Merlin Entertainments

One of the key drivers of Merlin Entertainments’ incredible growth has been its development of strong, distinct and compelling brands.

Definition has worked with Merlin since the group’s creation in 1998, helping to develop The Merlin Way of developing brands – a simple, practical tool that can help guide the attraction’s customer experience.

As the organisation has grown, Merlin realised that they needed a training programme for all graduates and new starters to ensure that everyone entering the business understood The Merlin Way, and knew how to act upon it.

After spending time interviewing Merlin’s senior team, we developed a bespoke two-day training course aimed at helping all new starters understand the principles of the Merlin Way, but also to work out their role in delivering the Merlin brands in the future.

A series of practical hands-on activities were created to help the participants understand the functional components of a Merlin brand (positioning, values, personality and essence), but more importantly what each was used for.

As well as training the functional skills of developing Merlin brands, the course was also jam-packed full of case studies and inspiring stories, showcasing the growth of Merlin’s brands over the years, and helping the new starters appreciate the history of the business.

We delivered the training to 20 very enthusiastic Merlin colleagues in a lovely barn hotel in Yorkshire. The venue choice and way we decorated the room was in order to take attendees away from their normal working life to release their creative potential.

We have now trained hundreds of people in the Merlin Way of developing brands.

The response to the course has been universally positive, with the participants particularly valuing the practical elements that they’ve been able to action in their day-to-day jobs.

Perhaps the greatest success of the course is highlighted by the fact that many of Merlin’s senior brand executives were once course graduates.

The Merlin Way of developing brands remains as powerful and relevant as ever, and all senior new starters continue to be inducted into their practical approach of brand alignment by the Definition team.