XPERIA stands at a pivotal moment with an opportunity to significantly increase market share and establish itself as the premier indoor attraction in the Smoky Mountains region. Our analysis reveals clear paths to achieving the 35% growth target through strategic improvements in marketing, operations, and customer experience. This plan outlines a comprehensive approach that leverages XPERIA’s unique strengths while addressing key challenges to drive sustainable growth.
The path to 35% growth in ticket sales lies in four key opportunities: optimizing website sales through improved Google Ads targeting and dynamic weather-based pricing, increasing mall walk-in traffic through reimagined wayfinding and mascot engagement, launching a revamped local affiliate program targeting Sevier County’s 450 hotels, and developing a robust group sales program focused on schools, scouts, and youth organizations. The current revenue split of 69% walk-in, 18% website, and 13% Groupon sales suggests significant room for growth, particularly in advance online purchases and group bookings.
Our strategy leverages XPERIA’s unique strengths – its technology-driven experience, prime mall location, and flexible theming capability – while addressing key challenges around brand confusion and messaging. By implementing weather and holiday-triggered marketing, strategic pricing, targeted email campaigns to past visitors, and enhanced mall presence through Banjo the mascot, we project growing ticket sales from 50,866 to 68,669 annually. This growth will come from increasing website sales to 15,000 tickets, walk-in sales to 46,000, adding 7,020 affiliate sales and 6,000 group sales, while maintaining current Groupon performance of 6,615 tickets.
XPERIA currently generates 50,866 annual tickets through three primary channels:
While these numbers provide a solid foundation, our analysis indicates significant untapped potential across all channels, with particular opportunity in group sales, affiliate partnerships, and mall foot traffic conversion.
Primary Goal: Increase annual ticket sales by 35% (~68,669 tickets)
Supporting Objectives:
We analyzed ticket sales by day and reviewed them in light of holidays and weather. Below are some of the key insights we found:
Holidays:
Weather:
XPERIA’s current marketing suffers from fragmented messaging across its various channels. Rather than presenting a unified brand voice, communications scatter across multiple themes: “Ocean Journey,” “Digital Oceanic Experience,” “An Animated Digital World,” “Go Underwater With Family And Friends,” and “An Up Close Immersive Experience.” While each attempts to describe the attraction, they collectively create confusion by emphasizing technical aspects over emotional connection.
The challenge is twofold: First, these varying messages, though all attempting to describe “a digital underwater experience,” dilute brand recognition and fail to capture the wonder and excitement that makes XPERIA unique. Second, the heavy focus on ocean and digital terminology can create misaligned expectations, with some visitors anticipating a traditional aquarium experience. What’s missing is an emotional core to the messaging – one that bridges the technological innovation behind XPERIA with the sense of adventure and discovery that visitors actually experience. By establishing a clearer, more emotionally resonant message, we can both differentiate XPERIA from traditional aquariums and better communicate its unique value to potential visitors.
Recommended:
We recommend adopting “Worlds of Wonder Await” or “Adventure and Wonder Await” as the primary tagline. This messaging mirrors the successful approach of “There’s Magic in the Mountains” used by Anakeesta, creating intrigue while avoiding direct comparison to aquariums. For the current ocean theme, we suggest using adventure-focused messaging such as “I survived a squid attack at XPERIA!” on billboards and floor graphics to drive walk-in traffic. Website and long-form content should emphasize the “animated adventure” or “animated journey of survival” aspects.
Key points:
Our analysis of ticket sales patterns reveals significant opportunities for strategic pricing. Weather data shows up to 27% higher attendance during rain events, suggesting potential for dynamic pricing. Currently, all tickets are priced uniformly regardless of demand, weather, or booking time.
We recommend implementing dynamic pricing that:
The customer experience requires attention at several key touchpoints:
Pre-Visit: Website optimization should focus on clearer messaging and easier booking. The mall wayfinding system needs reimagining with more engaging floor graphics that create excitement rather than simply pointing directions.
Arrival: The lobby experience should be enhanced with better audioscape and flow. Adding a simple ticket kiosk will improve efficiency, while creating opportunities for visitors to begin interacting with the experience (such as coloring sea creatures) will build anticipation.
During Visit: Tour guide training should emphasize the nature of XPERIA and improve review solicitation. The social photo opportunities need to be more accessible within the flow.
Post-Visit: Implementation of automated review solicitation and strategic email marketing to previous customers will drive return visits. Special “return visitor” rates should be offered to the previous year’s customers, particularly during slower seasons.
The current Google Search Ads strategy focuses heavily on branded keywords, effectively paying for traffic that would likely convert organically. By shifting focus to non-branded searches around “things to do in Pigeon Forge” and related terms, we can tap into over 30,000 monthly searches. Converting just 1% of this traffic would significantly boost website ticket sales.
Email marketing presents another significant opportunity, particularly by:
Mall traffic represents a significant untapped opportunity for XPERIA. The current wayfinding system, consisting of basic directional floor stickers, fails to capture the imagination or create excitement among shoppers. We recommend a complete reimagining of the mall presence, centered around creating an engaging, dynamic atmosphere that draws visitors naturally to the attraction.
Central to this strategy is the increased utilization of Banjo, XPERIA’s mascot. We propose hiring a part-time performer who can bring Banjo to life, engaging with mall visitors through music and magic performances both in XPERIA’s pavilion space and along key mall thoroughfares. This creates an interactive, entertaining experience that extends XPERIA’s presence beyond its physical location. Additionally, the pavilion space should be activated with regular family-friendly events such as “Paint a Sea Creature” workshops and sidewalk chalk art contests. These activities serve multiple purposes: they create visible energy that attracts additional foot traffic, provide entertainment value that enhances the mall experience, and offer opportunities for families to engage with the XPERIA brand even before purchasing tickets. By transforming our mall presence from passive directional signage to active entertainment, we can significantly increase walk-in traffic conversion rates.
The affiliate program shows tremendous potential for rapid growth. With over 450 hotels in Sevier County, capturing just 10% participation could generate significant ticket sales. If each participating hotel averaged one family of three per week, this would add 7,020 annual tickets. Success requires restructuring the program with enhanced incentives, including “affiliate of the month” recognition and annual performance rewards. We recommend revamping the program in these ways:
Group sales represent another substantial growth opportunity. Analysis shows approximately:
Targeting an average of three grades per school, with two classes of 25 students each, creates a potential market of 18,150 students annually. Combined with scout troops and church youth groups averaging 10 members each, the total addressable market approaches 100,000 potential visitors. A conservative 3-6% conversion rate would generate 3,000-6,000 additional tickets annually.
We recommend mining for data and gathering contact information beginning as soon as possible. Then rolling out an automated personalized outbound email program by initially testing open and response rates with different subject lines and message content.
A CRM system will need to be implemented for your group sales and affiliate programs.
Understanding the customer journey from awareness to purchase is critical for efficient marketing spend. Using a funnel framework helps us prioritize tactics that will drive immediate ticket sales while building for future growth. This approach segments marketing activities into three levels: upper funnel (awareness), mid funnel (consideration), and lower funnel (conversion). Given XPERIA’s growth targets and budget constraints, we recommend focusing primarily on mid and lower funnel activities that target visitors already in or planning trips to the Sevier County area.
Upper Funnel (Future Consideration):
While awareness-building tactics like influencer partnerships, streaming radio, and connected TV would help establish XPERIA in tourists’ minds long-term, we recommend reserving any major investments in this level for future phases. This ensures marketing dollars remain focused on driving immediate ticket sales rather than diluting the budget across longer-term brand building efforts. However, in order to build social engagement we do recommend reserving a portion of digital advertising dollars to increase following on Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok. While this will also serve as a mid-funnel tactic, it will be more beneficial to view this as an awareness tactic.
Mid Funnel (Active Consideration):
The heart of our recommended strategy targets visitors already in or actively planning trips to the area. These tactics include:
For display and retargeting campaigns, we recommend concentrating spend within Sevier County rather than broader feeder markets. Given XPERIA’s price point and spontaneous purchase pattern, targeting visitors already in-market provides better efficiency. Retargeting campaigns, however, will extend to all website visitors regardless of location to capture potential advance planners.
Lower Funnel (Ready to Purchase):
These tactics target people actively seeking activities and ready to buy:
This strategic allocation ensures marketing investment focuses on driving immediate results while building a foundation for sustainable growth.
Our analysis shows significant correlations between weather conditions and ticket sales:
Rainy days show an average 27% increase in ticket sales, with some events driving even higher spikes (February 9-11 saw a 155% increase). Cold days below 45°F generally drive 18% higher sales, though extreme cold can negatively impact attendance. Hot days above 89°F typically see a 12% decrease in sales.
This data will inform dynamic pricing and marketing deployment, with increased advertising during optimal weather conditions. Email marketing to previous customers will include weather-triggered campaigns, offering special rates during historically high-performing weather conditions.
Our strategic approach projects the following ticket distribution:
Total projected tickets: 80,635, representing a 59% increase. While this exceeds our 35% goal, we expect the first year to track closer to target as programs ramp up and gain traction.