Dolly's Dixie $tampede (part 2)

Last post was about how Dolly Parton manages to create an experience at The Dixie Stampede that has visitors not only wanting to go back, but telling everyone they know about it in a way that makes the listener not only want to go there as well, but even makes them want to tell OTHERS about the experience! This is "viral marketing" at it's best.

But Dolly is no dummy. She knows not only how to get people in the door, but also how to extract money once they get there. The stadium seats just under 1,100 guests. The Friday we went there were 3 sold-out showings. Most nights there are "only" 2. The tickets are about $35 each, you can do the math.

When you walk into the place you cannot enter the dining room until you get your picture taken. If you have a young child they will shoot a picture of the child alone as well as with the adults. You don't have to buy anything, but you get your picture taken anyway. You are standing on a green back ground which let us know that we were going to be superimposed onto some scenary other than the entryway to The Dixie Stampede.

Then you enter an area where there is a "pre-show" going on. In this room you can buy peanuts and drinks. The drinks are served in little plastic boots which makes the kids BEG for them. They could care less if you served them water, they want that little plastic boot drinking cup. More than half the patrons had drinks or peanuts or both. I have no idea how much the drinks cost since there were no prices posted, even on the drink menu! By the time you waited in line to ask how much, you were already mentally committed to buying. It was a very clever psychological tactic.

Now, you have to also remember that you have to buy your tickets in advance. This means that when you come through the door, most people are mentally starting at zero. The tickets have already been bought and paid for at least 5 or 6 hours before, so when a family of four comes in, they feel like they haven't even started, even though they are already $140 down before their picture is taken. That's another very important point, and they are able to do it over and over again throughout the evening.

This breaks the pain of payment down into more manageable chunks. If you told them it was $250 for the evening families might balk. But if you get a little here and a little there, $20-50 at a time, it's almost painless.

So you first come in and see the pre-show, buy drinks and peanuts and then, after a while the pre-show ends and everyone is herded into the stadium. Totally different room, and another psychological balance sheet erasure.

Now, the show itself is fun and they do a great job of getting everyone involved by stomping their feet, yelling and shouting for their "team" etc. There are so many great psychological principles wound up in this that I can't even begin to list them all, but "being a part of something big" and "euphoria from endorphins released during yelling and stomping" are two big ones.

Now, everyone is happy, they want to remember this fantastic experience and along come these people bringing photo folders with your pictures in them. The pictures are $10 each but you have to buy them in sets of 2.

So there we are standing in front of the great Smokey Mountains from a vantage point we've never actually been to, and another one of us standing in front of the backdrop used in the show we just saw. I really didn't want the picture but everyone else was buying them as fast as they could whip out their twenties. My wife insisted on getting one, too. There's a few lessons in that last sentence that I won't go into.

The real genius of this is making the kid(s) stand separate from the adults for at least one shot when taking the photos. With the nuclear families today, there may be a parent who doesn't want a picture of the other adults in the child's life, but does want one of the child. When grand parents take their grandkids out I can easily see them buying one set of pictures for themselves and the other set for the kids to take home to mom and dad.

Smart.

Now it is time to leave and so we file out slowly. Every single person leaves through the same exit. It's the exit at the OTHER end of the gift store. So you have to take these kids who are high on energy and adrenaline and wheel them through a store full of toy horses, t-shirts, and all manner of glittery treasures.

Good luck getting through that gauntlet without lightening your wallet. Besides, it was a complete change of room, feel, lighting, and staff. It was like being in a totally different place and so without being aware of it, you tended to sort of "start back at zero" again.

I'm sure there were other "money-getting" strategies and tactics at work that I missed. I guess I'll have to go back to experience it again in order to catch them all. I'll see how many people I can get to go with me.