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This master's thesis explores the promotional marketing strategies used by suoi tien theme park in ho chi minh city, vietnam, to attract vietnamese visitors. The study analyzes the characteristics of marketing communications, identifies the most effective marketing communication methods, and provides insights into the development of the theme park industry in vietnam. Key findings include the use of six marketing communications, the effectiveness of integrated marketing communications, and the role of media advertising, particularly tvc advertising, in attracting visitors.
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By LIEN Tran Thi Thuy 52117605 September 2019 Master’s Thesis Presented to Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Business Administration
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ..................................................................................................... vi
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Tran Thi Thuy Lien (Student ID 52117605) hereby declare that the contents of this Master’s Thesis are original and true, and have not been submitted at any other university or educational institution for the award of degree or diploma. All the information derived from other published or unpublished sources has been cited and acknowledged appropriately. Tran Thi Thuy Lien 2019/07/
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This research is a qualitative study of promotional marketing campaign pursued by Suoi Tien Theme Park. Findings show that Suoi Tien Theme Park’s promotional marketing has integrated six marketing communication modes. They are: media advertising, place advertising, direct response and interactive advertising, trade- and consumer-oriented promotions, personal selling and marketing-oriented public relations and publicity. It has been found that, among these modes, television commercial advertising as a subset of media advertising is emphasized more than other marketing communication modes because it attracts the most visitors. And because it’s pioneer in studying about theme park’s promotional marketing in Vietnam, it has significant practical contributions of integrated marketing communications to promotion of theme park in Vietnam, which will be helpful for future research. Keywords: Promotional marketing, marketing communication, integrated marketing communication, theme park, Suoi Tien Theme Park, Vietnam
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1.1 Research background According to 2017 report of Themed Entertainment Association (TEA), the attendance growth at the top amusement and theme parks in the Asia Pacific region was 5.5% at an average. Meanwhile, the number of worldwide was 4.7% (AECOM, 2017, pp. 11,39). Figure 1 : Growth attendance of top amusement/theme parks in Asia-Pacific and Worldwide Source: Themes Entertainment Association (2017) Although this growth was mainly driven by Mainland China where many parks appeared in the top list because of double-digit and year-over-year increases, TEA still mentioned about Southeast Asia as a promising market with many entertainment projects. With the advantage of a booming middle class, large young populations and increasing income, Southeast Asia is forecasted to become a potential theme park market in the near future. Besides Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Bangkok and Manila, Ho Chi Minh City is also expected as potential destination of theme park growth (AECOM, 2017, p. 43).
3 and started to build his dream. Suoi Tien Forest Farm was born for a long-term purpose: “Forestry Farm is a prerequisite for a large scale- Tourist Area in the future”. The name “Suoi Tien” - Fairy Stream was originated from a tale about 7 girls who passed away by the little stream. And their souls became fairies as a sign of strong vitality of a barren land (Park, n.d.). In early 1992, when the investment capital was available and the social economy of Ho Chi Minh city was developed. The project was a tourist attraction to serve the spiritual and cultural life of the people. This was the imperative demand. On September, 1995, Suoi Tien Theme Park was officially opened on the National Day of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (Park, n.d.). More than 20 years of development, Suoi Tien has become the biggest theme park in Ho Chi Minh city. In an area of 55ha, Suoi Tien provides over 150 entertainment items, invests 4,000 billion VND (about 174 million US dollar) of the capital and employs more over 800 employees. It annually welcomes about 4.5 million visitors. “Currently Suoi Tien continues expanding its scale area of over 50 hectares up to 105 hectares in 2019 with the second investment capital of 2,000 billion VND (about 87 million US dollar)” (Park, n.d.). 1.3 Significance of the Research According to the research background, theme park industry has developed around the world with plenty of theme parks attracting an impressive number of visitors annually. And Asia-Pacific has also many countries in which growth attendance has increased significantly. Although Ho Chi Minh city in Viet Nam is considered as a potential
4 destination to develop them park industry, presently, Suoi Tien Theme Park is the only theme park in this city. It has existed in over twenty years, there is no research or study which can be found about how its promotional marketing can attract visitors for many years. The author could not find any research papers about Suoi Tien and Vietnamese Theme Park’s promotional marketing. And online data consisted nothing, when the author researched with the keys “Promotional marketing of Suoi Tien, studies/research about Suoi Tien’s promotional marketing, about Suoi Tien Theme Park’s Marketing” on the internet and database websites such as EBSCOhost, ProQuest, Cambridge Journals. All information found is only about Suoi Tien’s introduction or advertising contents on tourism websites or online newspapers. Its official website does not mention about its promotional marketing either. Moreover, in order to ensure “a comprehensive, unbiased search” based on keywords and search terms as a requirement of “Systematic review” (Bell, 2011, p. 98), the author expanded the scope of searches about this study in books, related theme park industry, on the internet and database system of EBSCOhost, ProQuest, SienceDirect. The author used keywords “About theme park’s promotional marketing, marketing of theme park, researches/studies about theme park’s marketing, theme park industry in Vietnam, Vietnamese theme park’s promotional marketing, marketing of theme park in Ho Chi Minh City”. Hence, there were articles, journals and reports about promotion marketing of theme parks such as Disneyland Hong Kong, Lotte World, Korean, Universal Studios Japan. However, Vietnamese theme parks’ information has just appeared on travel or tourism websites; with pictures and sentences of introduction. There is no result concerning about their marketing strategies or even related contents such as promotions, advertising strategies. Therefore, this study will provide information about
6 increase the number of Vietnamese visitors. This study will answer three following research questions: What marketing communications do Suoi Tien Theme Park currently use to attract Vietnamese? What marketing communication has so far worked best for Suoi Tien Theme Park to attract Vietnamese until now? How does Suoi Tien Theme Park conduct marketing communications to attract Vietnamese? 1.5 Research objectives The long-term goal of the research is to explore the most effective method of promotional marketing to attract Vietnamese visitors to the theme park so that it can contribute to the development of theme park industry in Vietnam. The objective of the current study is to provide a comprehensive review of literature and promotional marketing practices of theme park. Particularly, the study has the following sub-objectives: To provide information about theme park in Ho Chi Minh City. To encourage to protect cultural value of country via religious and cultural themes of the park. The result of this study will be valuable in marketing of theme park industry as well as related tourism researchers in developing better practices for considering theme parks as a potential destination.
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2.1 Overview of theme park 2.1.1 Definition When people talk about theme park, they talk about a place where they can enjoy plenty of attractions such as landscapes, shows, games, food courts, etc…This is a destination for people of all ages who want to spend leisure time with families, friends and sweethearts. “For Ren (1998), a theme park is, more specifically, the landscape resulting from a cultural representation: a place where knowledge and technology are applied to the creation of new form of organization production based on signs and space. Based on this, parks are planned in order to materialize a commercial atmosphere in which the basic management principle is that of getting visitors to move, have a good time and spend” (Clavé, 2014, p. 31). According to this definition, the attractions in a theme park have reflected cultural value which visitors can see and experience via architectures, shows, games used to tell its own stories. And each story has played a role in building the theme for the park. In addition, “theme parks represent extraordinary spatial and social forms, they offer some of the most basic needs, reflect deep and powerful emotions and cognitive modes, and present some of the most telling and controversial representations of the world” (Lukas, 2012, pp. 7,8). Because unlike when you watch television or read a book, you have seen, heard and sometimes just imaged about the stories which the films and books have been conveying to audiences and readers. But with theme parks, they can bring visitors to the most popular fantasies which visitors are able to touch, taste, and even walk
9 for visitors who come from areas located some 100-200 km away and spend a few hours in the park. And Urban Park is local scope, designed for urban area with limited themes in a park. Finally, in the rural area in which a certain number of tourist can be attracted, Niche Parks will be located (Clavé, 2014, pp. 29,30) Type Investment (million €) Visitors (million) Attractions Demand Destination Over 250 From 3.5 Over 55 Tourist demand can reach over 50% Regional Between 100 and 250 From 1.5 to
35 - 50 Tourist demand up to 25% Urban Between 80 and 100 Between 0.75 and 1. 25 - 35 95% from the immediate urban areas Niche Between 10 and 80 Up to 0.75 Variable Variable Table 1 :Types of theme parks Source: (Clavé, 2014) 2.1.3 Theme(s) The fundamental issue which gives a park its character is its physical and symbolic structuring around a theme. “The theme must refer to a story, an argument, which the visitor will assimilate during his visit in a progressive process of identification. The physical, landscape and aesthetic characteristics of the surroundings provide the forms” (Clavé, 2014, p. 32). Theming is to use the technology, spectacle and story in order to create an atmosphere of entertainment that fosters a fantasy, location and idea (Clavé, 2014, p. 33).
10 Because it’s a product of creation, theme is not mere fantasy stories, it can be any contents; such as environment, culture, science, etc…”Theming is, in fact, a process of the physical and social construction of a type of reality which, being imaginary, magnifies the characteristics of contemporary society: a creative exercise which mixes imagination, technical capabilities, artistic concepts” (Clavé, 2014, p. 35) To be noticed that a theme park can contain one or more theme areas (Clavé, 2014, p. 28), there are some typical attributes which can be developed. Table 2 summarizes some of the attributes of groups of themes in 1999. Type Attributes Adventure Excitement and action Frightening Mysterious Futurism Discovery Robot Scientific International International village World expositions Nature Animals Floral displays Landscaping Marine life Fantasy Animation Fairy tale Magic History and Culture Aboriginal Authentic Cultural heritage Ethnic appeals Movie Comedy Show business Motion picture Table 2 : Attributes of groups of themes
12 2.2.2 Vietnamese folktales The Vietnamese teach their children not only the language, but also the history and cultural values of their people, using folktales passed down from generation to generation. “As these tales have been passed down for centuries through the oral tradition, cultural notes have been included for a full and thoughtful understanding of how the characters’ natural and social environments caused them to behave and interact within the societal structures of their time” (Le, 2017). Because folktales contain historical and cultural stories in there and to get it easy to understand even with children, folktales have appeared just in storytelling of grandparents but also in books of primary schools as an official education program. This has been proved that over time folktales have always had its stand in Vietnamese society. There are many folktales which are popular in Vietnamese society such as the legend of ancient Vietnam: Legend of Lac Long Quan and Au Co, Son Tinh and Thuy Tinh (Mountain God- Water God), and Thanh Giong (Saint Giong). In which legend of Lac Long Quan and Au Co explains the origin of Vietnamese. Lac Long Quan is admitted as all Vietnamese’s father and Au Co as Vietnamese’s mother (Hien, 2005). Meanwhile, Son Tinh and Thuy Tinh is a myth to explain about natural phenomena such as rain, storm, earthquake, etc…since they are the Mountain God and Water God who can create and control nature. With Thanh Giong, who is also called Phu Dong Thien Vuong (Phu Dong the Sky King), he represents the Vietnamese’s spirit in protecting the country from invaders (Viet, 2012). They are three Vietnamese folktales which all Vietnamese have known and reflected historical, cultural and spiritual sites of Vietnamese (Hien, 2005).
13 2.3 Promotion marketing in theme parks In order to attract customers, theme parks use promotion and communication instruments “via common techniques such as advertising, brochures, press and public relations, sponsorship or the use of the Internet, among other methods” (Clavé, 2014, p. 415). Parks need to understand their media options (print media, electronic media, outdoor advertising, flyers, etc…). Major parks can run expensive television advertising since they can afford high budget. With medium-sized and small parks tend to be present only in the media through paid advertisement in the local, regional and/or specialized press. Radio is less used (Clavé, 2014, p. 416) There are other promotional tools which theme parks use such as the following (Clavé, 2014, p. 416): Free coverage in the media through press and public relations. Direct marketing strategies. Sponsorship of events, people or organizations. Agreements between parks to run joint advertising campaigns. Internet promotion. In order to choose the promotional tool(s) which is suitable for targeted customers, theme parks need to identify suitable market segment. That’s why it’s primordial to know market in terms of demographics, geography, behaviour, benefits and psychographic (Clavé, 2014, p. 410).
