What a Ride

Mark Mears has spent his marketing career working for brands like Pepsi-Cola, Pizza Hut, McDonald’s, Frito-Lay and JCPenney. He’s seen the business not only from the agency and client sides, but also from the general advertising and promotional perspectives.

Mears now serves as senior vice president of sales and marketing for Universal Studios Hollywood in Los Angeles. His portfolio includes a theme park, a movie studio back lot tour, and the City Walk retail and entertainment emporium. To boot, he’s chairman of the Promotion Marketing Association, in which he’s long taken an active role.

PROMO: You guys have an amazing promotional platform.

Mears: Exactly. We consider Universal Studios Hollywood to be the entertainment capital of LA. That’s our brand positioning. As such, we have a wealth of entertainment properties, assets and equities that come to life to deliver against that promise: Shrek, The Mummy, Jurassic Park and the new Simpsons ride that’s debuting this month here and at our park in Orlando.

P: What’s in store for the launch?

M: It’s the most significant new ride we’ve had since 2004’s The Revenge of the Mummy. We’re using it as an internal rallying cry and also for external branding. We’re going to totally ‘Simpsonize’ our relationship with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The creative plays off Homer’s name. Every Dodgers telecast will push the ride. The Dodgers and ‘The Simpsons’ are very popular with Latinos, who are very important to us locally. All points of contact are going to be well integrated — from the radio and TV broadcasts to the in-game experience, such as signage throughout the stadium, ads in the programs. We’ll have a kids’ night giveaway in which every kid in the stadium gets a free admission to Universal Studios Hollywood.

P: Does it help having NBC Universal as your parent in terms of media?

M: We work with NBC and [sister Hispanic TV network] Telemundo, which is very promotion-minded and whose stars will make appearances at the park and City Walk. The talent do promotional spots on-air. Last summer, Los Angeles experienced record heat. The weather report on KNBC opened each night with a video of the Jurassic Park water ride’s 84-foot raft plunge and a voice-over that said: ‘Universal Studios Hollywood is the coolest place to be in LA.’ It was paid and part of the media package.

P: With which marketers are you presently working?

M: Our corporate partner program includes Coca-Cola, Volkswagen, GE, Money, American Express, Nestle, among others. There are opportunities for these sponsors throughout the year. This is all designed to leverage what I call ‘other people’s brands and other people’s money.’

P: Is sponsorship exclusive by category?

M: The corporate sponsorships are exclusive. We also have non-exclusive, event-specific partners. When you have a park that’s open 363 days of the year, you’ve got to be able to line up promotional partners and keep things fresh. While we have a great relationship with Burger King, we’re working with McDonald’s for the first time in over 10 years. They just came out of an exclusive relationship with Disney.

P: Is the PMA putting more emphasis on ROI than in the past?

M: Yes. Accountability is at the root of integrated marketing. This year’s annual conference theme was accountability in action. Whatever objective you set for your brand, you are coalescing the right integrated marketing stimuli with each point of contact and your targeted consumer.

P: Is Madison Avenue finally getting it?

M: Some faster than others. What you saw in 2006 with Draft and FCB merging was probably a watershed mark in the agency world. What formerly was known as a below-the-line service shop gets lead billing over a venerable, 100-year-old-plus agency. It speaks to the notion that clients are demanding accountability. Targeted audiences are more difficult to reach because of fragmentation. It’s not a homogeneous, one-size-fits-all world. That’s where the PMA comes in — being an educational resource and networking hub to help you achieve your brand’s objectives.