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A 2015 accident at one of its theme parks made merlin entertainments the subject of sensationalist media stories. Brunswick’s fiona micallef-eynaud and austin rathe talk with the company’s leadership about their campaign to combat fiction with facts. oole, a sleepy seaside town in dorset supported an official probe by the UK’s Health & on the south coast of England, is the un- Safety Executive. In the subsequent court case, Mer- likely birthplace and headquarters of lin entered a guilty plea and was fined £5 million. Merlin Entertainments, the second big- But media fascination with the company didn’t gest attractions company in the world. end when the court case did. Merlin’s theme parks P The firm’s popular brands, which include remained targets of negative and often factually in- LEGOLAND and Madame Tussauds, attract 67 accurate reporting. Routine operational matters at million guests annually, and the company has ex- any Merlin attraction—like safety protocols tempo- clusive rights to the intellectual property of world- rarily halting a ride—became targets for tabloids. famous brands such as Peppa Pig, LEGO and celeb- “Alton Towers’ notorious Smiler rollercoaster rity adventurer Bear Grylls. breaks down,” was one 2017 headline describing CEO and co-founder Nick Varney has led the what the company called a “minor technical is- company since its start in 1998, transforming it sue” involving a sensor. Similarly benign events from a business that owned a handful of UK at- drew headlines such as, “Terror at Alton Towers— tractions to one that now operates more than 120 AGAIN,” as well as “Horror at Alton Towers as thrill attractions in 25 countries across four continents. seekers trapped 80ft in the air.” Whether as a private company or a public one The company responded with a safety-first nar- (Merlin listed in late 2013), the company’s narrative rative. “Safety is absolutely critical to Merlin,” Mr. had been overwhelmingly positive—until 2015. Varney told Brunswick, which worked with Mer- On June 2nd, a crash involving the Smiler roll- lin on its communications response. “We invest a ercoaster at Alton Towers Resort—Merlin’s largest huge amount of time and money on engineering, UK theme park—left two young women with life- equipment, technology and procedures to keep changing injuries. The ride was closed temporarily. guests safe. It’s not unusual for a ride to be stopped Mr. Varney led the company’s response with those mid-cycle, perhaps due to passenger actions, and injured and their families, as well as with the media. restarted again within minutes. It’s a machine de- OThe company conductedN its own TRA investigation and signed to stop if required.”CK It was clear that responding to media requests Riders enjoy the Stealth “Our visitors are major consumers of content ROUTINE themselves the situation at the attraction.” with that message alone wasn’t enough. “The cov- rollercoaster at Merlin- on social media,” says James Crampton, Merlin’s The PR teams at Merlin’s theme parks took own- owned Thorpe Park in erage included our statement as a right to reply, but Surrey, England. The Corporate Affairs Director. “That’s where they were OPERATIONAL ership for publishing these responses themselves, customers saw the articles as they scrolled through rollercoaster boasts the seeing the sensationalist headlines and inaccurate in real time, with minimal central support. But be- fastest acceleration of any MATTERS AT their social media feed, so all they saw was the in the UK and reaches a reporting; we had to build the capability to fight it fore they could do so, Merlin worked with each at- damning and wildly inaccurate headlines,” says Mr. maximum height of 205 on the same turf. Long corporate statements don’t MERLIN-OWNED traction’s team to develop a step-by-step response Varney. “We had to find a way to speak to our visi- feet (62.5 meters). Those work well on social media and would never engage plan, including key messages for a variety of situa- with strong stomachs can ATTRACTIONS tors directly and quickly.” watch first-person footage our audience. We decided the most effective re- tions. Spokespeople were also trained. These plans That meant developing a way for on-site teams of the ride on YouTube. sponse was a clear, reassuring video from someone BECAME TARGETS were designed to be so simple that almost any team to move quickly and respond in real-time—to keep on the ground. That way, customers would hear member could pick one up, grab their iPhone, and up with the headlines, in other words. directly that everything was OK, and could see for FOR TABLOIDS. record an incident response. 70 brunswick review · issue 18 · 2019 brunswick review · issue 18 · 2019 71 ON TRACK short-form content, especially videos. These posts range from behind-the-scenes insight into the work that goes into keeping its attractions safe, to showing how Merlin will transport two beluga whales from China to Iceland—a journey of 6,000 miles—where they’ll be housed in the world’s first ocean sanctuary. In addition to informing custom- ers, this content can also be promoted on social media after any misleading coverage, providing additional context. These new protocols were tested on July 2017, when the Oblivion rollercoaster at Alton Towers Resort stopped at the top of the lift hill. The ride couldn’t be restarted quickly, and guests were evac- uated from the ride exactly as safety procedures dictated. An onlooking guest tweeted a photo of the ride “stuck” on the track. Soon a national tab- loid newspaper had published a story. On the first media enquiry, Alton’s Head of Op- erations, Francis Jackson, filmed a succinct, live re- The firm also made sure that once the response One of Merlin sponse on-site explaining what had happened. That videos were produced, they would be seen by the Entertainments’ 30-second response was promoted on social media best-known brands is right audience. They helped the attractions build Peppa Pig, a wildly less than half an hour after the first coverage was Facebook audiences based on factors like newspa- popular animated published. Digital tracking tools showed that tens children’s show starring per readership, demographics and general interests. a family of pigs. Above, a of thousands of people—specifically those who saw When responses were published, they could now child enjoys a slide at the media coverage—saw Alton Towers’ video. be promoted to the people who were most likely to the recently opened And their response was overwhelmingly positive; Peppa Pig World of Play have seen the misleading coverage in the first place, in Shanghai. the most popular comment on Alton’s post came or geotargeted to customers who were at the park. from a customer who had been on the ride: “... staff Merlin also knew it needed to inform visitors were fantastic. Got us all off as soon as they could. about areas that wouldn’t be promoted through Icy water also provided at the scene.” Another com- traditional marketing communications and would ment near the top: “The media needs to get over the have been ignored by traditional media: topics like fact that stoppages are safety features.” accessibility, animal welfare (Merlin-owned attrac- Far from simply correcting the narrative, a more tion “SEA LIFE,” for example, features marine life positive one emerged as outlets embedded Alton’s and penguins), health and safety, or engineering. videos in their coverage. “Alton Towers reassures Safety procedures working as they’re supposed to customers after ride stoppage,” read one headline. isn’t news or riveting marketing material. And even “Building and maintaining the ability to speak if they were, one-off pieces wouldn’t be enough to to our visitors quickly, authentically and credibly— educate customers about all the work Merlin was Merlin Entertainments especially in the era of smartphones, short attention CEO Nick Varney (above) doing behind the scenes to keep their parks safe. and the firm’s Corporate spans, and an increasingly fragmented society—has That called for a sustained campaign through chan- Affairs Director, James been hugely important to us,” Mr. Varney says. Crampton, played nels Merlin’s customers were already using. The re- leading roles in helping The ability to transform a setback into a new or- sult was Merlin Backstage. Merlin counteract ganizational capability is a response one of Merlin’s The ongoing campaign features two parts. The fiction with facts. best-known partners, celebrity adventurer and sur- first is a website that acts as a repository for the vivalist Bear Grylls, would likely endorse. “Struggle content Merlin produces on key themes like safety, develops strength,” Mr. Grylls once wrote, “and creativity and sustainability. The site acts as both a storms make you stronger.” u platform from which Merlin can promote content and also makes it easy to find that content through fiona micallef-eynaud, a Director specializing in the search engines. consumer industries and private equity sectors, is based in London. austin rathe, a Director on Brunswick’s Complementing the Backstage website is a digital and social media team, is based in New York. Both Facebook page where the company publishes advised Merlin on its communications campaign. ENTERTAINMENT MERLIN OF COURTESY PHOTOGRAPHS: 72 brunswick review · issue 18 · 2019.

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