One of Delaney’s first successes was helping to reinvent museums at the
Jorvik Viking Centre in York, UK
Juliana Delaney, CEO of UK visitor attraction management company Continuum, is an expert in the branding game, tapping into the British love of popular culture and the demand for visceral experiences to build a new attractions subgenre.
Continuum currently runs six attractions in the UK, with news of two more hot off the press. The company has just announced it will be collaborating with The Royal Mint on the 1,000-year-old institution’s first ever visitor centre, and it also revealed its involvement in the upcoming Sherwood Forest Country Park in Nottingham, in partnership with Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
Other attractions are coming to an end, such as the temporary Coronation Street The Tour in Manchester, which closes this year.
The pop-up attraction took Coronation Street – an established ITV series – and reinterpreted it as a cultural attraction, meeting with an enthusiastic response from fans.
Continuum will partner with ITV a second time to create Emmerdale The Tour, another attraction based on a popular, long-running UK TV drama.
You recently announced Coronation Street The Tour is closing in December. Why is this, and what has been the secret of its success? This December we’ll be saying farewell to something extraordinarily special. Coronation Street The Tour opened on 5 April 2014, initially for six-months, but due to public demand, extended planning permission was granted by Manchester City Council. In 2016, the site will be returned to owners Allied London for redevelopment.
The attraction has welcomed half a million visitors to the site where TV drama Coronation Street was filmed before its move to MediaCityUK. Guest feedback has been phenomenal – people have loved stepping into TV history. Our tour guides have done a brilliant job bringing the sets to life.
We’re thrilled to be continuing our relationship with ITV for the launch of Emmerdale The Tour, based on the TV saga.
Tell us about Emmerdale We’re coordinating with ITV to test the operational viability of an Emmerdale visitor experience. From 9 August to 25 October, we worked with coach operators across the UK to deliver tours to the working sets. The experience differed from Coronation Street The Tour, because it was a live set which is used five or six days a week by ITV’s Emmerdale crew. We agreed that trial period to make sure the tour element works for the cast and crew of Emmerdale, as well as for our guests.
What will the Emmerdale visitor experience be like? Visitors will enjoy a guided tour through the popular exterior sets where the Yorkshire drama has been filmed since 1998. It’s a unique opportunity to see the Woolpack pub and more, with selfie opportunities aplenty.
What’s the formula for translating a popular culture brand into a visitor attraction? There are three components. First, it needs to be a subject which has an established audience, whether that be Vikings, Romans, or Coronation Street.
Second, there has to be interest. Projects fail when no one’s interested in the subject – all the marketing in the world won’t work.
Third, the audience wants to experience the subject in a visceral way. We can be engaged when reading a book and emotional when watching TV, but we want to experience brands at attractions in a much more powerful, real way, sharing that emotional experience on social media.
Increasingly, we’re seeing the audience doing the marketing for attractions. Emotional engagement goes up another level with a tangible experience. People don’t tweet pictures of themselves watching Coronation Street, but thousands do from the Rover’s Return Inn at the attraction.
How do you apply this formula to leverage a brand? It’s important to be authentic and stay true to the brand. We worked closely with the Coronation Street production team to deliver what they “live”. Storytelling is also a very important aspect.
We’re on third-generation attractions now. The first generation was glass cases: don’t touch. The second was out of the case: touch and smell. The new way is doing it while sharing it with others.
When we’re developing attractions we’re already thinking about the photo opportunities. I was impressed at Madame Tussaud’s as the figures are not behind barriers – you can take selfies with them. Allowing people to touch, share and engage can revitalise a brand for new generations.
What is Continuum’s Third Way model? It’s a model to help local authorities [UK local government] running attractions and museums, which have high operating costs and lack the funds to innovate.
We’re having interesting discussions with local authorities who otherwise face the choice of closing an attraction or continuing to run it at a loss, because we can turn attractions from a loss into a surplus.
Our commercial team can turn a struggling visitor attraction into a sustainable business by breathing fresh life into it, centralising services and having cost-effective teams on-site.
We find the story and we find a way to support it with better marketing and commercial activity. We can also create other income generators – for example, corporate events or weddings.
What shape do you think the attractions industry is in at the moment and where is there room for expansion? It’s survived the recession very well because of the trend towards days out instead of an extra holiday. I’m a great advocate of good museums and love theme parks, but I’m not sure we need more museums – whether free or paid for – or any more theme parks in the UK.
However, I believe there’s space in the middle for cultural visitor attractions and attractions based on popular culture.
What’s next for Continuum? Within the next five years we’re looking to double the number of attractions we operate in the UK and Northern Europe.
We currently operate several sites across the UK and we’re adding at least two more locations to the portfolio in 2016.
We’re also planning to continue to invest in our own attractions, so we wholly own them and also to partner with other strong brands for operating contracts.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2015 issue 4
Attractions: Gone, Not Forgotten
We find out what people thought of
Dismaland, Banksy’s twisted theme park
and contemporary art attraction – and
talk to one of the Dismal Stewards
Promotional feature: IdeAttack
Mysteries of China’s rich culture are at the heart of IDEATTACK’s new mixed-used tourism destination
Zoos & Aquariums: Turn over a New Reef
The Florida Aquarium is teaming
up with the National Aquarium of
Cuba in a bid to save and restore
the region’s precious coral reefs
CORONATION STREET THE TOUR The Coronation Street TV drama is embedded in British culture, with a loyal fan base around the world. Coronation Street: The Tour enables viewers to step, Narnia-like, through the wardrobe door into a behind-the-scenes world. An expert guide brings to life off-air stories and facts, while visitors take a walk on the famous cobbles and take a selfie in the Rovers Rºeturn pub.
“Because there was such a loyal brand following it needed to be dealt with sensitively,” says Delaney. “We had to work closely with the script and production teams, but we delivered exactly what they wanted.”
Opened in 2014 as a temporary attraction, planning permission was extended into 2015. In its first two months, the attraction welcomed 100,000 visitors.
Coronation Street TM & (c) ITV Studios Ltd 2015
Guests enjoy a photo opportunity on the tour
THE CORRIE FILES
Name Coronation Street
Nickname Corrie
Claim to Fame World’s longest-running soap opera
Date of Birth 9 December 1960
Description Popular soap opera revolving around the lives of the residents of Coronation Street, in the fictional town of Weatherfield, northwest England
Creator Tony Warren, Granada Television
Characters Ken Barlow, Jack Duckworth, Hilda Ogden
Most viewed show Christmas Day 1987, 28.5 million viewers
Biggest Rival in the UK EastEnders
CONTINUUM’S THIRD WAY The 170-metre (158-foot) Emirates Spinnaker Tower is an example of the Third Way in action. Continuum has operated this lottery-funded project since 2005, when Portsmouth City Council needed a partner to secure the future of the tower, to run it commercially and share the profit with the city.
Continuum owns the business under a long lease arrangement with Portsmouth City Council. The lease was renewed in 2014. “Our model works successfully at Emirates Spinnaker Tower, making the attraction an income generator rather than a drain,” says Delaney. “If Portsmouth City Council hadn’t taken this decision, this attraction might have cost them money.”
The tower became Emirates Spinnaker Tower following a £3.5m ($5.5m, €5m) sponsorship agreement between Emirates and Portsmouth City Council.
Emirates Spinnaker Tower cost £35m
Visitors enjoy the view from Emirates Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, UK
CONTINUUM’S CULTURAL & HERITAGE ATTRACTIONS 1. The Canterbury Tales A regional attraction inspired by the literary text, the sights, sounds and smells of Medieval England are accompanied by Geoffrey Chaucer’s characters
2. Oxford Castle Unlocked Visitors discover Oxford’s hidden history through a tour of the castle and Victorian prison, led by costumed guides
3. The Real Mary King’s Close Beneath Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, hidden streets date back to the 17th century. A unique tour teaches guests the story of those who lived there
4. York’s Chocolate Story At Chocolate Story, visitors embark on a sensory journey through York’s chocolate and confectionery heritage and discover its trading and manufacturing roots
5. Sherwood Forest Continuum is teaming up with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to build and run a visitor centre in Sherwood Forest
1. The Canterbury Tales
2. Oxford Castle Unlocked
3. The Real Mary King’s Close
4. York’s Chocolate Story
PHOTO: Colin Wilkinson, RSPB
5. Sherwood Forest
The Rovers Return Inn has been central to the Coronation Street visitor experience
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One of Delaney’s first successes was helping to reinvent museums at the
Jorvik Viking Centre in York, UK
Juliana Delaney, CEO of UK visitor attraction management company Continuum, is an expert in the branding game, tapping into the British love of popular culture and the demand for visceral experiences to build a new attractions subgenre.
Continuum currently runs six attractions in the UK, with news of two more hot off the press. The company has just announced it will be collaborating with The Royal Mint on the 1,000-year-old institution’s first ever visitor centre, and it also revealed its involvement in the upcoming Sherwood Forest Country Park in Nottingham, in partnership with Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).
Other attractions are coming to an end, such as the temporary Coronation Street The Tour in Manchester, which closes this year.
The pop-up attraction took Coronation Street – an established ITV series – and reinterpreted it as a cultural attraction, meeting with an enthusiastic response from fans.
Continuum will partner with ITV a second time to create Emmerdale The Tour, another attraction based on a popular, long-running UK TV drama.
You recently announced Coronation Street The Tour is closing in December. Why is this, and what has been the secret of its success? This December we’ll be saying farewell to something extraordinarily special. Coronation Street The Tour opened on 5 April 2014, initially for six-months, but due to public demand, extended planning permission was granted by Manchester City Council. In 2016, the site will be returned to owners Allied London for redevelopment.
The attraction has welcomed half a million visitors to the site where TV drama Coronation Street was filmed before its move to MediaCityUK. Guest feedback has been phenomenal – people have loved stepping into TV history. Our tour guides have done a brilliant job bringing the sets to life.
We’re thrilled to be continuing our relationship with ITV for the launch of Emmerdale The Tour, based on the TV saga.
Tell us about Emmerdale We’re coordinating with ITV to test the operational viability of an Emmerdale visitor experience. From 9 August to 25 October, we worked with coach operators across the UK to deliver tours to the working sets. The experience differed from Coronation Street The Tour, because it was a live set which is used five or six days a week by ITV’s Emmerdale crew. We agreed that trial period to make sure the tour element works for the cast and crew of Emmerdale, as well as for our guests.
What will the Emmerdale visitor experience be like? Visitors will enjoy a guided tour through the popular exterior sets where the Yorkshire drama has been filmed since 1998. It’s a unique opportunity to see the Woolpack pub and more, with selfie opportunities aplenty.
What’s the formula for translating a popular culture brand into a visitor attraction? There are three components. First, it needs to be a subject which has an established audience, whether that be Vikings, Romans, or Coronation Street.
Second, there has to be interest. Projects fail when no one’s interested in the subject – all the marketing in the world won’t work.
Third, the audience wants to experience the subject in a visceral way. We can be engaged when reading a book and emotional when watching TV, but we want to experience brands at attractions in a much more powerful, real way, sharing that emotional experience on social media.
Increasingly, we’re seeing the audience doing the marketing for attractions. Emotional engagement goes up another level with a tangible experience. People don’t tweet pictures of themselves watching Coronation Street, but thousands do from the Rover’s Return Inn at the attraction.
How do you apply this formula to leverage a brand? It’s important to be authentic and stay true to the brand. We worked closely with the Coronation Street production team to deliver what they “live”. Storytelling is also a very important aspect.
We’re on third-generation attractions now. The first generation was glass cases: don’t touch. The second was out of the case: touch and smell. The new way is doing it while sharing it with others.
When we’re developing attractions we’re already thinking about the photo opportunities. I was impressed at Madame Tussaud’s as the figures are not behind barriers – you can take selfies with them. Allowing people to touch, share and engage can revitalise a brand for new generations.
What is Continuum’s Third Way model? It’s a model to help local authorities [UK local government] running attractions and museums, which have high operating costs and lack the funds to innovate.
We’re having interesting discussions with local authorities who otherwise face the choice of closing an attraction or continuing to run it at a loss, because we can turn attractions from a loss into a surplus.
Our commercial team can turn a struggling visitor attraction into a sustainable business by breathing fresh life into it, centralising services and having cost-effective teams on-site.
We find the story and we find a way to support it with better marketing and commercial activity. We can also create other income generators – for example, corporate events or weddings.
What shape do you think the attractions industry is in at the moment and where is there room for expansion? It’s survived the recession very well because of the trend towards days out instead of an extra holiday. I’m a great advocate of good museums and love theme parks, but I’m not sure we need more museums – whether free or paid for – or any more theme parks in the UK.
However, I believe there’s space in the middle for cultural visitor attractions and attractions based on popular culture.
What’s next for Continuum? Within the next five years we’re looking to double the number of attractions we operate in the UK and Northern Europe.
We currently operate several sites across the UK and we’re adding at least two more locations to the portfolio in 2016.
We’re also planning to continue to invest in our own attractions, so we wholly own them and also to partner with other strong brands for operating contracts.
Read more from this issue of Attractions Management magazine
View contents of Attractions Management 2015 issue 4
Attractions: Gone, Not Forgotten
We find out what people thought of
Dismaland, Banksy’s twisted theme park
and contemporary art attraction – and
talk to one of the Dismal Stewards
Promotional feature: IdeAttack
Mysteries of China’s rich culture are at the heart of IDEATTACK’s new mixed-used tourism destination
Zoos & Aquariums: Turn over a New Reef
The Florida Aquarium is teaming
up with the National Aquarium of
Cuba in a bid to save and restore
the region’s precious coral reefs
CORONATION STREET THE TOUR The Coronation Street TV drama is embedded in British culture, with a loyal fan base around the world. Coronation Street: The Tour enables viewers to step, Narnia-like, through the wardrobe door into a behind-the-scenes world. An expert guide brings to life off-air stories and facts, while visitors take a walk on the famous cobbles and take a selfie in the Rovers Rºeturn pub.
“Because there was such a loyal brand following it needed to be dealt with sensitively,” says Delaney. “We had to work closely with the script and production teams, but we delivered exactly what they wanted.”
Opened in 2014 as a temporary attraction, planning permission was extended into 2015. In its first two months, the attraction welcomed 100,000 visitors.
Coronation Street TM & (c) ITV Studios Ltd 2015
Guests enjoy a photo opportunity on the tour
THE CORRIE FILES
Name Coronation Street
Nickname Corrie
Claim to Fame World’s longest-running soap opera
Date of Birth 9 December 1960
Description Popular soap opera revolving around the lives of the residents of Coronation Street, in the fictional town of Weatherfield, northwest England
Creator Tony Warren, Granada Television
Characters Ken Barlow, Jack Duckworth, Hilda Ogden
Most viewed show Christmas Day 1987, 28.5 million viewers
Biggest Rival in the UK EastEnders
CONTINUUM’S THIRD WAY The 170-metre (158-foot) Emirates Spinnaker Tower is an example of the Third Way in action. Continuum has operated this lottery-funded project since 2005, when Portsmouth City Council needed a partner to secure the future of the tower, to run it commercially and share the profit with the city.
Continuum owns the business under a long lease arrangement with Portsmouth City Council. The lease was renewed in 2014. “Our model works successfully at Emirates Spinnaker Tower, making the attraction an income generator rather than a drain,” says Delaney. “If Portsmouth City Council hadn’t taken this decision, this attraction might have cost them money.”
The tower became Emirates Spinnaker Tower following a £3.5m ($5.5m, €5m) sponsorship agreement between Emirates and Portsmouth City Council.
Emirates Spinnaker Tower cost £35m
Visitors enjoy the view from Emirates Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, UK
CONTINUUM’S CULTURAL & HERITAGE ATTRACTIONS 1. The Canterbury Tales A regional attraction inspired by the literary text, the sights, sounds and smells of Medieval England are accompanied by Geoffrey Chaucer’s characters
2. Oxford Castle Unlocked Visitors discover Oxford’s hidden history through a tour of the castle and Victorian prison, led by costumed guides
3. The Real Mary King’s Close Beneath Edinburgh’s Royal Mile, hidden streets date back to the 17th century. A unique tour teaches guests the story of those who lived there
4. York’s Chocolate Story At Chocolate Story, visitors embark on a sensory journey through York’s chocolate and confectionery heritage and discover its trading and manufacturing roots
5. Sherwood Forest Continuum is teaming up with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to build and run a visitor centre in Sherwood Forest
1. The Canterbury Tales
2. Oxford Castle Unlocked
3. The Real Mary King’s Close
4. York’s Chocolate Story
PHOTO: Colin Wilkinson, RSPB
5. Sherwood Forest
The Rovers Return Inn has been central to the Coronation Street visitor experience
Movie Park Germany has opened a new Paramount Pictures-themed attraction as part of its 30th
anniversary celebrations, using immersive storytelling and adaptive reuse to reinforce the park’s
longstanding “Hollywood in Germany” positioning.
Therme Manchester’s 28-acre development, which will include interconnected glass pavilions
that measure 65,000sq m, will be the largest bathing and wellbeing attraction in the world once
complete, according to prof David Russell, CEO of Therme UK.
Efteling has opened Hooghmoed, a new family drop tower designed to broaden the appeal of its
recently launched Sirene Island themed area and introduce younger visitors to thrill attractions.
A proposed Puy du Fou development near Bicester and Universal Destinations and Experiences’
planned resort in Bedford are emerging as part of a wider transformation of the Oxford–
Cambridge Growth Corridor into a major centre for UK leisure and tourism inv
Shedd Aquarium has opened the Immersion Theater developed in partnership with SimEx-
Iwerks, as part of a wider strategy to enhance the guest experience and create additional
revenue opportunities.
The UK government has announced a temporary reduction in VAT on visitor attractions and
children’s meals as part of a summer cost-of-living support package designed to stimulate the
visitor economy and encourage family days out.
As designer Yinka Ilori prepares for his first solo gallery show in London, he speaks exclusively
to CLADmag about his mission to spread joy, the power of play, and his bold approach to using
colour (including the colours you won’t see in his work).
The government of Thailand is exploring plans for a THB300bn (£6.3bn, US$8.3bn)
entertainment complex in the country’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), with officials
proposing a large-scale theme park and sports destination as part of a broader tourism and
economic development strategy.
Royal Caribbean has revealed its Hero of the Seas cruise ship, home to the most pools at sea
(nine), and a record-breaking 28 dining venues, as well as attractions including a waterpark
with two new family raft slides.
An opportunity to reimagine one of the UK’s most recognisable towers has been formally
opened by Rivington Hark, as St Johns Beacon invites operators and partners to shape its
next phase. [more...]
