Funworld October 2010

How has the park reinvented itself?
These past few years Aquaparc became a leader in the aquatic attraction parks in Switzerland and a reference in the European market. Since 2003, we have worked to reposition ourselves as a family-oriented park by adapting our offers and services. During the summer of 2007, Aquaparc took over the management of the nearby beach. This enables us to offer clients unique access to the Léman Lake, and it triples the attraction’s surface area during the summer months—from 7,000 square meters (75,347 square feet) to 20,000 square meters (215,278 square feet). That same year, Aquaparc opened Splashlagoon, our young children’s water castle area with seven small slides and a huge water bucket which fills and overturns every three minutes. Then, in 2007 we finalized our name brand and modernized our logo.

Would you consider Aquaparc more than just a waterpark?
With all projects, Aquaparc positions itself not only as an attraction but as a holiday destination for the day. We’ve established ourselves at a high level with faithful clientele. In our market radius we have gained three new competitors in one year. It has therefore been very important for the park to innovate and keep the leader’s place.

What do you look for when bringing new attractions to the park?
Aquaparc’s strategy in competition is to focus on fun and innovation. With this in mind the park debuted “Booster Loop,” at 21 meters (69 feet) high. There are less than five attractions of this type in the world. The slide is a unique experience for some and offers a good show for others. That’s why its starting box, trap door, and several sections of the slide are transparent.

Your social media marketing tactics for ‘Booster Loop’ made quite the stir through your fanbase. Can you explain that strategy?
We used social media for the inauguration of “Booster Loop,” Facebook in particular. Our wish was to touch a different target with the help of the networking tools, which was exactly the expectation we had for “Booster Loop.”

We organized a contest on our website to win a private, pre-opening party for one person and 500 of his or her friends. The party took place two days before the official inauguration, so they could test the attractions before anyone else. The winner had to create the Facebook group with the most members in one month; all that was required was a registration on the park’s website and the inclusion of “Aquafan” in the group’s title.

The buzz was instantaneous. The second day we registered 64 members, and three weeks later we had 80,000 members registered. The winning group had 13,850 members. Each administrator became a mini-marketer for us, with creative visuals, slogans, and utilization of their networks. Chance or luck was not involved in the outcome of the contest— the winner was the one who was invested every day to communicate with the network.