Freezing it!!

EsselWorld will soon be launching ‘Freeze’, their in-mall entertainment format, to reach out to customers. Gunjan Piplani caught up with Bhushan Motiani, Head of Marketing & Sales at EsselWorld & Water Kingdom, to get details on their venture.

Gunjan Piplani (GP): What has been the aim behind entering small entertainment formats in malls

Bhushan Motiani (BM): The main idea of entering new formats was to extend the brand EsselWorld in to newer genres of active entertainment. The timing of entry also had to be perfect. We have been researching possibilities and probabilities of extending the brand for quite some time now; finally, after a hiatus of 22 years, it is happening. EsselWorld’s Freeze would be another first from us.

The whole idea behind this extension was to make active entertainment fun and reachable. The brand EsselWorld is synonymous with fun and by entering mall formats we will now also be reachable.

GP: Who are your target audience for the same?

BM: All our products are designed for masses to enjoy. Freeze too has been designed to cater to this large section of audience. The typical age base would be between 14 to 40 years. This audience has good amount of disposable income and can be accessed in high footfall areas like malls and entertainment centres.

GP: What kind of activities will this new format, Freeze, have? What is the area, size and placement of the format?

BM: Freeze is unique. The combination of offerings and the method of presentation via malls make it the first of its kind in this country. The elements that make it unique would be a fresh combination of Ice which signifies the Arctic Circle and Snow for the North Pole well blended with a complimentary lounge, Freeze Bar. The first Freeze at Pune is built on a size exceeding 5500 sq.ft approximately and is being specifically placed at the food court level where there are maximum footfalls.

The Freeze capsule from EsselWorld is being designed to fit in sizes ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 sq.ft and will be placed in high footfall zones inside malls.

GP: For merchandising and retailing food & beverages, have you tied up with any brands? Kindly elaborate.

BM: We have a rich partner base within EsselWorld & Water Kingdom and all of them have showed willingness to participate in this first outside venture from us. Merchandise will be sourced to start with from our own merchandise brand within EsselWorld; as for Food & Beverages, we have multiple partners like Coca Cola, Lavazza, Carlsberg and Red Bull to name a few.

GP: What kind of investments have you made in the new format?

BM: Entertainment concepts like ours are expensive and have long gestation periods. Our technology has been sourced from the best in Europe and so are our interiors. We have invested more than Rs 60 million in this project.

GP: What kind of promotional activities are being planned? And what are your marketing strategies?

BM: We at EsselWorld are well known for our strong marketing campaigns; Freeze will also see an aggressive campaign from us. There are well-planned pre-launch and post-launch activities along with sustained campaigns and promotional tie-ups.

GP: What kind of footfalls are you expecting?
BM: We expect more than a lakh of people to visit Freeze in the first year itself since it being a unique and a wholesome concept from EsselWorld.

GP: Is the in-mall entertainment format picking up more as compared to standalone amusement parks?

BM: When we speak of amusement and water parks, we must not forget that real parks are all about size and scale and real-estate in today’s day and age is not cheap. So, yes, in-mall entertainment will pick-up and you will see newer entertainment concepts to come in. We too have planned a few firsts in the coming months and years.

GP: Do we see Freeze coming up in other locations as well apart from Pune?

BM: Yes, many more Freeze centres will come up in the near future. We rely a lot on strong research in selecting concepts for our park and certainly have done many for our new outside projects as well. Choice of locations will depend on outcome of research in select markets. Two more centres will be opened shortly.