BACKGROUND

Merlin Entertainments is a prominent player in the global attraction landscape, renowned for its extensive portfolio of theme parks, aquariums, and interactive experiences that captivate millions of visitors worldwide. As the operator of iconic attractions such as Legoland Discovery Centers, SEA LIFE Aquariums, and Madame Tussauds, Merlin Entertainments is committed to delivering exceptional family entertainment experiences.

In an increasingly competitive digital environment, Merlin Entertainments was facing challenges with their return on advertising spend across multiple markets. Seeking to improve their ROAS performance, they reached out to The Egg to leverage our expertise in digital marketing and paid media optimization.

Challenges + Goals

Merlin Entertainments, known for providing captivating entertainment experiences, approached us to address several key challenges. They wanted to break through the highly competitive landscape by establishing a distinctive brand voice and capturing audience attention in an increasingly saturated market. Additionally, they faced the task of maximizing the impact of their limited paid media budget and resolving analytics integration barriers between Naver and GA4 for comprehensive performance visibility. Our approach focused on:

• Increasing ROAS by 10% through strategic bid management, enhanced targeting, and compelling ad creatives.
• Developing data-driven strategies by integrating GA4 with Naver Ads for optimized revenue-based campaign planning.
• Strategically allocating budgets across digital channels to maximize returns and drive year-over-year revenue growth by capturing expanded audience reach and demand generation.

strategy + execution

To address Merlin Entertainments’ challenges, our strategy and execution included:

• Competitor Research: We analyzed competitors who utilized localized, always-on campaigns that showed stronger paid media engagement beyond seasonal pushes. This analysis of high-performing creatives provided insights to guide improvements in Merlin’s ad performance.
• Cross-Platform Data Integration: We identified that the existing siloed platform-specific data limited optimization opportunities. By unifying data across all channels, we aimed to enable faster decision-making and more efficient budget allocation.
• Data-Driven Budget Allocation: Considering the significant variability in platform and market performance across the region, we focused on strategic budget allocation to maximize returns while balancing local market needs with opportunities in international tourism.
• Increase Brand Awareness and Expand Reach with Multichannel Campaigns: While search campaigns effectively captured existing demand, expanding to additional channels and audiences was essential for driving incremental growth. This included targeting in-market international tourists (visitors already in Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea) and broadening language capabilities to reach diverse visitor segments.

Execution involved:

• Building a weekly PowerBI Dashboard with custom visualizations that integrated GA4, Google Ads, and Naver Ads data for insights and optimization.
• Closely monitoring market trends, and channel and campaign performance data, and allocating budget based on performance.
• Expanding beyond Search to Performance Max and Demand Gen to increase awareness.
• Implementing English language campaigns alongside local language targeting to reach global audiences in all markets, as exemplified by the Lego Discovery Center Tokyo.
• Implementing Travel Ads to efficiently reach global audiences.

Our collaborative efforts led to a significant 14% increase in ROAS, establishing Merlin Entertainments as a distinctive and engaging brand in the competitive entertainment market.