Livingston Wilson & Associates

Client Problem Solution Result

Budget Blinds After eight years of operations and franchise sales the company only had 120 franchisee operations and were generating one or two franchise sales per month. The franchise offering needed rejuvenation. Develop a marketing and sales program that would reposition and rejuvenate the Budget Blinds franchise offering. We went straight to the franchise base to find out what were the most appealing, valuable and engaging aspects of the business.
We did the same with franchise prospects.
Based on the feedback and or collective experience:

Budget committed to building out a program meaningful to prospective franchisees.
Restructure Budget Blinds business offerings to reflect Franchise desires.
Provide value-added services and repackage existing services and support to ensure a franchisee's success.
Increase the franchise fee almost three fold over the former fee.
Within the three years, they have grown their base of franchisees from 120 to 500.
Budget Blinds is one of the fastest growing franchise organization in the United States, and are selling franchises at the rate of over 20 per month.
Budget is the fifth largest provider of window treatments in the United States.
In 2004, they are going to raise their franchise fee and continue to refine their business offering.

Client Problem Solution Result

Santa Anita Race Track The sport of horse racing had seen a decline in on-track attendance for the past ten years. Santa Anita was no different. Attendance was sliding every year. They year we stared their attendance was down 11% over prior year.
The existing base of clientele was eroding and little effort was focused on attracting new patrons to the track.
LWA reviewed and recommended a wide breadth of marketing programs to increase attendance. In addition, we worked hand in hand with the marketing department to implement, evaluate and modify the newly recommended programs. Those programs included:

Placing significant emphasis on database marketing via the Santa Anita Thoroughbreds Club.
Extensive profiling and modeling of Thoroughbred members.
Enhancement of communications and promotional efforts to the current patrons and development of models to reach out to "look-a-like" prospects.
Reallocation of broadcast dollars to database marketing in an effort to build frequency and create trial.
Over a 3 year period of time. Santa Anita stemmed the decline in track attendance. In fact, Santa Anita was the only track in the country to post positive gains in on-track attendance.

Client Problem Solution Result

Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach The Aquarium was challenged with increasing revenue, however, they could not afford to erode the attendance level.
The key issue... could the Aquarium raise prices (for the third time in 18 months) and not face a decline in attendance. In addition, how would an increase in pricing impact the consumers perception of their experience at the Aquarium?
The Aquarium required counsel and direction on raising prices by $1.00 and then another $.50 in six months.
Before raising prices—we suggested:
Invest in research to explore price elasticity—using $.50/$1.00/$2.00 increments.
Interview past users and non-users.
Reassess the results of the Aquarium attribute ratings prior to any price increase
Our research clearly indicated that there was enough pricing elasticity within the consumer's experience, to increase the admission price by $2.00—without inhibiting the value of the experience or causing people to consider another venue.
We also determined that a price increase would not deter incremental spending within the venue.
This generated, in one year alone, an additional $2,000,000 in revenue for the Aquarium of the Pacific.
Prices have held at the same level for almost three years.

Client	Problem	Solution	Result
Budget Blinds	After eight years of operations and franchise sales the company only had 120 franchisee operations and were generating one or two franchise sales per month. The franchise offering needed rejuvenation.	Develop a marketing and sales program that would reposition and rejuvenate the Budget Blinds franchise offering. We went straight to the franchise base to find out what were the most appealing, valuable and engaging aspects of the business. We did the same with franchise prospects. Based on the feedback and or collective experience: Budget committed to building out a program meaningful to prospective franchisees. Restructure Budget Blinds business offerings to reflect Franchise desires. Provide value-added services and repackage existing services and support to ensure a franchisee's success. Increase the franchise fee almost three fold over the former fee.	Within the three years, they have grown their base of franchisees from 120 to 500. Budget Blinds is one of the fastest growing franchise organization in the United States, and are selling franchises at the rate of over 20 per month. Budget is the fifth largest provider of window treatments in the United States. In 2004, they are going to raise their franchise fee and continue to refine their business offering.

Client	Problem	Solution	Result
Santa Anita Race Track	The sport of horse racing had seen a decline in on-track attendance for the past ten years. Santa Anita was no different. Attendance was sliding every year. They year we stared their attendance was down 11% over prior year. The existing base of clientele was eroding and little effort was focused on attracting new patrons to the track.	LWA reviewed and recommended a wide breadth of marketing programs to increase attendance. In addition, we worked hand in hand with the marketing department to implement, evaluate and modify the newly recommended programs. Those programs included: Placing significant emphasis on database marketing via the Santa Anita Thoroughbreds Club. Extensive profiling and modeling of Thoroughbred members. Enhancement of communications and promotional efforts to the current patrons and development of models to reach out to "look-a-like" prospects. Reallocation of broadcast dollars to database marketing in an effort to build frequency and create trial.	Over a 3 year period of time. Santa Anita stemmed the decline in track attendance. In fact, Santa Anita was the only track in the country to post positive gains in on-track attendance.

Client	Problem	Solution	Result
Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach	The Aquarium was challenged with increasing revenue, however, they could not afford to erode the attendance level. The key issue... could the Aquarium raise prices (for the third time in 18 months) and not face a decline in attendance. In addition, how would an increase in pricing impact the consumers perception of their experience at the Aquarium? The Aquarium required counsel and direction on raising prices by $1.00 and then another $.50 in six months.	Before raising prices—we suggested: Invest in research to explore price elasticity—using $.50/$1.00/$2.00 increments. Interview past users and non-users. Reassess the results of the Aquarium attribute ratings prior to any price increase	Our research clearly indicated that there was enough pricing elasticity within the consumer's experience, to increase the admission price by $2.00—without inhibiting the value of the experience or causing people to consider another venue. We also determined that a price increase would not deter incremental spending within the venue. This generated, in one year alone, an additional $2,000,000 in revenue for the Aquarium of the Pacific. Prices have held at the same level for almost three years.