Overview

A leading national theme park, historically known for its family-centric brand positioning, faced a sustained decline in attendance. Internal data indicated a stagnation in new customer acquisition, particularly among younger demographics. Recognizing the evolving entertainment landscape, the park sought to realign its brand identity and marketing strategy to resonate with Gen Z consumers. Coseno Intelligence executed a comprehensive social intelligence initiative to analyze digital sentiment, identify cultural entry points, and provide a roadmap for repositioning the park as a relevant experience for Gen Z audiences.

Challenge

For decades, the theme park’s marketing strategy had been tailored primarily to families with young children. However, shifting social behaviors, digital entertainment consumption, and evolving leisure preferences among younger demographics signaled an urgent need for strategic recalibration. Key challenges included:

• Declining relevance among Gen Z consumers, who increasingly favored experiences with cultural cachet, aesthetic appeal, and social shareability.

• Negative perception of theme parks as outdated, with Gen Z audiences associating the experience with childhood nostalgia rather than aspirational leisure.

• Competitive disruption from digital and immersive entertainment formats, including interactive gaming, social-driven travel experiences, and AR/VR entertainment.

• The park needed to transform its brand perception from a legacy family attraction to a culturally relevant, experiential destination that aligned with Gen Z’s entertainment values.

Methodology

Coseno Intelligence employed a multi-disciplinary research approach, integrating social listening, cultural analytics, and psychographic segmentation to identify strategic levers for repositioning. Our methodology included:

• Sentiment and Discourse Mapping: Advanced NLP techniques to parse millions of online conversations, identifying Gen Z sentiment inflection points and perception gaps.

• Visual and Aesthetic Trend Analysis: Analyzing user-generated content (UGC) to decode the visual language and aesthetic preferences that drive experiential desirability for younger consumers.

• Cultural Indexing & Competitive Benchmarking: Measuring the park’s cultural resonance against emerging experiential trends and competitor offerings within the entertainment sector.

• Influence Network Analysis: Identifying key cultural amplifiers within Gen Z’s digital ecosystems to drive organic advocacy and brand realignment.

Findings & Insights

Through this analysis, Coseno Intelligence uncovered key insights that shaped the theme park’s strategic repositioning:

1. Social Shareability is the Currency of Experience: Unlike previous generations, Gen Z perceives experiences through the lens of digital storytelling. Mentions of “Instagrammable” and “TikTok-worthy” moments were 5.6x more likely to drive positive sentiment than traditional value-based messaging (e.g., ticket prices, family packages).

2. Cultural Relevance > Nostalgia: While childhood nostalgia resonated in sentiment data, it did not drive visitation intent. Instead, experiences framed as novel, bold, and immersive were significantly more likely to attract Gen Z interest.

Strategic Impact

Coseno Intelligence translated these insights into a three-phase repositioning strategy designed to embed the theme park into Gen Z’s cultural lexicon:

• Experiential Reframing: A rebranding initiative centered around exclusivity, aesthetic-driven activations, and high-shareability experiences (e.g., limited-time pop-up attractions, night events, and immersive zones tailored to social engagement).

• Influencer-Led Advocacy: Strategic partnerships with digital creators and subcultural influencers to organically integrate the park into Gen Z digital spaces, shifting perception from family-oriented to culturally relevant.

• Music & Event Integration: A pivot toward crossover events such as EDM nights, pop-up concerts, and Halloween/Horror-themed experiences, designed to align with Gen Z’s affinity for festival-style entertainment.

Results

Within the first nine months of execution, the initiative yielded significant impact:

• +31% increase in Gen Z-driven engagement across social platforms, with organic brand mentions surging in TikTok and Instagram conversation clusters.

• 17% rise in off-peak visitation, attributed to themed events and influencer-led promotions.

• Expanded earned media impact, as UGC-driven content outpaced traditional campaign-driven marketing efforts in shareability and reach.

• Stronger perception of cultural relevance, with sentiment analysis reflecting a shift from outdated to experiential and aspirational.