Six Flags
- Quote
- “Merkle is one of our strongest strategic partners and thought leaders, providing direction and support as we transform our business. They're essential to the success of our marketing and organization."
Overview
Six Flags delivers fun, immersive, memorable experiences to millions of guests every year with world-class coasters, themed rides, thrilling water parks, and a portfolio of beloved intellectual property.
Following the merger of Cedar Fair and Six Flags, the combined company needed to bring together distinct technology stacks, data, and audiences to increase park attendance and grow in-park spend across their portfolio.
-
$1.2M
cost savings from tech consolidation -
< 3
month rapid CDP implementation -
11%
increase in in-park per capita spend YoY -
#1
most valuable partner for Treasure AI Data in 2025
The challenge
Six Flags needed to integrate smoothly with Cedar Fair, while simultaneously adapting to changing guest needs.
- Disparate technology stacks led to high costs, complex upkeep, and siloed functionality.
- Evolving consumer demands for personalization spurred a need for a reimagined approach to CRM and communications.
- Fragmented customer journeys made it difficult to create unique guest experiences across both brands.
- A focus on day-to-day operations left limited time for big-picture thinking, creating a need for external strategic support.
- A transactional approach to passholder perks limited opportunities to build deeper emotional connections with guests.
The approach
Merkle led strategy, implementation, and execution to unify Six Flags’s technology and customer data for better guest experiences, delivering measurable impact during a pivotal business moment. This included:
- Streamlining Six Flags’s tech stack under a hybrid CDP architecture with Treasure AI Data to power a faster, smarter path to data-driven activation.
- Connecting guest data to turn insights into next-best actions across pre-visit, in-park, and post-visit moments.
- Mapping guest journeys to serve as a growth framework grounded in real customer behavior.
- Acting as a trusted partner for expert guidance, vendor insight, strategic support, and ongoing maintenance.
- Developing a Salesforce roadmap to evolve the perks program into a more engaging, relationship-focused experience.
The outcome
With a unified customer data strategy in place, Six Flags is positioned to engineer guest experiences that create lasting connections, drive repeat visits, and fuel long-term growth.
