Kalahari Truth Tracker

October 2014 Volume 1 | Issue 2

Truth Tracker

October 2014

Volume 1 | Issue 2

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Editor’s Note At Jacobson Rost, we spend most of our days operating under the mindset – “What Would The World’s Coolest Indoor Waterpark Do?” (#WWTWCIWPD).

This recent distinction by Condé Nast Traveler wasn’t earned by chance but by a steady and focused approach of molding authentically-African, beyond expectations guest experiences with innovative marketing.

2014 marks a crucial year to the evolution of Kalahari Resorts and Conventions, October saw the takeoff for the One World trip, 23 days of unique experiences that will translate directly back in to the guest experience for all properties in the US and will mark a dramatic shift in the company’s marketing perspective moving forward.

Based off competitive insights, social listening and industry trends, and molded with our vision of the future in mind, the second issue of the Truth Tracker is composed of ten attainable ideas that, once implemented, will further cement Kalahari’s reputation as The World’s Coolest Indoor Waterparks.

We hope you’re as excited to read the ideas as we were to research them.

Onwards and upwards,

The Jacobson Rost Team

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The Big Ideas 4

Leveraging Video Content to Support Poconos Launch

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Experience Africa in 4D

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Spotlight Family Time With A Social Campaign

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Dive In To Family Fun

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Paid Integrations: In a Nutshell

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Create a Kalahari “Dining Bucket Lists”

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Athlete Endorsements Made Easy

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Leverage Online Influencers to Drive Poconos Reservations

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Take Advantage of GoPro and LifeProof Technology to Enhance Guest Stays

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Use RFID Technology For Added Convenience

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Facebook vs. Instagram - Engagement Statistics Q2-2014

Truth Tracker

October 2014

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Leveraging Video Content to Support Poconos Launch What

In preparation for the launch of the new Verruckt Waterslide, Schlitterbahn Kansas City – utilized unique content on their YouTube channel to spread the word of the novelty attraction beginning a year in advance. Strategy included: • May 2013 – movie trailer “coming soon” for the Verruckt • July 2014 – first person go-pro POV from attraction-designer Jeff Henry testing the Verruckt prior to opening These simple videos created compelling content and have amassed more than five million views each, as well as served as the primary b-roll footage for all media mentions.

Kalahari Application Knowing consumers are drawn to rich, shareable content and seeing the successful utilization of video in the opening of the Verruckt slide. Kalahari should take the following steps to easily incorporate into marketing practice: • Utilize Go-Pro / 1st person footage from the One World Trip for future media opportunities (December 2014) • Secure YouTube Sensation “Death by Illusion” to shoot GoPro POV footage • Site visit in Wisconsin Dells / Sandusky (December 2014 – comped room requested) • Follower Stats: 51,099,276 views 56, 241 subscribers

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Begin sharing first-person POV as teasers on Kalahari Facebook page, YouTube channel and other outlets. Release on a schedule (January 2014) Match Go-Pro One World footage with Resort footage for teaser movie-trailers (February 2014) Support videos with small ad buys as opening nears for increased views (May 2014)

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Videos provide a unique format for connecting with potential guests – the ability to edit a compelling story and provide a ďŹ rst-person POV can lead to increased awareness and organic shares.

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Experience Africa in 4D What

Hershey Entertainment & Resorts recently implemented a 4D Chocolate Factory Mystery Adventure at Chocolate World that allowed the audience to interact with characters and solve a great chocolate mystery. Strategy included: • 100 different possible variations that allowed guests to experience the ride over and over and never see the same show twice • Housed at the Hershey Chocolate World destination, the company charges an incremental admission of $7.95 for adults and $6.95 for children under 12.

Kalahari Application

Since the 4D simulation platform allows for a near first-hand experience of what it is like to be on an African safari, Kalahari can utilize One World footage to provide consumers with an authentically-African experience right at the resort.

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Begin research into 4D simulation vendors and technological necessities to execute a show - 2015

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Leverage One World footage and draft a script to create an African video experience (post trip) - 2015

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Build 4D experience as part of Poconos phase II development

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A 4D simulator takes family entertainment to a whole new dimension and offers a novel, modern and unique approach to story telling.

Through digital animation and special effects — water sprays, rain, bumps and more that follows the action of a movie — the audience becomes a part of the show through all the senses.

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Spotlight Family Time With A Social Campaign

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What Electric Daisy Carnival Music Festival recently leveraged Snapchat’s new geo-locational campaign feature to connect festival-goers. All attendees that used Snapchat while at the festival had their content crowd sourced via the new custom “Story” option for all to share and view. Essentially, this is a group photo album of the experience.

Kalahari Application Develop a Snapchat campaign based off the successful “Endangered Family Time” platform, Kalahari can ask guests to share their experience with the Kalahari family on Snapchat. With the resorts “all-under-one-roof” philosophy, Snapchat can create a Kalahari Family under one roof visual for guests in real-time that links the guests stories to all three resorts by: • Meet with Snapchat to gather more information about the company’s “Story” option (November 2014) • Run Endangered Family Time Snapchat Story campaign (Summer 2014) • Share One World “animal family photos” on social channels to spread the word of the campaign (Summer 2014)

Snapchat is being leveraged by brands looking to target a younger, social savvy audience. There are 400 million Snaps sent each day, and 26 million active U.S. users with core audience between 13 and 25 years old.

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What

A family-friendly trend that is increasing in popularity is Dive-In Movies –Innisbrook Resort, The Boise Hotel & Conference Center and Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas are a few of the many that have capitalized on the concept as a novel way to entertain families.

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Dive In To Family Fun Kalahari Application

Begin hosting dive-in movies for not only guests but non-resort guests as well (charge admission for this group). “One World” footage can be shown on the screens as “trailers” during the day to boost the authentically African feel throughout the waterpark and family friendly movies can be shown at night, beginning in Summer 2015.

Providing a unique spin on wholesome family activities (such as watching a movie) differentiates activities from the competitive set.

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Paid Integrations: In a Nutshell

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What To combat the case of DVR’s, paid integration opportunities have soared, as they provide the opportunity for more control over the branding and longer exposure for viewers. This tactic does lead to larger costs however.

For example, an integration with popular show Tanked would run about 600k (not including the cost of the tank), while providing giveaways for national talk shows like Ellen would require a three to four night voucher and air fare for each audience member. There are workarounds however, prizing for game shows like Wheel of Fortune, or Price is Right and online brand integrations for more conservative pricing.

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Kalahari Application Overall paid integrations are a great way to promote the Kalahari brand without breaking the bank.

Online as well as strategically planned network show integrations are sublime routes for conveying the Kalahari message and hyping the One World trip and experience.

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Meetings in New York City with network executives / production companies (October 2014) Develop opportunities for Kalahari (Q4 2014)

Online and local integrations are more budget friendly and provide a personal experience for viewers; the more successful integrations tend to offer prize or incentive for views/audiences.

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What

Kalahari Application

To showcase Disney’s dining attractions, the brand created a “Dining Bucket List” to provide a more specific spotlight on the variety of exclusive dining options found within Disney parks and resorts. The posts included: • Brief descriptions and images of each location and food option • “10 Healthful Choices” recommendations

Understanding that guests take reviews and recommendations very seriously Kalahari should create a “dining bucket list” for their locations. This weekly series of posts could feature a variety of topics such as: • Double Cut Dishes / Cocktails (Holiday 2014) • Wisconsin Brew Pub Brews (January 2015) • Gluten-Free Options (2015) • Sweet Hut Treats (2015) • User-voted favorite dishes (2015) • One World / One Table Dining Highlights (2015)

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Create Kalahari “Dining Bucket Lists�

Disney was able to highlight its numerous parks together and created a hashtag #DisneyDining that has allowed the guests to promote the food options themselves on Instagram and Pinterest.

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Athlete Endorsements Made Easy What Studies have shown that a brand’s association with a professional athlete can increase awareness by 180%. Potential new partner, Opendorse allows marketers to instantly activate professional athletes to engage their audience in real time. With a few clicks of a button, and in as little as 10 minutes, any brand can have an athlete promote their message.

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Kalahari Application

In advance of the Kalahari Poconos opening, we can identify athletes with children to organically spread the word of the new location.

Building with a “pay-off� barrage of tweets during the four-day grand-opening ceremony (June 2015).

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Opendorse allows for instant athlete brand endorsements, from instant contract creation, to scheduling campaigns, and an easy to view analytics dashboard.

The platform provides an economic way to reach the right audience.

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What In today’s social landscape, online influencers – especially of the mommy blogger variety – continue to remain one of the most trusted sources on the Internet. A blogger’s third-party endorsement not only raises awareness among visitors of the blog but also compels readers to complete a call-to-action.

Kalahari Application As we near the opening of the Pocono Mountains property, the importance of leveraging mommy bloggers is crucial to not only raising Kalahari’s profile on the East Coast but also driving reservations among our key target demographic of moms with children. And, while affiliate “kick-back” programs are usually held in lower-esteem (with the request of high compensation – roughly $100 a reservation – and messy back-end logistics), there are a variety of ways to utilize mom bloggers to create meaningful content that resonates with moms. Kalahari should take the following steps: • Partner with Resourceful Mommy Media and Macaroni Kid • A partnership with Resourceful Mommy would give Kalahari: Sponsored Content Campaigns, Focus groups and Ambassador campaigns (January – June 2015) • A partnership with Macaroni Kid would give Kalahari: Custom Reviews, Dedicated Email Promotions, Native Articles and Display Advertising (January – June 2015)

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Leverage Online Inuencers to Drive Poconos Reservations A long-term relationship not only creates an opportunity for numerous brand mentions but also creates a partnership that can be utilized for multiple campaigns. Pre-seeding bloggers in fall of 2014 well in advance of the Poconos launch will help strengthen ties.

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Take Advantage of GoPro and LifeProof Technology to Enhance Guest Stays Through social listening we have discovered that many Kalahari guests wish to take videos and photos in the waterpark but are scared they will get their phones wet.

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What The retail addition of GoPro and LifeProof waterproof technology at various hotels and resorts are skyrocketing to allow guests to fully capture the entire family’s adventure and experience. Gunstock Mountain Resort has already welcomed GoPro rentals to its resort and has seen major exposure from the practical add-on.

Kalahari Application Add waterproof technology to retail shops at Kalahari.

GoPros can be rented and used to capture footage on the Flowrider, waterslides, and go-kart track, while Life Proof cases can be sold so cons umers can have their phones with them to capture moments they normally couldn’t. Social media sharing will be easier for guests share now, giving the Internet a different look at Kalahari compared to its competitors.

• Begin conversations with Go Pro / Lifeproof (Early 2015) • Have Go Pro rentals / Lifeproof cases in retail stores prior to Poconos opening

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Use RFID Technology For Added Convenience What

Kalahari Application

Delivering the greatest level of convenience to guests RFID wristbands allow guests to access their wallets and rooms with simple tap of the Wrist. Recently, Lollapalooza became the first music festival to implement paying for food and drinks with the chipenabled wristband. Users simply punched in their pin number to provide payment to ensure their security wouldn’t be breached. Concertgoers claimed to enjoy the wristbands on social media because everything they needed was on their wrist.

Kalahari can revolutionize the industry with the application of cashless wristbands for guests to make spending money throughout the resort more leisurely.

• Parents can load money onto their kids wristbands to monitor how much they are spending, as well as make it easier for them to make purchases when they are in the waterpark • In the case of an emergency all guests important information will be linked to their wristband • All-in-one wristband for an all-under-one-roof resort • Technology will be equipped in Poconos location by 2015.

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RFID wristbands permit for the resort to track data in real time, follow purchases, store emergency information and illicit guests to engage in conversations about Kalahari through social media.

RFID Technology- The RFID device serves the same purpose as a bar code or a magnetic strip on the back of a credit card or ATM card; it provides a unique identifier for that object. And, just as a bar code or magnetic strip must be scanned to get the information, the RFID device must be scanned to retrieve the identifying information.

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Engagement Statistics Q2-2014

Despite having less than half of the user-base, Instagram has caught fire with the millennial crowd, averaging engagement numbers that rival Facebook’s. We recommend Kalahari Resorts create an Instagram account to not only share the One World Africa content but also reach users that are shunning traditional social media outlets.

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November 2014: Acquire the Kalahari Resorts Instagram Channel December 2015: Design Instagram creative elements/ bio January 2015: Begin sharing social content

Total actions Monthly Active Users

1.23 Billion Facebook garnered 2.5 million brand posts, a year-over-growth of 22 percent

22 % 2.5 M Facebook had 2,396 actions per post

2,396 actions

200 Million Instagram had 493,000 of such posts, a 49 percent year-over-year jump

3.4 Billion

6 Billion

Instagram

Facebook

With half the user base of Facebook, Instagram was still able to generate 56% of Facebook’s quartly interactions.

social engagement

49 % 493 k Instagram racked up 6,932 actions per post

Instagram Engagement

Facebook Engagement

6,932 actions

Source: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/instagram-marketing-quickly-catching-facebook-159249

Instagram is achieving three times the engage ment per post when compared to Facebook

The new truth tracker – volume 2 issue one will be out in a digital format February 2015.

We look forward to continuing updating the team with evolving ideas in the interim time.