# "Ogres are like Onions"



## austin_specter (Jul 24, 2015)

Shrek: "Ogres are like Onions"
Donkey: "...they stink? They make you cry?"
Shrek: "No!! Layers! Ogres have layers, onions have layers!"

Do you know the scene? Shrek was such a great movie! It's crazy to think that so much time has passed since it first came out. However, I hope that most of you realized that Shrek was teaching a valuable Haunt marketing tactic in this small scene. I'm sure some of you have heard, but Disney REALLY harnesses their focus towards what I like to call "Ogres and Onions". *Layers*. For new haunters as well as old, we all should think about layers when building our haunts, our scares, and our "brand". Think of the outer layer, "What do people first see when they see my haunt?" Is it the billboard off the highway? (maybe too much for most of us), is it the flyers posted on telephone poles? A radio ad? Or simply is our market the local neighborhood so the first look they get is the outside view from down the street? In any case, we need to build from the outside in. Think: What do they first see? The outer skin. Peeling that back we then say, then what? Is it the entering gate? The footpath that leads to the backyard? Ok. Now we're setting the mood. Who is the first "scharacter" (as I like to call them) that they see? What is this communicating to them? What mood? How should they feel? Now -- is our theme a constant "onion". You wouldn't expect to peel back another layer of an onion and see an orange, would you? Keep a constant theme. Anyways, I wanted to create an open discussion on this! How do you plan your haunt every year? And are you keeping the "Onion" in mind?


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