Adventures in Marketing

 By John Ramos   

“Introducing GLArewards! A new marketing program from Great Lakes Aquarium that is designed to give you cash for spreading the word about Duluth’s world-class attraction.”

                           —From a handout distributed to employees of Duluth’s hospitality industry

The Aquarium board meeting of June 28, 2006, was sparsely attended, as it usually is. Chad Netherland and I were the only people to show up on time. Netherland is the Ripley Corporation manager hired in 2003 to whip the Aquarium into shape; I am the publisher of The Cheerleader magazine, Duluth’s premiere literary journal. Neither of us are board members. Netherland, reliable as ever, had coffee set out on a side table. Today, by mistake, the usual light roast had been replaced with espresso. I managed to hide my surprise fairly well, only grimacing slightly after my first taste of the bitter black tar.

Pat Schoff, the chair, eventually wandered in, followed by City Finance Director Genevieve Stark and Pioneer Bank President Wayne Hibbard. Some banter about the coffee ensued. Chad Netherland said, “What? You guys didn’t know that Caribou [Coffee] got bought out by AMSOIL?” to general laughter. Doug Jensen, a representative from Minnesota Sea Grant, arrived late, and Terry Mattson, executive director of Visit Duluth, strolled in about forty minutes late. As usual, City Councilors Russ Stewart and Laurie Johnson did not show up at all. Pat Schoff started the meeting without a quorum.

After reading the financial report for May, Chad Netherland described some recent actions that have been taken to boost attendance. To make the Aquarium more “enticing,” Netherland has introduced peppy music to the lobby and outside the entrance of the building. A standard feature of Ripley attractions, the music is supposed to provide visitors with a “sense of arrival” before they enter the building. The board loved it, as they tend to love everything Ripley does.

Doug Jensen: It provides an atmosphere. It provides a greeting and an atmosphere at the door.

Pat Schoff: It’s one of those things that I told Chad that—we were meeting downstairs, and I do come in the back way, and he said we had music, so I came up through here, and as soon as I walked, you know, opened this door, all of a sudden I said, “Oh! That was what I’m missing!”

Chad Netherland: Mm-hmm.

Jensen: Mm-hmm.

Schoff: It really makes a difference!

Jensen: No doubt.

Genevieve Stark: It does.

Another idea introduced by Netherland is called “Fintastic Fotos.” When visitors enter the Aquarium, they are greeted with a sign that reads, “Free Camera Rental.” Six digital cameras are available for use, each of which can store eighty pictures on its memory card. Visitors stroll through the Aquarium, taking pictures, and then, Netherland explained, “They come back, if they like ‘em, they bring it to the gift shop, and they turn it in, and they download the memory card right into one of these Fintastic Foto CDs, and they sell ‘em in the gift shop for $9.99.”

Stark: Oh, what a clever idea.

Netherland: So…and the, and the plan behind it is that…the strategy…is that it’s free. Most people take anything free. And it has no value until they take a picture of their kids, or of their loved ones, and then it has value, and then that’s, you know, that’s been the marketing strategy behind that, and it’s actually worked very well. So as that progresses, I’ll let you know how that’s working out.

As the publisher of a magazine, I was always interested to learn about new marketing ideas. I also knew, with absolute certainty, that I would never be able to think of anything like Finastic Fotos. It stunned me that Chad Netherland had actually sat down and thought this up. How many people who pick up a camera will not buy the pictures? How many people will walk around the Aquarium, snapping photos, and then replace the camera at the end of the tour, without buying the pictures? The trick is getting them to pick up the camera. They’ll pick it up willingly if it’s “free.”

(My own marketing ideas, on the rare occasions that I have them, tend to take a slightly different tack. One idea I had was to climb the wall of Channel 6’s Weather Garden some night, and then, when Karl Spring came outside to do the ten o’clock weather, to throw a bunch of Cheerleaders down on him. Theoretically, the resulting publicity would cause sales to skyrocket. “What is this?” I imagined Karl asking curiously, picking up one of the eye-catching blue digests and holding it up to the Channel 6 news cameras for thousands of viewers to see. “The Cheerleader?” Or perhaps not. I never actually put the plan into action.)

Music and photographs notwithstanding, Netherland’s most ambitious move may be his creation of the GLA Rewards program, which enlists the help of Duluth’s entire hospitality industry in boosting the Aquarium. “My vision,” Netherland explained to the board, “was to make everyone who came in contact with a customer or a guest or a visitor to the city, to turn ‘em into a salesperson. And the only way to do that is to basically pay them to do it.” A prepared sheet explained the program in more detail.

If you are a host, server, front desk worker or guest service employee, you are on the front lines and have direct and extended contact with people visiting the Twin Ports. By simply doing your job, you are a kind of “ambassador” of the tourism industry in the area.

 Now it’s time for that “ambassadorship” to finally pay off.

Just think how many times you’ve been asked:

          “So what is there to do around here?”

          “What do you recommend we do while we’re in town?”

          “I don’t have time to see it all, which should I see for sure?”

Now you’ll have an answer for them every time!

Employees who sign up for the GLA Rewards program are issued coupons for two dollars off the admission price to the Aquarium. Each employee has a number, and each of their coupons bears their number. The employees then hand out the coupons to visitors. For each coupon that is redeemed at the Great Lakes Aquarium, the employee who handed it out receives a dollar.

According to Netherland, 150 people have already signed up for the GLA Rewards program. A section on the handout entitled “Plan of Action” gives participants ideas for how to distribute their coupons.

Wait for the right opportunity to suggest that a tourist visits the Aquarium. Look for leading questions where a visitor hopes to rely on your knowledge of the area; perhaps you will see them leafing through a visitor’s guide or overhear them talking of plans for their visit. Now all you need to do is work your way into the conversation.

Some key phrases might be:

So what do you folks plan to see while you’re in town?

I see you’re planning out your visit, do you need any recommendations?

I know how quickly a vacation can add up—would you like some coupons?

One hundred and fifty ambassadors, operating in Duluth’s limited number of tourist venues, will be hard to ignore. One wonders what visitors will make of it. Will they be fired with enthusiasm to visit the Aquarium? Or will they wonder why so many employees are insinuating themselves into the conversation and shoving numbered coupons at their faces?

Chad Netherland, at any rate, seems confident that all will play out to the GLA’s advantage. After conceding that the GLA Rewards program essentially gave away three dollars on the ticket price, he countered rhetorically, “What’s the price to convert that [hospitality worker] to where [their comments about the Aquarium are] always positive, and it’s always the Aquarium, the Aquarium, the Aquarium?” This is inspired marketing, indeed. GLA Rewards does not require an employee to visit the Aquarium, or know anything about it, but only to be positive about it. What could be easier? Anybody can be positive, for a dollar.

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Published in the Reader Weekly, 7/27/2006.