Alton Towers' Best and Worst Adverts

[James6]

So, what are your most and least favourite advert's that Alton Towers have produced?

My personal favourite would have to be Th13TEEN's, I honestly think the adverts are fantastic and has made the GP talk about a ride the way I've never seen. (It helps that the ride is awesome too )

And then my least favourite...

Rita's original advert. I remember seeing this advert and just thinking to myself... "What were they thinking" and that opinion hasn't changed.

For those who need reminding, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLHurezY16o&NR=1

So what are yours?

[CoasterCrazyChris]

That Rita advert sure is shocking. I mean making memories? Surely it was more of a resort advert than the specific ride.

Had nothing to do with Rita: QOS and the racing theme. Shocking. But random and mildly amusing nevertheless.

As for my choices then. Well it's a close call between these three for the best one...

1994 - Theme park advert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAzLiQKEztA
1996/1998 - Alton Towers Hotel http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idsAjI7LlJw
2000- Hex http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGCK6QW8Cgg

Well, after a bit of deliberation it has to be the Hotel advert for me. An ad that was so elegantly crafted surely deserves its place at the top for me. If it wasn't for the fact half the attractions 'morphed' in the advert are now gone it would be amazing to see it used again. Shame.


Now, for the worst advert.

Likewise it has to be that dire Rita one.

[A5H]

I went to Alton Towers for the first time in 1998 and then again in 1999 and before i went the second time and then for quite a while after that this advert was on TV alot
Alton Towers - Ug Land 1999 TV Advert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFA-mn2f ... re=related
I loved this advert and always remind me of when i went in 1999 and they did the live fire engine thing in the middle of Ug Land with cave men and women :P and i seem to remember somebody up on a high tower or something :P

[DiogoJ42]

Hang on a sec. On that Rita ad, the OTSR looks more like Colossus than Rita? I'm guessing they filmed it before Rita was built.
:no:

[JoshM]

Rita's advert was shocking. The old nemesis advert was the best, but the hotel advert is close behind it.

[djtruefitt]

I agree that the original Rita advert was rubbish, it just didnt really sell the ride and I cant even remember seeing it on tv.

One set of adverts I liked at the time was the teaser adverts for Air where they had different people just laying on the floor where it said "prepare for air". In a way they were similar to the Thirteen adverts which didnt really give much away at the time until the final advert came out. Here they all are:

[url=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;][/url]

[Jordan]

Wow, that Rita advert is awful. Like Mike said, I don't even remember seeing that on TV.

I really like the Hex advert - it's really eerie (a bit like the Th13teen adverts) and there's a little bit of IHOTMK slipped in at the end. The Nemesis advert is one of their better ones too.

[James]

[quote=""DiogoJ42""]Hang on a sec. On that Rita ad, the OTSR looks more like Colossus than Rita? I'm guessing they filmed it before Rita was built.
:no:[/quote]

Restraints are usually always wrong with roller coaster adverts, although I've always thought when filming the advert they'd know exactly what the restraints would be on the real thing. Mind you, the restraints in the Air advert were made out of Cardboard. :P

Worst advert is the Jelly advert for me, while I understand what they were trying to show with the advert I just found it pointless and just plain silly: Clicky

Instead of choosing the obvious best adverts(Hex, Th13teen, Nemesis etc.) I'm going to say that the Resort 2008 Advert is my 'best' advert. It's a very clever advert and I think it tied in very well with the whole escapism that the park went with at the time. Also, it being the first time ITHOTMK returned to the Alton Towers marketing that is also what makes it one of the bests adverts I think.

[Big Dave]

Love the 1997 advert: In your dreams...you're already there!

[QTXAdsy]

I just love the 1994 advert!
:arrow: [url=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;][/url]

It just put me in the mood to go.

However, the Rita advert is just rubbish.
:arrow: [url=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;][/url]

I don't know why, but the way the guy is talking about the ride makes it like some sort of a game show. 8-[

[aru]

[quote=""James""][quote=""DiogoJ42""]Hang on a sec. On that Rita ad, the OTSR looks more like Colossus than Rita? I'm guessing they filmed it before Rita was built.
:no:[/quote]

Restraints are usually always wrong with roller coaster adverts, although I've always thought when filming the advert they'd know exactly what the restraints would be on the real thing. Mind you, the restraints in the Air advert were made out of Cardboard. :P

Worst advert is the Jelly advert for me, while I understand what they were trying to show with the advert I just found it pointless and just plain silly: Clicky

Instead of choosing the obvious best adverts(Hex, Th13teen, Nemesis etc.) I'm going to say that the Resort 2008 Advert is my 'best' advert. It's a very clever advert and I think it tied in very well with the whole escapism that the park went with at the time. Also, it being the first time ITHOTMK returned to the Alton Towers marketing that is also what makes it one of the bests adverts I think. [/quote]

The new park ads just don't have the punch that the late 90's ones pulled off - with the exception of Thirteen. 1997 all the way! Oh, and I love the jelly ad!

[James]

[quote=""aru""]The new park ads just don't have the punch that the late 90's ones pulled off - with the exception of Thirteen. 1997 all the way! Oh, and I love the jelly ad![/quote]

That's why I chose that advert The 90s adverts obviously win, but I've chosen something different and that doesn't necessarily stand out as a 'best advert' to the majority of people.

[[Archive]]

My memory goes back as far as seeing the early Air adverts, which got me interested in Alton Towers in the first place. The adverts themselves were not particularly spectacular, though. My favourite I think are the Thirteen adverts, notably the post-watershed ad.

All of the teasers and adverts to do with Thirteen portrayed the ride as something quite mysterious and intruiging. They genuinly made me excited, wheras before the ride had not quite shown enough spark to get my full attention. They were beautifully done and, whilst not much to do with the actual ride, the concept of the girl and the trees was very clever.

They were, at the time, a glorious break from all the OTT marketing and stunts we were getting. My opinion of SW6 got better and better with each one I watched. Whether the ride itself is as good as the adverts show it to be is another question. But the important thing is that they emphasises its atmosphere aspect instead of its "Ultimate Rollercoaster" aspect.

The worst adverts I have seen are the Rita ones. Rita Ad #1: it starts off in some mountains. OK. The next thing I am seeing is some goofy man with his cheeks flapping around swaying around in front of a blue background. It was silly and fake. However, my all time least favourite goes to Rita Ad #2, which does everything it shouldn't: dressing up a piece of rubbish as something ground-breaking and adding a cheesy voice over. Oh dear.

[Kaycee]

Favourite ones are:

a) The 1994 general Park advert as previously linked - totally magical, reminds me of my first memories and awareness of the park - I used to find the real swan morphing into one of the Swan Boats enchantingly grotesque, and loved the Banqueting Hall lighting up as well.

b) Hex, 2000 - Loved the voiceover and the camera going upside down and everything!

c) Oblivion '98 - Great! Very dark, love the creepy blonde guy's face, and the way the camera suddenly swoops to show the shuttle hanging over this great drop. Naiiiice.


Not a great fan of any advert that shows scenes from 'real-life'. I prefer the darker, more 'fantasy' ones that stay true to the theme.

[altontowerskid]

From a marketing point-of-view, i would say most of the resort adverts have been very successful with the best made advert being with the introduction of the Alton Towers Hotel

For me, the favourite has to be the Hex Advert. It has been perfected created to suit the ride down to every last detail. Adding a perfect amount of the ITHOTMK at the end to relate the ride to Alton Towers. Although Thirteen's adverts were very good to look at, i still don't think they have that special something that the Hex advert seems to have, it's an outstanding achievement of advertisement and a huge disappointment we've never seen anything like this again.

[[Archive]]

[quote=""altontowerskid""]...and a huge disappointment we've never seen anything like this again.[/quote]I think that's being a bit harsh on the marketing team. The new brand image is a nice change and significant improvments have been made over the past years. Also, they obviously worked to great efforts to promote Thirteen and it is one of the most talked about new rides in the past few years. The build up and adverts were both of great quality, especially after a few years of utter rubbish. I would say they are almost back up to where they used to be, but that's just my opinion.

I want to thank the current marketing team for making large steps forward from the days of Rita, Spinball Whizzer, the Flume and other generic resort promotions. What we are seeing now is far better and the brand image feels more retro, imaginative and clean.

[Spike]

Easily the best park advert is the '94 one.

Best Ride advert has to be Oblivion, sends shivers down my spine that one, followed by Nemmies advert which was good for the time.

I dunno why people are complaining about the Rita advert, that one was hardly ever shown (The arctic one)
[url=" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;][/url] that was the one which was mainly shown and I think it's quite good.

[mitch1e]

I like the Hex and the Thirteen adverts but I think for me the Nemesis advert is my favourite.


Can i ask what does IHOTMK stand for I cant work it out

[Blaze]

In The Hall Of The Mountain King

AKA Alton's theme music

[mitch1e]

thanks Blaze :D