Haunted Attraction Network

In this podcast episode, we ask Scott Swenson all the different ways that you can use your attraction’s back story and why it’s important today more than ever.

If you are a Haunted Attraction that has never used a back story with your theme and sometimes you feel that something is missing from the overall experience, creating a unique story around your characters may just be what you need to take your attraction to the next level.

Today’s attraction customer wants more than just a scary walk-through; they’re looking for memorable moments, a story they can tell their friends, and an evolving theme that changes each year. Creating a back story immerses your attendees in a world that they will remember and come back to see what happens with your characters next time.


Follow the Story: What’s inside this podcast
1. Why having a story behind your attraction is important. Your guests will remember it. You can plan your entire theme around it. It can save you time and money by doing it.
2. How to use your story in your marketing. Using your main characters in your advertising and following the story will help your attendees have a better experience which will make it an easy choice to come back to your attraction for more story.
3. Simple ways to start your story right now. You don’t have to change up everything. Here are a few simple and low-cost ways to start weaving your story throughout your haunted attraction, no matter what stage of operations you’re in.
4. What makes great Haunted Attractions great. The attractions that understand where their stories are evolving can stay ahead of the game. They can plan easier for next season, have off season events around their story, and save money by using materials they already have. Large or small…you can start using your back story to help make your attraction better.

Get the book at: http://followthestorybook.com

This week on Haunt Weekly, we're discussing year-round haunting and we're doing it by sitting down with Shelby Rodwell. Shelby runs both The Haunted Mayfield Manor and Pirates! Legends of the Gulf Coast in Galveston. The first is a year-round haunted attraction and the second an equally year-round pirate museum.

We're going to talk about the challenges and opportunities in running a year-round haunt including how they keep it going and what some of the biggest obstacles they face are. It's a jam-packed interview with lots of great info about running such a haunt and more than a little talk about pirates.

This Week's Episode Includes:

Intro
Getting to Know Shelby
The Biggest Challenges in Running a Year-Round Haunt
The History of The Haunted Mayfield Manor
Discussion of Being a Woman in Haunting
Conclusions
All in all, whether you're thinking about expanding to more days or looking to get started year-round haunting, this is an episode that you do NOT want to miss!

Pretty much every haunted house has a merch booth or a gift shop. There's almost no reason not to. It's a fairly straightforward way to make extra money from your haunt and, in many cases, do some great self-promotion.

However, as an industry, our merch game is often times pretty weak. Many places offer t-shirts and hats and not a lot more. There's a lot of room for many haunts to elevate their merch and gift shop game and that's what this episode is about. Finding ways to make more money by selling more stuff.

This Week's Episode Includes:

Intro
Conference Reminders
Information on Upcoming Galveston Trip
Hat Tip to Roberta McCllen
Previous Episodes to Check Out
Difference Between a Gift Shop and a Merch Booth
6 Rules for a Successful Gift Shop
Discussion on Merch
Elevating it to a Gift Shop
Additional Advice
Examples of Good Haunt Gift Shops
Conclusions
Whether you already have a gift shop or are looking to set one up, this is an episode you do NOT want to miss!

*BRAND NEW BOOK FOR HAUNTERS* - 'Follow the Story' - Written by Scott Swenson

Mikey interviews Scott about his brand new book, his time with Busch Gardens, his Immersive Theatre work plus much much more!

Buy the book here: http://followthestorybook.com/
Scott's website here: http://scottswenson.com/
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Scott Swenson joins us on the podcast to discuss the impact Story has in marketing your attraction.
Scott has a new book out:
Follow the Story: The Foundation of Every Great Attraction
Follow the Story’s synopsis reads, “An attraction is most effective when it follows a path and takes guests on a journey. The story determines an attraction’s physical layout, character development, and technical design. It also points the way for clever marketing, merchandising, and branding. This book gives you the tools to develop a story and to use that story as a blueprint for your attraction's development.”
Get your copy here or read more at www.followthestorybook.com

How does the story impact the marketing team?
Because it’s not only about The Creatives. Departments must play together.

Here are some takeaways from the recording:
We become myopic when there are multiple departments but that isn’t true for the guest. The guest sees everything in one continuous experience. Moving past individual departments makes your attraction better because it makes the experience design cohesive.

Successful marketing campaigns must have a ‘North Star’ to coordinate the departments together. Without this, the event design isn’t cohesive. Departments must be able to make individual decisions that contribute to the design rather than detracting from it.

Specific Sections
Before: How does marketing tell the backstory?
If you don't have a strong IP to draw from, marketing helps the guest understand the story. Exposing your guests to the story longer increases their emotional reaction to the attraction.

Use marketing to turn characters into ‘assets’ which continue to provide ROI for the event. To do this, their story must continue and evolve each year.

After: How does marketing keep the story going and thereby reinforce asset creation?
Scott shared an example of a Vampire Fashion Show campaign. Mrs. Vein actioned off items from her fashion show after the event.

Alone experience - https://insidethemagic.net/2010/10/a-spoiler-free-tale-of-surviving-the-alone-personal-horror-experience-at-busch-gardens-howl-o-scream/


Merchandising: Everything you sell reinforces the memory of the event. You’re purchasing a manifestation of the attraction. Connection merchandising to Your Story makes the guest more emotionally connection; this drives up demand but also encourages repeat visits. The story behind Merchandise must be compelling.

Where should the marketing dollar go? All seasons are not created equal. Halloween focuses on physical set assets and brand name. Christmas, on the other hand, focuses more on the name of the experience.

Connecting Departments. Where do we begin? Begin by getting face time with the creative department. Meet ‘The Creatives.’ Creatives want to be recognized. Then, set up a regular structured meeting that all stakeholders attend; keep communication open and everyone on the same page. Limit this meeting to 1 hour.

PR example - Personalizing marketing to reach digital news sites, TV media, and influencers. Mentions in the book of how he turned photos of media personalities into vampires to get their attention.

What’s the takeaway for the marketing team?
You must understand the story and work with it, not fight it.
Understand the Easter Eggs and the flow. When possible, work with the creative team during the creative development phase.

Signing August 4th at Midsummer Scream.

Banshee Manor Haunted Attraction is in Fayetteville, Arkansas is located inside a family fun park called Lokomotion.

Buying Ghosts is a audio drama series in the form of a podcast available everywhere you find podcasts.

Jonna Summers is the one orchestrating both of these fun Haunt projects. You’ll have to listen to this podcast to hear how these two projects are similar.

Start your own Haunt, or grow the one you have, in our Haunters Toolbox membership. It’s FREE! Here: https://www.haunterstoolbox.com/

*This is from the Archive of A Scott in the Dark. This episode is on the care and feeding of haunt actors.

Mikey interviews Lee and Sarah from Faceless Ventures, the team behind the UK's most extreme haunt 'Cracked'. The FV team also deliver fantastic Immersive Theatre, Scare Attractions and more. We discuss all the Faceless Ventures shows throughout 2019.

https://facelessventures.co.uk



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When Midwest Haunters Convention left Ohio to head to Chicago, the Ohio Haunters Association found themselves without a conference in their backyard. So, they had a crazy idea, why not create one.

Thus the Ohio Halloween & Haunters Convention was born!

So how did a team of great haunt activists and organizers become a crack team of event planners and conference hosts? Well, that's exactly what we're talking with Maximus Bryant about on this week's episode of Haunt Weekly.

This Week's Episode Includes:

Intro
Background on Maximus
How the Convention Got Started
Challenges and Process of Putting it Together
Overcoming Unforeseen Difficulties
Advice for Others
Conclusions
Whether you're planning a conference or just planning on attending one, this is an episode you do NOT want to miss!

Audio completes your haunt environment and makes it real.