01 THE VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE
01 THE VISUAL STRATEGY GUIDE
In the Visual Strategy Guide, we'll rebrand the SeaWorld brand by reaching deep into their soul. We'll look at the brand’s history, their current look and feel and competitors to determine the best strategy to propel them into the future.
Contents 01
THE BRAND STORY 08 HISTORY 12 TIMELINE 14 STATEMENTS
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NEW VISION 18 AUDIENCE PROFILES 26 BRAND GRIDS 28 KEYWORDS AND VISUALS 35 COMPETITORS
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THE BRAND STORY 08 HISTORY 12 TIMELINE 14 STATEMENTS
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HISTORY
HISTORY
SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment™ is a leading theme park and entertainment company providing experiences that matter and inspiring guests to protect animals and the wild wonders of our world. We are one of the world’s foremost zoological organizations and a global leader in animal husbandry, behavioral management, veterinary care and animal welfare. We also rescue and rehabilitate marine and terrestrial animals that are ill, injured, orphaned or abandoned, with the goal of returning them to the wild. The SeaWorld® and Busch Gardens® rescue teams have helped more than 36,000 animals in need over the last 50 years. What the brand does Offering a wide array of exciting shows, thrilling rides, and educational encounters with the animals. Whom they do it for Families with kids. Why they do it Connecting humans and marine life.
HISTORY
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HISTORY
HISTORY
SeaWorld was founded in 1964 by Milton C. Shedd, Ken Norris, David Demott and George Millay. The four graduates of UCLA originally set out to build an underwater restaurant and marine life show. When the underwater restaurant concept was deemed unfeasible, they scrapped those plans and decided to build a park instead, and SeaWorld San Diego was opened on March 21, 1964. With only a few dolphins, sea lions, 6 attractions and 22 acres (89,000 m2), the park proved to be a success and more than 400,000 guests visited in the first 12 months. After considering other locations in the midwest, including the Lake Milton/Newton Falls area west of Youngstown, Ohio, it was decided that Aurora, Ohio would be the new home of a SeaWorld. The Aurora site was approximately 15 miles (24 km) northwest of the Lake Milton site and 30 miles (48 km) southeast of Cleveland. By this time, the founders of the company had captured a few more species of animals, including a killer whale that was brought to the new facility. The harsh winter climate permitted the park to be open only from mid-May until mid-September.
The Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida opened near the end of the second operating season of SeaWorld Ohio. The success of Disney in Orlando provided a location that was already popular with tourists. SeaWorld Orlando opened in 1973. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. (HBJ) purchased the company in 1976 and 12 years later they began a venture in Texas. In 1988, SeaWorld San Antonio opened just a few miles outside of San Antonio. Growth has pushed the city outwards and now SeaWorld San Antonio lies in the Westover Hills community in West San Antonio. The park was open year-round like its sister parks in California and Florida in 1988 and 1989, then went to a seasonal schedule. The stress and financial resources it took to build and maintain a state-of-the-art marine mammal facility in the late 1980s eventually took its toll on the company. HBJ, whose primary focus was producing school books, needed to reduce its assets in order to avoid a bankruptcy.
HISTORY
The Anheuser-Busch Company made an offer to purchase the SeaWorld parks. HBJ also owned and operated two other parks, Cypress Gardens and Boardwalk and Baseball, and out of fear of not being able to find a buyer for the two other parks, HBJ refused to sell the parks individually. Despite a long negotiation, Anheuser-Busch bought all six parks in 1989: SeaWorld in San Diego, Aurora, Orlando and San Antonio as well as Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven and Boardwalk and Baseball in Haines City. Soon after the sale was final, Busch sold Cypress Gardens to the park's management and closed Boardwalk and Baseball. Anheuser-Busch put millions of dollars back into the parks to revive and prolong their longevity. SeaWorld is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA).
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In 2009, Busch Entertainment was sold to the Blackstone Group and subsequently renamed SeaWorld Entertainment. In 2013, Blackstone sold 37% of Entertainment in an initial public offering. In 2016, SeaWorld admitted that it had been sending its employees to pose as activists to spy on animal rights organization PETA. Following an investigation by an outside law firm, SeaWorld's Board of Directors directed management to end the practice.
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TIMELINE
TIMELINE
1973 The success of Disney in Orlando provided a location that was already popular with tourists. SeaWorld Orlando opened.
1964 SeaWorld was founded by Milton C. Shedd, Ken Norris, David Demott and George Millay.
1976 Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. (HBJ) purchased the company and 12 years later they began a venture in Texas.
The stress and financial resources it took to build and maintain a state-of-the-art marine mammal facility eventually took its toll on the company. HBJ needed to reduce its assets in order to avoid a bankruptcy. Late 1980s
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1989
SeaWorld's attendance and revenue began to recover
Anheuser-Busch bought all six parks in 1989: SeaWorld in San Diego, Aurora, Orlando and San Antonio as well as Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven and Boardwalk and Baseball in Haines City.
2014 SeaWorld announced it planned to build new killer whale tanks that would be almost double the size of the existing ones to provide more space for its whales, scheduled for completion in 2018.
with the addition of new rides, shows, and animal exhibits at its parks, as well as increased marketing about the parks' conservation and rescue efforts.
Busch Entertainment was sold to the Blackstone Group and then renamed SeaWorld Entertainment. The documentary film Blackfish, produced after a SeaWorld Orlando trainer was killed by one of the park's orcas, led to initial decreases in attendance, profits and the company's share price.
2009
2013
SeaWorld announced that they would end their in-park Orca breeding program and eventually phase out their theatrical Orca whale shows altogether (due to state legislation in California that banned shows using orcas) starting in San Diego. 2016
BRAND SOUL
Connecting humans and marine life.
BRAND MISSION
SeaWorld’s mission is to connect humans and marine animals, cultivating respect and a desire to protect marine life.
STATEMENTS
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REPOSITIONING STATEMENT SeaWorld believes in connecting humans and marine life, especially for families with kids. We used to offer a wide array of exciting shows, thrilling rides, and educational encounters with the animals, but we are now broadening our mission to connect humans and marine animals, cultivating respect and a desire to protect marine life. The new SeaWorld will collaborate with educational institutions, conservation organizations and museums on marine ecological environment research and protection, and experiential opportunities. We will be here for all ages who cares about marine lives, has a sense of responsibility and wants to learn more about marine lives.
"The best way to observe a fish is to become a fish." — Jacques Yves Cousteau, Oceanographer
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NEW VISION 18 AUDIENCE PROFILES 26 BRAND GRIDS 28 KEYWORDS AND VISUALS 35 COMPETITORS
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AUDIENCE PROFILES
AUDIENCE PROFILES
An audience-first approach allows us to segment audiences based on behavioral patterns and cultural interest. The more we know about our audience, the better we can fulfill their needs. For SeaWorld, there will be a shift in audience from families with kids to people of all ages who cares about marine lives, has a sense of responsibility and wants to learn more about marine lives.
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AUDIENCE PROFILES
KIM SOO-MI The Diving Enthusiast “I like to explore the underwater world and cherish the experience of living with marine life. The ocean is mysterious and interesting, and we should respect it.”
Traits Gender Female Age 24 Years old Location Seoul, Korea Occupation Student
• Kim's dive diary is full because she uses every vacation to go to the island to dive. • Kim uses a dive camera to record every dive experience because she thinks the time with marine life is very cherished. • Kim prefers to explore less-traveled waters because she prefers to interact with wildlife than commercial landscapes. • Kim joins the Marine Conservation Organization because she wants to contribute to what she likes. • Kim enjoys studying oceanography because knowing more expertise can help her marine conservation career. • As a senior diving enthusiast, Kim often reminds novice divers of environmental protection issues in good faith because she wants to bring more people to protect the marine environment. • Kim occasionally uploads diving videos to the video channel because she wants to make more people interested in exploring the ocean.
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MATTHEW ANDERSON The Top Student “Learning knowledge can enrich my life and broaden my horizons. Rather than getting information from books, I prefer to grow my experience through practice.”
Traits Gender Male Age 19 Years old Location Torrance, US Occupation Student
• Matthew loves studying and especially likes studying marine life because he was influenced by his father who is a professor of oceanography. • Matthew adopted many stray animals because he was a very caring person. • Matthew often wants to learn more because he feels that learning can enrich his horizons. • Matthew wants to use his knowledge to contribute to society because he is an ambitious person. • Matthew doesn't like watching animal shows because he thought that forcing and imprisoning animals was a cruel act. • Matthew likes to get along with animals because he thinks animals are quiet and friendly, which is much easier than getting along with people. • Matthew prefers learning from practice rather than gaining knowledge from books.
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AUDIENCE PROFILES
SCOTT FULLER The Former Navy “After I retired, I missed my life at sea very much. I missed the fresh sea breeze, abundant marine life, and the friendly relationship between people and marine life.”
Traits Gender Male Age 40 Years old Location Ottawa, Canada Occupation Military Veteran
• Scott likes marine life very much because those lovely animals made him feel relaxed during his time in the army. • There are always pictures of past and comrades-in-arms in Scott’s wallet because he is a nostalgic person. • Scott has a habit of keeping a diary because cameras are not allowed to use in the army. • Scott uses his free time and money to participate in some public welfare activities because he is a caring person. • Scott loves telling his children stories about the sea because he doesn't think they usually have a chance to learn about the real ocean. • Scott hopes that his child can grow into a brave and responsible person because he has always demanded of himself and his family. • Scott respects everything about the ocean because he considers the ocean to be mysterious and great.
AUDIENCE PROFILES
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MINDY JONES A Wise Mom “In addition to paying attention to the knowledge taught in school, I also value kids' recognition of nature. It is more useful and memorable to take them to participate and experience some meaningful activities than to tell them the truth.” Traits Gender Female Age 31 Years old Location Chicago, US Occupation None
• Mindy keeps a kitten at home because she wants to teach children compassion by letting children and animals interact. • Mindy often tells children stories about the ocean because she finds her child curious about the underwater world. • Mindy takes her children to participate in some volunteer activities because she believes that is the best education for children. • Mindy encourages children to create and ask questions at will because she believes that parents should let their children run their imagination away rather than limit their thinking. • Mindy educates her children should pay attention to environmental protection because she believes that this awareness should be cultivated from an early age. • Mindy likes to take her children to the museum occasionally because it makes her feel that she is studying with the children and making progress together. • Mindy's child loves taking care of the pets at home, which is very comforting because Mindy thinks the child's behavior shows a sense of responsibility.
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AUDIENCE PROFILES
FEI DENG The Retired Teacher “I have taught children about biology for so many years, and I am full of longing for everything in nature. Now age restricts my actions, but I still have the heart to explore.”
Traits Gender Male Age 60 Years old Location Shanghai, China Occupation Teacher
• Fei used to be a high school biology teacher, so he always wanted to acquire more knowledge about nature before teaching it to his students. • Fei likes to collect some biological fossils or artifacts because he finds these things interesting and memorable. • Fei used to like watching some shows and channels about animals on TV because he was very busy at work and had little chance to get in touch with real nature. • Fei likes to take his children and students to visit the museum because he thinks such activities can show knowledge more vividly and interestingly. • Fei gets older and moves inconveniently, but he always looks for ways to learn and explore because he doesn't want to give up his love of nature. • Fei is in awe of nature, and he is disgusted by people's actions that destroy the ecological environment because he feels that it also destroys the harmony between man and nature.
AUDIENCE PROFILES
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ELIJAH GARCIA The Curious Baby “The underwater world is so attractive to me. The thing I look forward to most every day is that my parents take me to see amazing fish. I want to interact with marine life, touch them, and listen to how they communicate.”
Traits Gender Male Age 5 Years old Location Columbus, US Occupation None
• Elijah likes to ask his parents about all kinds of strange questions, especially about marine life because he is really curious about the underwater world. • Elijah often stood in a daze in front of the fish tank at home for a long time because he wanted to explore the activities and habits of fish. • The cartoons Elijah likes are all about animals because he thinks wild animals look free and their lives are fun. • Elijah often told his parents that he wanted to swim freely under the sea like a fish because the scenery under the real sea was something he had never seen before. • Elijah always blindfolds when he sees animal shows because he thinks it's cruel, but he can't help being curious and looks a few more times. • There are two dogs in Elijah's home, and he enjoys playing with them because he feels that animals understand human intentions and are friendly to him.
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BR AND GRIDS
BRAND GRIDS Before: Marine Animal Entertainment
SeaWorld
BR AND GRIDS
After: The Connection Between Human And Marine Lives
SeaWorld
Based on the new brand mission, SeaWorld will transform from an entertaining, limited, controversial brand image to a serious, authentic, positive brand image. In addition, the role of people will also change from a dominant, cruel, imposed spectator to an interactive, protective, positive explorer. Through interactive, practical and scientific-educational opportunities, they can obtain real, natural experiences and knowledge about marine/marine life beyond what they've seen in books/through the windows.
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KEYWORDS
CONNECTION
SeaWorld establishes a connection between humans and marine life, not just letting people watch and entertain.
KEYWORDS
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KEYWORDS
CONSERVATION
SeaWorld encourages people to know about the ocean, cultivating respect and a desire to protect marine life.
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EXPLORATION
SeaWorld uses the science and technology of the new era to guide people to explore the ocean, using different methods to understand and interact with marine life from multiple angles.
KEYWORDS
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COMPETITORS
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COMPETITORS
“World trade means competition from anywhere; advancing technology encourages cross-industry competition. Consequently, strategic planning must consider who our future competitors will be, not only who is here today.” —Eric Allison The direct competitors of SeaWorld that I chose were mostly aquariums and water parks. Like SeaWorld, they provide people with interactive experiences of visiting marine animals and various water entertainment facilities. Most of the ancillary competitors were large entertainment parks. They compete with SeaWorld in that they also provide people with an interactive experience (with people/wildlife) and various entertainment facilities. People will consider these places when not choosing water entertainment-related activities; The future competitors were based on SeaWorld's new brand missions. From the direction of exhibition halls, interactive museums, marine/sea life rescue organizations, diving camps, the experience of swimming with wild marine animals, marine journals, lectures on oceanography, etc. which aim to provide people with experiences of exploring and interacting with sealife.
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COMPETITORS
CURRENT COMPETITORS
Schlitterbahn is an American brand of water parks and resorts owned by Cedar Fair. It was previously a company that was family-owned-and-operated by the Henry family that was based in New Braunfels, Texas. Schlitterbahn opened its first location, Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort, in 1979.
Theater of the Sea is a marine mammal park located in the Village of Islamorada, Florida, United States. It is a tourist attraction located on Windley Key in the Florida Keys. Visitors can swim with Atlantic bottlenose dolphins, California sea lions, and sting rays and nurse sharks.
Wet 'n Wild is water parks across the United States, Brazil and Mexico, originally owned by SeaWorld creator George Millay. It is not to be confused with the Wet'n'Wild brand owned by Village Roadshow Theme Parks and CNL Lifestyle Properties or the standalone waterpark Wet 'N' Wild Waterworld in Anthony, Texas.
The Miami Seaquarium is a 38-acre (15 ha) oceanarium located on the island of Virginia Key in Biscayne Bay, Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States and is located near downtown Miami. Founded in 1955, it is one of the oldest oceanariums in the United States. The park offers daily presentations and hosts overnight camps, events for boy scouts, and group programs. Over 500,000 people visit the facility annually.
COMPETITORS
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ANCILLARY COMPETITORS
Six Flags is an amusement park corporation based in the United States, with properties in Canada, Mexico, and the contiguous United States. It owns more theme parks and waterparks combined than any other amusement park company in the world, and has the seventh-highest attendance in the world.
Cedar Fair, L.P. is a publicly traded master limited partnership headquartered at its Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. The company owns and operates twelve amusement parks, four outdoor water parks, one indoor water park, and five hotels in the US and Canada.
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of The Walt Disney Company's four major business segments and a subsidiary. It was founded on April 1, 1971, exactly six months before the opening of Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida just outside of Orlando, Florida.
Universal Parks & Resorts is the theme park unit of NBC Universal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The company, headquartered in Orlando, Florida, operates Universal theme parks and resort properties around the world. Universal Parks & Resorts is best known for attractions and lands based on famous classic and modern pop culture properties from not only NBCUniversal, but also thirdparty companies, for all of its parks.
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COMPETITORS
FUTURE COMPETITORS
The Exploratorium is a museum of science, technology, and arts in San Francisco. Its mission is to create inquiry-based experiences that transform learning worldwide. It has been described as the most important science museum to have opened since the mid20th century because "the nature of its exhibits, its wide-ranging influence and its sophisticated teacher training program".
The Marine Mammal Center advances global ocean conservation through marine mammal rescue and rehabilitation, scientific research, and education.
Sea Turtle Camp offer youth the opportunity to learn about marine biology through immersive, hands-on, feet-wet experiential education. Our mission is to cultivate a love and respect for the ocean by building confidence and developing character, while inspiring coastal conservation through safety, fun, and learning.
Aeroskin Worldwide, previously known as Aeroskin California, is an award winning, innovative designer and manufacturer of performance apparel for in-water applications. We utilize the highest quality, technologically-advanced fabrics wherein durability, comfort, performance and hygiene are important.
The Ocean Conservancy focuses on long-term solutions for healthy oceans, wildlife, and coastal communities. The conservancy's current programs include supporting sustainable fisheries, working to combat ocean acidification, and restoring the Gulf of Mexico. And for over 30 years, the Ocean Conservancy has been hosting the International Coastal Cleanup, which brings together millions of volunteers to remove trash from beaches around the world.
COMPETITORS
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Sea Urchins magazine aimed at children and celebrating the oceans. With information on marine species, diving and also fun games, tests and competitions, the magazine aims to spark a sense of adventure and curiosity in children, as well teaching them about the importance of sea conservation.
One Ocean Diving utilizes research and public programs to support protection for sharks and marine life. To inspire people to make efforts for shark and marine conservation. Come snorkel and freedive with us or just come along and learn about sharks and marine life. The experience of a lifetime, led by the experts.
Gulf World is an educational facility and is the most significant contributor to Gulf World Marine Institute, a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of marine mammals and sea turtles.
The Inner Space Center (ISC) utilizes telepresence technologies to bring the excitement of ocean exploration to a global audience as it happens. Connected to Internet2, the ISC captures, displays, and disseminates high bandwidth streams of video, audio, and data from oceanographic research vessels in real time.
SEA LIFE Malaysia aims to engage and inspire kids to learn about the oceans throughout its 11 different habitat zones, the Ocean Tank features fun and interactive experiences that introduces visitors to the marine life and marine conservation. Besides that, SEA LIFE Malaysia have talks and show, which provide details about the sea creatures.
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SOURCES
SeaWorld Website seaworld.com/san-diego/
SeaWorld Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeaWorld
Imagery Pixabay Flickr Unsplash Google Pinterest
SOURCES
SOURCES
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COLOPHON
COLOPHON
DESIGNER Xiaoqian (Una) Li
CLASS GR604: The Nature of Identity
INSTRUCTOR Erin Kristine Canoy
SEMESTER Spring 2020
INSTITUTION Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA
PHOTOGRAPHY Pixabay Flickr Unsplash
TYPEFACES Chaparral Pro Proxima Nova
This book is a non-commercial project for education purposes and is not intended to represent the SeaWorld brand.
backtotheocean.com/
