but grew into something so much more. Today, there are multiple locations across the US, all adhering to the nature of the park, which combines water park thrills, nature and animals, entertainment, and educational attractions to provide a unique family experience that families will want to relive again and again. SeaWorld’s condensed mission statement simply states: Celebrate, Connect and Care… and that’s exactly what their park is branded to do daily. PRICING SeaWorld pricing is competitive with many other similar theme parks, ranging from around $70-90 for a single ticket, however, offering a multitude of value parks, group discounts, and coupons. SeaWorld also

Strategically offers a loyalty program called the “Fun Card”, which allows repetitive visits as well as a free visit to Aquatica. DISTRIBUTION&AQUISITON As much as SeaWorld claims to safety “save” the animals they breed from terrible conditions or captivity, several articles convince otherwise. Site after site outlined examples of orcas and other sea animals that were torn away from their homes and families, not because of injury or danger but simply out of need for resources at SeaWorld. Many claim that the majority of animals that currently reside in the park were aggressively captured and taken against their will to live “less than average” lives in SeaWorld exhibits. In 1965, after the first orca show at SeaWorld was performed and park creators saw the immense positive reaction, Ted Griffin (an expert a capturing sea animals) allegedly hired divers to slit open the bellies of used older orcas, fill them with rocks, and sink them to the bottom of the ocean so that their deaths would not be discovered. As true or untrue as some of these claims may be, the fact that they are common knowledge drastically affect the brand image SeaWorld is trying to convey.

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COMMUNICATIONS SeaWorld’s marketing and communications strategy strives to create a high-quality, entertainment-rich brand image. SeaWorld is sponsored by huge list of companies including Budweiser, Ford, Pepsi and Ford, however it is said that the list is decreasing after the recent scandals involving mistreatment of animals. SeaWorld also prides itself to sponsor incredible events such as the Special Olympics Polar Plunge and the Vanessa Welch Reindeer Run for families. ADVERTISING Every last cent of SeaWorld’s marketing and adverting budget goes to selling the message of SeaWorld through television appearances, educational programs, and events highlighting their unique sea animals and exhibits. According to a renowned blogger, the first smart thing SeaWorld did was not obsess about controlling the message. Secondly, they gave bloggers the tools they needed including videos, photographs, and professional quality media in order for them to act as the intermediaries, reaching millions more people through social media. SeaWorld has recently updated their website and made it more user-friendly and up-to-date with the most accurate information and frequently asked questions. They are strongly utilizing social media as a major advertising tool, which is leader to greater exposure worldwide. BRAND IMAGE As positive of a direction as SeaWorld is trying to head amongst these newfound trials, the brand image has been severely tarnished by the Blackfish documentary explained above. SeaWorld is doing its best to recover from this setback and offer a more positive viewpoint to its consumer market. Through re-branding and alterations in marketing strategies, it is definitely possible that SeaWorld will once again rise to the top in the entertainment industry.

When it comes to theme parks that contain sea animals as the main attraction, SeaWorld is in a league of its own. The main competitors to SeaWorld include Six Flags Parks, Universal Parks & Resorts, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, Busch Gardens, and even aquariums, which all offer their own unique experiences, products, and attractions. Customers and critics have stated that SeaWorld could be vastly improved, especially in comparison to the large rollercoaster theme parks that have taken America by storm. The competitor that is best positioned in the market would be Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, who is very present in the media, relevant in the market as a vacation destination, and has kept a very positive reputation through the decades. Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is leading the pack due to the very classic brand and overall solid family-fun experience that the parks continue to offer to the public. They had a net income of $8.004 billion in 2014. Its financial security is a significant strength to Disney Parks. Although falling behind Walt Disney, in 2011 Universal Parks & Resorts had approximately 30.8 million guests visit the park, resulting in over $1.989 billion. Universal has a strength of a loyal fan base that draws in family-oriented crowds each year. In the realm of theme parks and family-fun experiences, Universal is a strong competitor. Six Flags Parks has a weakness in relation to its other competitors due to its narrow variety of offerings; Six Flags is known for offering an experience to consumers strictly categorized by rollercoasters and carnival-style games. Its net income for 2014 was only $105.034 million, which is very low and insignificant compared to other competitors, and presents a weakness in the market. The Georgia Aquarium is listed as a competitor because when it comes to bringing audiences and

Competitive Analysis

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marine life together, this is the closest competitor. Compared to SeaWorld, the aquarium has a weakness of not drawing in as large of crowds and has a more focused niche. They offer a smaller scale of experiences and activities. The closest resemblance to our company is an aquarium, such as the Georgia Aquarium, which offers consumers an up-close and personal encounter with various sea creatures from around the world. Where an aquarium falls short would be the lack of theme park rides and exhilarating fun that is associated with SeaWorld and other parks. A perceptual map can be found on page 6.

Points-of-Parity: SeaWorld is similar to other theme parks and aquariums because of several reasons. They are all known for being family-friendly vacation destinations. The majority of the parks have theatrical shows and amusement rides to entertain the visitors. Many of the parks, specifically Disney World and SeaWorld, both use animals as star characters. In relation to aquariums, SeaWorld also promotes aquatic animals as their main attraction.

Points-of-Difference: SeaWorld has tried to differentiate itself in many different ways. SeaWorld is the only of these theme parks to have killer whales. This is an extremely unique feature that makes the visitor’s experience more unique than most parks. SeaWorld has had a animal rescue program in place for the past 50 years that has benefitted over 24,000 animals. During the shows SeaWorld visitors get to witness professional trainers and if they sit in the “splash zone” they can get splashed with water from the whales. Another unique feature of the park is that SeaWorld provides the opportunity for visitors to have animal interactions such as petting, riding, or feeding the animals.

Points of Parity & Points of Difference

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SEAWORLD PERCEPTUAL MAP IN RELEVANCE TO COMPETETITORS

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SeaWorld PRE-MENTAL Map

Pre- Blackfish

Family-Fun

Expert trainers

Friendly Whales

High stock evaluation

High customer retention (# of visits)

Good publicity Strong brand image

Aquatic fish

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SEAWORLD POST-MENTAL MAP

Post Blackfish

Family-Fun

Cruelty to Whales

Deaths of Trainers

Low Stock Evaluation

Bad Publicity

Bad Brand Image Pretty Fish

Lower customer retention

(# of visits)

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SeaWorld has been a company well known tourist attraction that began in the 1960’s. It’s a United Stats chain of marine mammal parks, oceanariums, and animal theme parks. It is known for a very family friendly and entertaining environment with numerous activities for individuals to be apart of and experience. Some positive brand associations for SeaWorld might be “family-friendly, “crowd pleasing,” “entertaining,” and a “memorable experience.” While it does have positive, it recently has attracted a lot of negative associations due to a recent issue of animal cruelty and has left some individuals associating “controversial,” “dangerous,” and “careless.” The figure above displays a more in depth mental map of the company, SeaWorld. SeaWorld has always been a place that attracted many families who came into town to visit the park, or just families who were in the area and wanted a fun experience for the day. In much research of the company, younger families reported that they were more likely to visit one of their locations and feel that it was a place that stood out to them because it was an experience that no other park has offered. SeaWorld is very established place and more than 85% of individuals interviewed in a report knew of the entertainment facility and what it had to offer or had visited. Their customers loved the way that they felt included and were able to physically feed the animals at a reasonable price. All was good for the company until they hit a major downfall in 2013. Unfortunately, SeaWorld has had much controversy within their company over the past 5 years that has created a negative image for many individuals and families who were fans of the company. There was a documentary released in 2013 at Sundance Film Festival called Blackfish that has brought the audience to realize the poor quality of life for whales and other mammals at sea life parks and how that led to a devastating event of a trainer’s life being taken. It was a film that astounded many

Brand Exploratory around the country as they were in shock of what had happened and negative feelings toward the company began to form. Schools, families, and visitors began to cancel their trips to SeaWorld as they were in huge disappointment of the way the company handled the situation. The company avoided confrontation about the issues for a period after the documentary release and finally came to defend the company about a few weeks later. SeaWorld is working hard to overcome this huge battle and is focusing on reinforcing SeaWorld supporters and customers by giving them reasons to come back. Despite the controversy, customers are still coming back and SeaWorld continues to draw in big crowds. It does leave their visitors skeptical at times with questions, but since SeaWorld is an established company, it continues to be a place of interest from tourists in America and all over the world. After the release of Blackfish, SeaWorld released an interim financial report, saying it had a record attendance in the quarter of the release that would contribute to its highest annual revenue. Many families are still bringing their kids as what they have always known to be a staple of American entertainment and although speculations do arise that the company needs to fix and strengthen its image, there are still very loyal customers that continue to visit the attraction site.

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The SeaWorld brand resonance model is strong in some areas, but has weaknesses in some that affect the highest level, resonance. The functionality and salience of the company is very high, well known, and established. The one part that sticks out is judgment because although there are positive feelings towards the company, they have had to deal with the effects of the major controversy they have dealt with recovering from over the past couple of years.

I feel this is a very important aspect to have completely captured by the company because without positive judgment, the pyramid cannot continue to build. SeaWorld has successfully created an environment of superior performance since they are the only theme park that offers what they do. The company captures the first two levels of the period well, but leaves the 3rd level for much needed room of improvement. Without the solidity of this, they will lack in building strong and loyal relationships with their customers. The pyramid in the figure above highlights key aspects of the SeaWorld brand resonance pyramid.

Brand Resonance Pyramid

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Statement of Challenge or Opportunity

Our key challenge we recognize and will provide recommendations for is putting an honest face on SeaWorld after the Blackfish controversies. As you can see in the figure below, SeaWorld took a devastating hit after “Blackfish” premiered on July 19, 2013. Overall sales fell 51% in the following months and have stayed at an all-time low since. SeaWorld has made several attempts to increase sales and revenue and bounce back from this decline, however recent articles have been released setting SeaWorld back, yet again. John Hargrove, a former SeaWorld orca trainer who was employed by SeaWorld for fourteen years, recently published an article directly calling out SeaWorld for “Mistreatment of Killer Whales”. He is soon to release an entire book outlining these tragic events.

John Hargrove provided several examples to how SeaWorld misled consumers into thinking they cared about the animals. “SeaWorld has no soul”, John proclaimed. He finally left the company after sadly realizing that as much as he wanted to stay and make a positive difference in the lives of the orcas, “no matter what level you are, how vocal you are, or how much pull you have, you can’t change it.” This book release is sure to send SeaWorld shares down again, but as marketers for this company, we have come up with several recommendations, which SeaWorld must act on quickly and honestly. Our challenge statement emphasizes the honestly SeaWorld must embody to gain back the trust and support of consumers. SeaWorld has faced its fair share of challenges, however, if our recommendations are followed, we are confident SeaWorld can rise again.

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Seaworld recommendations 1) SeaWorld has been under fire and constant scrutiny after the release of the movie Blackfish and after multiple deaths of whale trainers. In order to overcome their tarnished brand image and generate better thoughts in the mind of consumers, we recommend that SeaWorld renovate their core brand values and effectively communicate them to the public. SeaWorld.org states “For more than 50 years, we have been a leading theme park and entertainment company delivering personal, interactive and educational experiences that blend imagination with nature and enable our guests to celebrate, connect with and care for the natural world we share.” SeaWorld should stress that they care for their animals and that they value education for the public on a safe and animal-friendly level. Their core values should compensate for the negative images that consumers hold about them. In the recent years SeaWorld has taken a back seat in caring for their image after they took a major hit, so they could really benefit from proactively taking control of their image through updating and communicating their core values.

2) SeaWorld has received major backlash on how they separate the orca calves from their mothers. Although they claim to have changed this practice, it has been proven in the case of orca mom, Kasatka, and her calf, Takara, that they are still separated from one another. These separations are terribly traumatic for both whales for many years. Our recommendation is that SeaWorld actually does what it promises by keeping the whales with their families. While SeaWorld has publicly said that they do not separate the whales until the calves are at least four or five and can be dependant of it’s mother’s nursing and leadership, the non-profit Orca Network says otherwise. The foundation has been tracking SeaWorld’s orca movements for decades and claims that SeaWorld has been separating many of their captive whales at early ages. Hargrove states that during his time working at SeaWorld that nineteen calves were taken from their mothers. While many people claim the allegations are not true, the negative publicity that has come from the book and interviews are not good for SeaWorld’s brand image and perceptions. Regardless of the profits or benefits that come out of

separating the calves from the mothers, SeaWorld must take into consideration that in the wild, most orcas stay with their mother’s their entire life. SeaWorld needs to keep the baby orcas and their mothers together no matter what. This will not only make the fans and critics more satisfied, but will make the animals more comfortable living in the conditions provided of SeaWorld.

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3) Our next recommendation is that SeaWorld should create a new motto to run by. The current motto is “There Is Something For Everyone To Enjoy”. This is not a particularly strong motto and it doesn’t give any clues as to what SeaWorld could deliver to consumers. Frankly, “There Is Something For Everyone To Enjoy” is better suited for a grocery store or an ice cream shop than for an attraction like SeaWorld. By creating a much stronger and tailored motto to better-fit SeaWorld, the company would be taking a greater step in fixing their brand image.

Recently, a former SeaWorld orca trainer of twelve years, John Hargrove, released a book called Beneath the Surface that claims all of the behind the scenes issues with SeaWorld. John Hargrove is considered a whistleblower of SeaWorld. Hargrove claims the psychological and physical damages to the whales is apparent to everyone and that it is not even humane to keep whales in captivity like they are. Some examples that Hargrove gives in his book and interviews are factors that you do not see in the wild such as collapsed dorsal fins, worn down teeth, and high death rates. SeaWorld responded to Hargrove’s claims by sending reporters a five-year old video of Hargrove drinking and using offensive, racial language to try to discredit the trainer. This eye-for-an-eye approach does not help SeaWorld at all. This was not the right action to take. Instead, SeaWorld needs to disprove comments by Hargrove that are inaccurate, while expressing to the public how they are trying to change the true statements. SeaWorld needs to continue the progression that they promised in August of 2014. These promises were that they are going to build new, larger environments at its theme parks as well as fund additional research on the animals along with programs to protect ocean health and whales in the wild. We believe that additional measure need to be taken now that this imposing book was published. We think that creating a commercial or documentary of the new innovations in theme park design, whale care and treatments, and showing their compassion for the animals that SeaWorld is investing in would turn the public’s opinion around and create some customer loyalty.