This was a hard year for everyone: pandemic, murder hornets, economic disasters, devastating hurricanes, wildfires, protests, riots, a divisive election, personal losses…we could go on. However, along with the many trials and tribulations of 2020, we’ve also garnered positive takeaways. Here at FearWorm, we’ve taken a look at the lessons we’ve learned from 2020 and what we can expect moving into 2021.
A Window of Hope
We have to acknowledge just how lucky haunt season was for many attraction owners and operators. Halloween season seemed to fall perfectly within a small window of time where Covid data in many areas had began to reflect a positive shift. Many businesses had, by this point, developed safety procedures and processes that allowed them to operate at some level. Then came November with the higher numbers of positive cases that we all expected to see. We must understand that the 2020 haunt season was, in fact, a unicorn and is unlike ANY season that has come before it.
This year proved that business owners, researchers, event goers, and governments across the globe can all work together to maintain at least some level of safe operation for us all. This was no easy task, and some attractions spent months reorganizing, deconstructing and then reconstructing, cleaning, planning, and preparing. From all of us at FearWorm, we are proud of what this industry was able to accomplish for communities across the Nation! To everyone involved in making the season happen, congratulations and thank you for your valiant efforts!
Digital Media Reigns Supreme
This year Americans spent more time at home than ever before: #StayAtHome. The global Coronavirus pandemic paved the way for massive increases in digital media usage. The data on digital skyrocketed this year, particularly with online streaming, Social Media, and video conferencing. Will this have long term effects on traditional media? Stay tuned for that analysis. But for now…Let’s take a look at Digital Media in 2020.
The events of 2020 caused a shift in many areas of Digital Media. Radio took a hit as homebound music lovers turned to internet-based apps like Spotify and Pandora. Television viewers turned to streaming apps like Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and OTT video as online streaming grew by a whopping 54%. The number of folks using Social Media across the globe increased by 376 million this year alone. The data recorded by the Global Web Index shows that people ages 16 – 64 were also spending longer periods on Social Media: 43% of users increased the length of time spent in-app on many platforms. We also have noted the tremendous rise in popularity and usage of TikTok in 2020.
No Competition = Huge Demand
One critical thing we learned this year is just how much cross-industry competition affects the haunted attraction attendance. Movie theaters were closed. Sports were cancelled. Bars and restaurants…closed or at the very least, severely limited. Malls…closed. Concerts and festivals…cancelled. Other haunts or attractions…many were closed. Get the idea? And yes, this virus must be considered a direct competitor.
This is very important to understand and should be reviewed when planning your 2021 marketing efforts. With a successful vaccine now being shipped to hospitals across the globe, there is finally a “light at the end of the tunnel” for this pandemic. This means 2021 may be one of the hardest years for haunts…ever.
It’s not difficult to see this one coming. Think about it, a lot of events that were closed or cancelled this year will surely be open and operating next year. This includes every movie, concert, sporting event, bar or nightclub, as well as high school events, weddings, corporate conferences, family reunions, etc. This will ALL be happening next year, and people will be dying to return to the ‘normalcy’ they have been missing. Think of all of the musicians and bands that haven’t been able to tour, and you know most of them have been working hard on new music while stuck at home!
We are certain that there will be an increased number of events and entertainment next year, most likely starting mid-Summer 2021. Just because there are more events and things to do…this doesn’t mean the average person has extra Saturday nights or extra disposable income. We still have relatively the same number of consumers to compete for and the same number of calendar days within our year.
We need to begin first by considering all of the fresh, new marketing and advertising about to hit the scene. Advertising contributes to what we call ‘noise’ and we can expect a huge amount of this to be occurring right before haunt season 2021. The marketing spends haunts are typically used to will likely not be enough for 2021. Remember, a key factor in effective marketing and branding is frequency. How in the world will frequency be achieved in 2021 when EVERYBODY will be back open and running ads? Attractions will have to be smarter than ever on how and where they spend their marketing budgets.
Important Note: Don’t forget – there may also be a sense of ‘desperation’ within these companies and events. Since being closed, when they are finally able to operate normally, some will likely have business plans to make up for lost revenues. This alone could present some very aggressive, competitive marketing campaigns. Thus highlighting yet another thing that we can say about 2021: We expect to see some very ‘outside of the box’, creative advertisements from the many brands that have lost market share this year.
2021 – What To Do and What To Plan For
Be prepared. 2020 was a unicorn season. You can learn from it, but you simply cannot base the future on how you marketed this year. Treat it like a hurricane that swamped your season or an ice storm that froze your pumpkins. You can’t use those occurrences or numbers to make accurate predictions. This is a fact: Events and businesses will have to spend more money paired with compelling, unique messages in order to get the attention of the 2021 consumer.
With record numbers of attendance for many haunted houses, tons of ‘new’ or first-time haunt goers experienced a haunted attraction this year. People that normally would have gone to a concert or sporting event didn’t have that option. When a haunted attraction is one of the only entertainment options happening, you likely had a lot of first-time visitors. You can’t expect that audience to return next year, but you can mine your data (and that of other haunted attractions) to reach back out to those audiences this coming season. Remarketing! You must plan to have an aggressive Remarketing campaign in 2021. It is not expensive and can be very beneficial, both to your event and the industry at large.
At FearWorm, we will never understand why many haunt owners are solely focused on capturing attendance from their direct competitors. There are, in fact, tons more individual consumers choosing other entertainment options, not just other haunts! We aren’t saying you shouldn’t grow your share from within the current haunt market, yes, that is a piece of the puzzle. What we are intending to point out here is there are 100 times more people NOT going to haunted attractions that you can and should be targeting within your markets.
If you did well in 2020, congratulations! Many attractions did! We celebrated this internally for all of our clients as well. When a haunted attraction increases the number of attendees, this means you have grown your market share. Hopefully the entire pool of attendees will be increased once again in 2021. It’s possible some of your competitors didn’t open this year. Plan to take advantage of that situation and make sure you keep and continue to expand your acquired market share. It is easier to grow your market share during a downtime because of less competition. But can you keep what you’ve gained?
2020 was one hell of a year. As we prepare for 2021, we can thank 2020 for the lessons we’ve learned and kick it right out the door. Along with the garbage, we should also toss out any expectations that 2021 is going to follow suit. We’ve actually heard haunt owners say “I barely did any advertising this year and I increased attendance. Do I really need to advertise anymore?” Well, if you happen to be competing against any one of our clients…roll-up your sleeves because FearWorm will be bringing the heat in 2021. You can expect our efforts will be more aggressive and more creative.
All advertisements and marketing aside, we implore you – Use 2021 to do something unique with your event. Create a new attraction, design a new theme, or perhaps add new entertainment attractions to your event next year. We’ve learned many things this year, but one thing is for certain: Haunted attractions will need to be creative next year when competing against the many options 2021 will bring for consumers. When faced with the challenge of where to stand in business…always choose to stand out.