The difference is that Hasbro City does not seek to be a traditional amusement park. Lorena Zamora, Hasbro City’s marketing director, explains that multi-brand attractions make up its differentiation strategy compared to possible competitors such as Six Flags and KidZania. Hasbro City is 100% themed and includes a theater where brands such as Transformers, Power Rangers, Tonka, Battleship, My Little Pony, Nerf, Mr. Monopoly, GI Joe and Potato Head coexist.
But it’s not about the Mr Potato Head that is known in the ToyStory movies, but from one of the versions of this character that Hasbro acquired under license. The difference is in the red nose and that inside the Potato Head center it has its own boat and an exclusive restaurant where multiple potato-based dishes will be offered.
“Each character has specific dates to celebrate, so we will align ourselves with them to do something different in the market, for example, potato week. Additionally we will have a strategy of influencer marketing and public relations, who will be in charge of spreading the word that this is a space where toys come to life, at a price range for everyone”, emphasizes Zamora.
An Experienced Theme Park Leader
Hasbro has assigned the mission of powering its new family entertainment center to a theme park specialist. At the age of 14, Santoyo had his first contact with the industry. With the permission of his parents, he started working at Divertido as an operator of a children’s game and since then he has not left this industry. Today he is 52 years old.
He studied Business Administration at the Tecnológico de Monterrey and while he was studying he participated in the development of other parks, including Selva Mágica in Guadalajara.
Santoyo began his career in the amusement/theme park industry as an operator. He later became a game manager, lead operator, supervisor and department manager. In 1993 he already had a shareholding in Grupo Empresarial Internacional, a company that won the bid for the Fair and had to inaugurate the park in 100 days.
“I had to take care of the assembly of the new games and interact with German, American, Japanese and Italian technicians. He was 24 years old and I ended up being the maintenance manager of the Chapultepec Fair”, he says.
Later they promoted him to general manager of Divertido, to executive director of the same park and when the company partnered with Grupo CIE they were able to open new parks such as México Mágico in Chapultepec, Perimágico, Planeta Azul, Divertido Guadalajara, Cici Acapulco, Valle Fantástico in Puebla and Saltpeter in Colombia.
“Some parks ended up being sold due to economic conflicts and I was left with a new company exclusively managing La Feria, Selva Mágica and Cici de Acapulco as general director,” he recalls.
In 2015, Santoyo left La Feria and started consulting on the entertainment sector. From there came the opportunity to direct Hasbro City and additionally they gave him a shareholding.
“Hasbro City employs 130 people. 80% of our workforce is made up of young people and for many of them it is their first job. It becomes a commitment for us to train them well, above all, for the safety that is the backbone of any park”, mentions the manager. Each area of the center has a budget for staff training and the amount varies depending on the area and the rotation that goes from 50 to 70%.
The expansion plan
The manager reveals that the plan is to open one center per year until reaching 12, the main investment fund is VXT and the company behind the project is Reil. For the first Hasbro City the investment was from 12 million to 18 million dollars, “The difference is a lot because there are teams that we already had and we had to transform”, Santoyo comments.
According to the manager, each center is expected to have a different influx, ranging from 400,000 visitors to even over a millionwhile for the return on investment, a recovery is expected between the seventh and eighth year after the inauguration of each space.
And although being in shopping centers is part of the strategy, Santoyo assures that they will also seek to be in fixed places. Until now, they already have plans to open in Colombia, Chile, Peru, Guadalajara and Monterrey, all endorsed by the International Association of Amusement Parks (IAPA).
Giselle Escalante, an academic at the Anahuac University, assures that this industry is booming. “The world of entertainment has the advantage that it cuts across other sectors,” she says. “In my life I have not met someone who says they do not enjoy their leisure time.”
This led her to create the Bachelor of Entertainment Business Management, as the market is also becoming more attractive for employability. Subjects taught in this educational program include market introduction, creative industries, venue and park management, and how to integrate technology to enhance entertainment experiences. In fact, Santoyo participated with her in the design of a diploma focused on amusement parks.
On the other hand, the challenge they face in Hasbro City is related to technology. The sector is already very globalized and people can entertain themselves with a mobile device, so to attract the new generations they are developing interactive dynamics.
“In a second stage we want to develop an application so that visitors can get rewards every time they go to the center and complete certain tasks. This way, they can have mobile access to what they completed. It is a marketing strategy so that we can have repeat visits”, concludes Lorena Zamora, marketing director of Hasbro City.