From their fully-immersive exhibit SNOWDAY, to photos with Santa that embrace technology in magical ways, Baymo has a knack for creating unique holiday guest experiences.
Join Trademark’s Stephany Ruiz, Senior Director of Guest Services & Experience, and Chuck Steelman, VP of Experience, as they talk with Baymo’s co-creator Scot Redman. They explore how Baymo’s activations go beyond your typical selfie museum to inspire customer loyalty and lasting memories.
In this episode:
- Baymo’s groundbreaking SNOWDAY exhibit
- The creative process for building new shopping center activations
- How technology is evolving the Santa experience
Leaning In is published every second and fourth Wednesday of the month. Subscribe to hear part 2 of the discussion.
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Stephany Ruiz: This is Stephany Ruiz, Senior Director of Guest Service and Experience at Trademark. Today I will be joined by Chuck Steelman, Vice President of Experience at Trademark, as we welcome Scot Redman, co founder of Baymo, an industry leader in curating unforgettable interactive holiday experiences. Scott joins us to talk about their groundbreaking snow day exhibit, the creative process for building new shopping center activations, and how technology is evolving the Santa experience.
Chuck Steelman: Welcome, Scott. How has being at Trademark Property centers changed your business?
Scot Redman: Well, hi, thanks for having me. I’m excited to be here. SNOWDAY is what we do. And it’s been this long experience. And we didn’t start with Trademark. But it has been a wonderful experience because there is a greater emphasis on community, and it sounds cheesy but really like teamwork and how everything functions together, whether it’s just working with the direct property or with the team here at Trademark and figuring out what’s the right path to go forward and how we’re going to do it and what’s the plan, and how does our marketing and our view fit into the marketing and strategy of what Trademark’s trying to do. So, it’s really been a very wonderful experience.
Steelman: Well, that’s what we like about Trademark Property. We like that we find partners like you where we can truly be a business partner and help the business grow and evolve. And it’s been fun to work together to see how your creative energy has created the most magical moment in Dallas at Galleria Dallas with SNOWDAY.
Redman: And that’s what’s cool, though, when you can go out in the world and grab people who have a creative point of view and then allow them to do that. So many times in my life, I’ve been a part of projects where people bring us in, and then it’s like, well, this is our view of how it should be. And it’s like, well, we’re not really a fit then. And I think that is what’s really been nice. It’s people going, we see you’ve done something cool, keep doing it that way.
Steelman: Make the magic happen.
Redman: Yeah. And trusting and guiding and doing it together. So it really is, it’s been really wonderful, actually.
Ruiz: And Scott, you’ve been in the business for a few years now, right? How many years would you say?
Redman: In the SNOWDAY business and that retail holiday market, so four and a half years. So it’s been a pretty wild ride since then.
Ruiz: And how have you seen immersive experiences evolve over those four years?
Redman: I mean, it’s everywhere. I feel like every property you go to has something going on, something they’re trying to plug in there. And so for me, it all began with Meow Wolf in Santa Fe. And that’s where I really first experienced it. And that’s what inspired SNOWDAY and inspired us to get our whole team together to build it.
But I mean, we’ve seen everything, all kinds of different selfie museums, and somebody sent me a video the other day of a putt-putt experience. And so now that’s like the new hot thing is the putt-putt experience. Which they’re cool, but it feels like now everything now has that touch on it, which is great and also creates a competitive nature. And also, each one is very different.
So for me, and I feel like our team’s side of things, it’s creating experiences that are lasting. I feel like a lot of these different experiences or selfie museums, it’s like, oh, let’s just create a cool wall and get people to do some content for that wall. And then that content disappears. We have that of course. And I want that. And I want people to do TikToks there and I want all of those different things. But I want people to have photos on their fireplace or their bedside table for the next 40 or 50 years.
Steelman: Exactly. Well, I think that’s what’s so cool about SNOWDAY is it creates lasting memories. And I think you guys do a great job at making people want to come back. And that’s one thing that I never really thought would be such a big part of the success of the experience is like, okay, when you see it, you’re done. But people come and then they come back the next week with a different friend. And then the following week, they bring their cousin that was in town. And then the next week, they bring their college roommate. And they have a great experience with different people multiple times.
Redman: Creating a tradition, right? My family goes to Disney every year. I’ve seen everything there a million times. But I want to go back and see it again. And so, I think when it’s done right, you create that. And so, one of the- literally I think it was yesterday, I just texted it to everybody, I saw an article about how SNOWDAY is becoming a tradition. And that’s so cool.
Steelman: That’s a big deal, right?
Redman: It’s a huge deal. Where it’s all of a sudden, you become this city-wide tradition where people are like, oh yeah, that’s something we do every year. I take my daughter to see different Christmas plays every year and that’s just something we do. So, to all of a sudden be a part of that fabric of a community and to be a part of something where people every year, they’re like, well, of course, we do that, our kids are like, when are we going to that? To have that is really an amazing thing.
Steelman: Scott, what tools do you and your team use to promote the activation? Is it all on social media?
Redman: We obviously do a ton of social media. We blow up Facebook. We do a bunch of Instagram stuff. Obviously, TikTok’s the new thing, which is insanely complicated to be a part of, and I think we depend on our guests to drive that function of TikTok. But we try to do a lot of different things. And I think you can get too married to that, where it’s like, oh, we’re just going to shove all of these thousands of dollars into Facebook advertising.
So part of it is knowing the community, understanding what people want, and being able to put yourself out there. And so that’s what I said, one of the things is depending on the guests to create content for you, whatever that is. So we actually, my wife and I have gotten Christmas cards from SNOWDAY before, and they didn’t know we were a part of SNOWDAY.
Steelman: I mean, what a great way to promote. It is like natural marketing.
Redman: They are naturally sending that out to every friend they have. One of the big things we do is we create a Christmas light map for the Park Cities. And we literally drive around with our daughter and find all the best houses with Christmas lights. And then we make this cool map, and we distribute it and it naturally goes out there and ends up getting like 50,000 views. And it’s just a Christmas light map.
Steelman: I think that’s pretty cool. I have to ask, is SNOWDAY included on that map?
Redman: Yeah, so the idea is that SNOWAY is on that map, and then on a very small portion of it, we put, hey, bring this in for a free print. But it’s become a community thing. And so, one of the big things is there’s all of these giant Facebook groups, community groups. And so, when you can be a part of those, and it’s just naturally driving itself within those Facebook communities, that’s the kind of content that people want to see. It’s not being forced on them. It’s what they want to see. And they’re excited to see it.
And now we literally get emails and messages where people are like, hey, is that light map out yet? We’re big on partnering. So, one of the things is at the Galleria, there’s a skating rink there. And so, I’ve been meeting with them extensively about partnering with them, about how do we help each other get guests to us? And how do we create a Christmas experience all throughout the mall? And not just us, not just Santa, not just SNOWDAY, but that SNOWDAY is a part of a greater picture at the Galleria.
Steelman: Well, speaking of Galleria Dallas, I have to say, that 95 foot tall Christmas tree in the middle I think is pretty iconic. I mean, you’ve basically grown up in Dallas. So the Galleria is 40 years old, so that tree is iconic in our city.
Redman: That’s huge. Yeah, well, I grew up five minutes from Galleria. And so yeah, it’s again I see it as a part of community. It’s not just a mall. It’s not just a retail space. It’s a place where people come to see this tree. And so when you have those moments, things that become traditions, that’s the Christmas skate show, that’s the big tree lighting there. It’s the community thing. I mean, that’s what we were there-
Steelman: You’ve been there many times.
Redman: On Saturday, but to look around and it was like 10, 15,000 people and it was 12 deep around the rail.
Steelman: It’s pretty exciting. And one of the reasons we love it so much is because it’s what sets Galleria Dallas apart from any shopping center throughout the country. And you know that skating rink has hosted Olympic skaters every single year, including Johnny Weir and other Olympic medalists. So it’s actually amazing to have the opportunity to stand at the ice rink and watch the skaters perform. It’s pretty magical.
Redman: Yeah, it’s a big time show. And my 10 year old daughter is a part of it.
Steelman: Yeah, SNOWDAY has created your daughter, a superstar skater. I love it.
Redman: It’s wonderful. And it is weird when you start to become a part of something like that. And it feels like oh yeah, well, this is a retail property. But the reality, though, is when it starts to not be that, when it starts to be something that’s a part of a community. And again, so what other methods do we use? Well, what if people felt at home in a place? What if they felt like they weren’t being coerced to be there? What if they felt like oh yeah, this is where I want to be. This is where my family comes.
Ruiz: And that leads to another great question that Chuck and I talked about, your success about bringing people from outside of the immediate area. I know we’ve talked about it before and are surprised by the numbers, and they’re amazing. So how do you do that? How do you get to communities that are outside of a 20 mile radius?
Redman: We’ve been surprised by it too.
Steelman: Give us some statistics. Where do people come from?
Redman: I mean, we literally get people from across the country. So Mexico City, Miami.
Steelman: International guests, it’s pretty cool.
Redman: No, it is cool. So that’s the thing. So I don’t actually have my numbers in front of me. But 1000 plus zip codes is what we got last year, which is just crazy. And that goes across the state of Texas, it goes into Oklahoma, really heavily into Oklahoma, Arkansas, Louisiana, all the way down into Houston, it even goes further out from there. And I really feel like it’s because if you build it, they will come. But if you make it right, then people want to be a part of it. And that’s what great content does. So when you create an experience where you have unique shots and unique things, and they call it FOMO, fear of missing out.
Steelman: We all have FOMO.
Redman: And so, the reality, though, is that when that content is flowing out there, it will spread quickly. And so, all the time, daily, I have people go, oh, we just drove in from Arkansas to come see this. And that’s the thing, is that when you have something that is unique, uniquely its own to one property, people will come to see that. And so, one of the really cool things for us is watching the zip codes coming from 40 minutes away, coming from McKinney and places a little higher up. And so, they literally drive past two to three malls to get to the Galleria, to be a part of it. To me, that’s a huge victory, a huge win when all of a sudden, it’s like, wow, there’s something there that nobody else is offering for 45, 50, 60, 100 miles.
And so, I think that just comes from having the right stuff, having the right experience, having things that people talk about and say good things about and like, oh, this is a wonderful experience, which I see on Facebook all day long. It’s people writing about it. And so that’s what creates that energy that brings people in.
Ruiz: And I think also it’s the people that you have on staff. I’ve been lucky enough to experience SNOWDAY as a guest, and your elves, you, everyone that’s in the experience is always just so happy that you’re there. And they really are part of the overall experience itself that it makes something a little bit more special than a selfie museum. So kudos to you and the team for creating not just good content but having the right people in place.
Redman: Yeah, people are really important to us. And so, I mean, it sounds tremendously cheesy, but if you make something that’s special and wonderful and that people want to be a part of and that you’re excited about it, and I think from four and a half years ago, obviously we wanted to make money. But it wasn’t really our main goal. We really wanted to make something cool. And we wanted to take all of our creative energy and just have fun with it.
And so, we’ve been really fortunate, our staff has basically been with us for four years, all our management’s been with us for four years. And it’s fun, and we’ve created a culture where it’s fun. And we all party together a lot, and we talk about stuff, and everybody’s ideas are important. And we really listen to everybody. Every day, somebody is like, well, what if we do this, and we try to implement that, and we try to take all that and put it in there. So our staff, if you go read our reviews, over and over again, people are like the staff are so great. And there’s nothing better than that. When you go to fine dining, what makes it? Well, yeah, the food’s important, but it’s that extraordinary service.
Steelman: It’s the experience. It’s all about the way you feel and the way people make you feel. And so I think it’s really critical. And you’re right, I think it’s what makes it so cool and makes people come back. So, for people who may not have experienced SNOWDAY, what is a snow day? Is it snow falling? Is it snowballs? Like is it a snowman? Like walk us through what it is really quick.
Redman: Well, I mean, so the idea is that if you’re from Texas or Alabama or Louisiana, wherever, if a snow day happens, it is a mega celebration.
Steelman: It’s a big deal, like your birthday almost.
Redman: It is like your birthday. Like I remember when I was a kid, and I would watch news reports, and they’d be like, well, it’s possible school will be canceled tomorrow. It was like the only thing I could think about. And then when you wake up that morning, and your mom or your dad’s like, well, snow day, that is the greatest day of all time. And so, it’s not necessarily so much about it snowing as much as it is about this wild day where it’s like anything is possible at that point because you don’t have to go to school.
And it’s funny, in other places like New Jersey or New York or whatever, Minnesota, everybody’s like snow day, well, who cares? But here, oh man, it’s such a rarity. It’s such a big deal. So that was the idea is that it was this fantasy of it’s something, it’s an escape. And our first year, we didn’t have any snow in SNOWDAY. And everybody asked where’s the snow, so now SNOWDAY is a much snowier place and it’s got snow elements and all kinds of different winter elements in it.
Steelman: Stephany, you’ve been through SNOWDAY. As a guest when you first walked through the experience, what did you think when you first saw it?
Ruiz: It’s something completely different, out of this world. And literally, you have UFOs, so some stuff is out of this world in there. But it’s truly immersive from the sense to what you’re feeling, walking across the train that was a new addition last year. It really transports you into Santa’s Wonderland, if you will. Like you’re not at Galleria Dallas anymore. So it’s truly just one of a kind.
Steelman: So Scott, when you’re going into a space like Galleria Dallas, what are some of the things you look for before opening the space?
Redman: For one, I think it’s important to talk about our team. And so, our business partners, the Bayer Brothers, are set designers. And so they’ve done everything you can imagine from Jack in the Box ads to build giant yachts for events. And I mean, just anything you could ever imagine, they can build it. And my wife Kristi does a lot of the visual design. Lenee, Scott’s wife, does most of the set propping and all of that. And Ben Haschke is kind of our software side, technological side. So it’s all of us that come in there and see the potential.
And what’s amazing with the Bayer Brothers, though, is our first year, I think we had 4500 square feet. And there was a giant cashwrap right in the middle of it, a huge like granite cashwrap that could not be moved for any reason. So we literally had to build and put a Santa on top of that, so you had to walk up some steps to go to that. And we did it in that space. So the more open it is, the better it is. The less columns there are, the better it’ll be.
But honestly, I mean, it could really be anywhere. It obviously helps the more foot traffic there is, the higher visibility there is within the space. Because I think two things happen. One is obviously hopefully we bring in new guests and new people in the mall. But I also think it’s kind of going back to the tradition thing is that when guests who are already there, go wow, what is this? This is fun. Instead of the one store grab, where you go into Apple to get your phone and leave, hopefully we can create a guest that is spending an hour, two hours, maybe they go get dinner after they go and do that shopping trip. So I think it’s all of those things work together within a space to make it good. But we’ve done it everywhere.
Steelman: Well, what’s what we strive for at Trademark Property. We want to keep our clients and customers hanging out longer. In the 80s used to go to the mall and hang out all day. Your friends would go and there were a lot of experiential things that you could do. And we really strive to work with our marketing teams to create things that make people stay longer because when they stay longer, let’s have lunch, let’s go shop. And what’s the magical thing about SNOWDAY is you can have a lot of fun, but then you can do all your holiday shopping at the same time, in the same location.
Redman: Yes, you bring the kids. I think that’s the goal is that somebody sees a new store they’ve never seen before. It is that obviously it’s wonderful having Apple there, what an incredible store and everybody comes there because they need it. But it’s when you see that new place. It’s that new little boutique or all of those things. So yeah, it’s creating that walk through traffic and, yes, a ton of fun.
Ruiz: So we’ve been talking about SNOWDAY, which for the most part is an immersive selfie experience. But last year, you guys added a Santa operation to your overall set design. And I guess I have a two part question here. Was that something that you guys were looking to do and want to expand on? And then in addition to Santa operations and SNOWDAY, any other services for customers that you can think of that you would like to add to the overall business model?
Redman: Did we plan on doing Santa? No, I never thought of that in my life.
Steelman: SNOWDAY, you guys were just too good.
Redman: But we were there at the mall. And it was during COVID, so it was a really brutal time to do the Santa, and I couldn’t help because Santa was right in front of SNOWDAY the whole time. So I watched it for a long time. And I felt like we could do it better. And I felt like it was just a different way to do it. And so, I talked to Galleria and we talked about what that would look like. Before we knew it, SANTALAND was built as a part of SNOWDAY. So now it’s two attractions. We have SANTALAND on one side and SNOWDAY on one side, and 70% of people do both of them. But we have a lot of people just come do either or. It has been a wild roller coaster ride.
Steelman: Actually, it’s been a wild train ride.
Redman: Yeah, so I mean, it’s been a huge learning curve on how to do it right. And it’s one of those things where you see it from the outside and you go, oh, this will be just like a snap. And it’s not. And so I think there’s a way to do it okay. And I think there’s a way to do it really great. And I think there’s a way to make it where it’s much more than just getting plopped on Santa’s lap and getting an okay photo and then moving on.
And so, what we wanted to do was make it a really incredible experience, something where it’s what if a kid all of a sudden started thinking he was going to the North Pole? What if all of a sudden, they thought, oh, I just got off at a train station, and all this fog rolls out from the train, and now I’m in a forest. And you can hear little animal sounds and different things like that. What if I walked into a room with Santa and it’s this beautiful chalet with a little burning fire in the fireplace and it smelled like Santa’s room? There’s a naughty list there and everything, all the details are in that room. And then what if Santa knew exactly what I wanted for Christmas? What if he knew my name when I walked in there?
And that’s one of the things is if you stand in that room and watch kids go through the process, it is wild to see kids who didn’t believe believe all of a sudden. When you take 9- and 10-year-olds, and they go, you can see they’re looking both ways and it is blowing their mind the whole experience. And so that’s the difference. And it’s complicated to do that. And there’s a lot of logistics that go into making all of that stuff happen. But it’s really cool once you get it nailed.
And one of the things is, and Stephany knows this better than anybody, but right at the beginning, we’re like, yeah, we can do every Santa in the United States. But no, we can’t. And I think in order to do it right, it’s taking time to perfect it. And I really do feel like this year, by no means have we perfected it, but I feel like we’re getting there. And I feel like that process is really coming to fruition. And so, it’s cool. It’s been a really special process. And it’s something new. Like SNOWDAY, doing that for four years, that was a whole learning curve unto itself. But nowhere on the level of like making-Santa is really important to people. It’s a huge responsibility.
Steelman: It is a big deal. It’s a big part of the holiday tradition.
Redman: Yeah, and you blow that, I mean, that’s really bad. And so that’s the thing is to really get it right is really important. And I think it’s the kind of thing that where it’s like when a parent leaves there with a kid who can’t stop talking about what Santa did and what that was, it’s incredible.
Steelman: Well, you described it perfectly because I’ve seen it firsthand opening night last year for the Santa SNOWDAY experience, I saw a mom arriving with two little boys. I would guess they were like five or six, but they had on green corduroy pants and a little red plaid shirt with a bow tie. And when they heard the sounds before they saw, they like raced ahead of their parents because they wanted to be the first ones there. And they turned the corner. And when they saw the train and the conductor there that was welcoming them, it immediately took those two boys out of a normal world to a fantasy. And then when the parents joined them, the excitement they had getting on the train, and the smells and the sights. And of course, when Santa knew their name and said, “Oh, I heard,” I guess an elf or Mrs. Claus told him one of the gifts that they were looking for. How do you incorporate technology into this experience to make that happen?
Redman: Well, because of you Chuck.
Steelman: Not me really.
Redman: You know what, here’s a little funny backstory. 2020 hit, COVID was going. And so I’ve known Chuck for many years. And I get a Facebook DM of all things, Facebook message, and Chuck this like, “Hey, can you do that snow thing at the Galleria?” And so, we met with Chuck, and he wanted a whole touchless experience. And so that’s where really, I mean, we had been working on the automated photo side of things before that. But then creating the touchless experience was a whole brand new world of software development. And so how to make it where we use RFID on wristbands and how to make everything where people could seamlessly walk through and never have to touch a thing in the entire experience and that they can seamlessly get their photos delivered to their cell phone and all of those things. So, that’s really where that was born.
But what was cool, and what’s happened with a lot of technology through COVID, those things have lived on because people go oh, that’s cool. And so now we’re utilizing that in a lot of different ways throughout. And so, every year, we’re trying to build upon how our software interacts with the experience. Obviously, we don’t want it to take away from the experience. We don’t want it to be over teched.
But one of the things that is so important to us is that no longer are people getting just okay photos. We want them to get spectacular photos. And so, a lot of our history is in photography. That’s where Kristi and my world began. Our business partner has been with us doing photo projects for 15 years. The Bayer Brothers have been building sets for Neiman Marcus and all kinds of high level photoshoots. And so, a really important thing to us was that every image was incredible, and that the technology supported that function.
So, you get an incredible photo. It’s not oh, I have to wait two weeks to get that photo. It’s not oh, I have to go to a print out stand and I get a subpar print. I immediately get a blow-away photograph delivered instantly to my phone. And then on my cell phone, I can just go print that and just go pick that up. I don’t have to deal with sales, like somebody upselling me a bunch of packages or anything like that. I can just print that. And there’s one price and that’s what it is. Or go print it at Walgreens. And so, to me, that’s customer service. And we say that all the time – you can get it here for $10, or you can print it anywhere you want.
Steelman: So guests get to keep their digital photos, all of them.
Redman: Every package, yeah. And we feel like that’s classy. And that’s cool. And that’s modern. That’s the new way. To me the old way, it’s like, oh well, you could get it on a CD ROM. You know what I mean?
Steelman: Or you can only pick one. We will print one photo here.
Redman: It’s like nah, like what’s cool now is you just get your photos because, guess what, people post those photos. And I don’t think there’s any way to put value on that. I mean, you could try. But to create a scenario where somebody can literally walk out, grab their phone, and post that to Instagram immediately, your post rate goes through the roof.
And that’s the thing, being able to put that on a story within seconds. When you have to wait two weeks, man, is somebody going to post that on their story? No, no way – maybe, maybe, hopefully. But it’s like when you create a whole scenario where it’s easy, then that’s the kind of stuff where all of a sudden, you end up having 11 million impressions, where you have hundreds of thousands of geotags. Because it’s simple. I take a photo in here and it’s really much better than what my own phone can do.
And that’s one of the things that’s important to us is obviously you can use your phone anywhere. But if you’re going to take a photo, it better look better than your phone can do it because that’s the age we live in. And then once you kind of do those few things, technology works really seamlessly, and people don’t even realize it, and they’re posting right away.
Steelman: One of the things I think you guys did so successfully when we were trying to create a touchless and a COVID friendly SNOWDAY was the reservation system. So people had to make their reservations in advance. And then there were no lines. So people love that. And I know you guys have continued doing that at Galleria Dallas with the team there.
Redman: Yeah. So, it’s a huge part of it. And it’s a big part of integrating that with our photography software as well. And also, Santa being able to know kids’ names and their gifts. And so all of that’s integrated. And it’s all working together. And so, yeah, one of the things, and that’s a big thing that came out of COVID, I mean, it used to be there was three, four hour lines for every Santa. And last year, we did certainly have lines for Santa because so many people wanted to be there. And we also had a learning curve and there were things we were trying to figure out. One of the cool things this year is our lines have been 15 minutes or less every day. So, we’re nine days into the run now. So, we’re pretty proud of that. But yeah, it’s just creating a system that works and having it where you book your time slot, and all of those things are simplified.
Steelman: How did adding a Santa operation change the business of SNOWDAY? And so, you said earlier that wasn’t part of the plan. But did you predict that there would be changes in your business once you added Santa?
Redman: I knew it would change it in some ways. I mean SNOWDAY is a very hip thing. It’s very cool. And it’s obviously geared around a lot of social media aspects and getting influencers in there to do their content. I think we did really well with families, we always did with kids and different things like that. But it definitely added even more of a family environment. So that was something, we did add a few elements that we knew would be exciting to kids. One of the things that I always think is great about Disney and different experiences like that is it doesn’t have to just all be kid related. It’s not all cartoon. Kids love all kinds of great experience.
So, we didn’t change a whole bunch about SNOWDAY. It was just blending the two things together. We had to work really hard to make sure they fit together, that the pieces fit together, and it wasn’t like oh, Santa is over here. One thing is like once you go from Santa, if you do a combo package, you go through Santa’s closet.
Steelman: Which I thought was a brilliant idea.
Redman: And so, it’s like it is even further, like you go to the train, now you’re in the forest, now you’re in the chalet. Now you’re going through Santa’s closet, and you’re in this city. And we really play up on that’s where the elves live. And so it’s almost like this other world where it’s like, oh, this is how elves live.
Steelman: And Chuck, I live in there too.
Ruiz: You have a store there. You have everything there.
Redman: Yeah, Steelman Groceries right there in the town of SNOWDAY.
Steelman: So I have a question. You mentioned all of these organic posts that naturally happened as a result of SANTALAND and SNOWDAY. Can you tell us maybe about one post that really did well or how many views or reshares that particular post received?
Redman: I mean, it happens daily. And what’s funny is we do a lot of intentional getting influencers there, getting people to get there and post about it. But almost every day, we have somebody who comes through, and they have viral posts. It’s the people you don’t expect all of a sudden have these explosive posts. It’s like the mom in the suburbs. It’s like, oh, who knew she had 17,000 followers and got 10,000 likes an image. But she came and she paid and she’s posting it, she’s tagging it, she’s doing all that. And so, I mean, we’ve had posts that have gone into the four and five millions of views, millions of likes. We had a mom call us and say, “Hey, I have this group of TikTokers who want to have-” Is that the correct term, TikTokers?
Ruiz: No, it’s content creators.
Redman: Content creators, wherever. You can tell it’s like the mom who didn’t know. She was like, well, and so they made this music video. And they want to have a pizza party there after we make this music video. And she was like, “Can we do that like after hours?” And she’s like, “My daughter has like 4 million followers on TikTok.” I was like, “Yeah, sure.” And so, they all showed up. It was like 20 kids. I think she had the lowest follower count of any of them. So, from that one evening, it was like 50, 60 million views on TikTok. And they came back this year, and they’re coming back again next week.
And that’s the thing, if you listen and you’re just careful with it. And I often feel like people get so defensive of, well, we only want certain people here, and we want to be really VIP. And my thing is like, yeah, whoever wants to come and you want to build content here because that’s what- Do we create Christmas magic? Yes. Do we create incredible experiences? Yes. A huge amount of our value is our ability to create content for our property. And I feel like it’s the most undervalued aspect of what we do.
And on a daily basis, every single day, even the mom or the dad who has 400 followers, who makes a post of their kids at SNOWDAY, tags them all, go takes a photo of the Christmas tree, those 400 followers they have, 200 of them like the photo, and all 200 of those people are the exact demographic that will come to your property once they see that. And you cannot put a price tag on that. Because you can put an ad in a magazine. I don’t know who sees that. It’s so complicated to quantify that. But once you are able to create something where people are paying to be there, specifically taking photos, specifically tagging it, and that’s happening a thousand times a day, that’s such a powerful thing. There’s no way to even think about that.
Steelman: You’re exactly right, Scott. But that’s what’s so great about our partnership between SNOWDAY Dallas and Trademark Property Company, is the fact that we value that because we think being involved in the community and being great stewards is really what our company is all about. So when we can offer and work together with another partner and create these magical moments, we know we’ve been successful in creating a magical holiday experience. And that’s truly what our goal is, to make sure that when people come, they have a memorable experience and it creates a lot of loyalty and customers for life.
Redman: Oh, for sure. It has been a great partnership and really it shows in the ability to do things like that or even just being able to have after hours parties for people who are great at TikTok and that kind of stuff. And there’s definitely a vision there for that.
Steelman: And if we want to see more about SNOWDAY, we can always go to your Instagram page at SNOWDAY.