Some escape room companies make pretty bold claims in their marketing materials. These are my favorites:
1 – First escape room in the City/Town/State/Country in general!
On a few different occasions I have played multiple games in a single city and had multiple owners brag that they were the first company in that city.
The thing is: I don’t care who was first; I care who’s doing it well.
No one cares that the Blackberry existed before the iPhone.
2 – The best escape room in the City/Town/State/Country in general!
Really? Your website says that you’re the best? By golly, it must be true.
Is your self-awarded “Best Escape Room in the City” trophy sitting beside your self-appointed “Humblest Person in the State” certificate?
“Best” is meaningless. When someone asks me for the “best escape room in X city,” I respond with questions:
- How many people are you bringing?
- How do you feel about playing with strangers?
- Are you bringing minors with you? If so, how old?
- How do you feel about horror?
- How challenging do you like your escape room?
I absolutely have favorites, but are they “the best?” Best is relative to what the player prefers.
3 – Largest escape room in the City/Town/State/Country in general!
A size claim? Really? The jokes just write themselves here.
It really doesn’t matter how huge your… tracts of land are. With about 6 people, team communication starts to break down. Larger escape rooms certainly can be great, but they are far more likely to be less fun.
It doesn’t really matter that the fire department is cool with you putting 25 people into a single game. I’ve seen some massive games that seriously misused their space.
Bigger isn’t better, especially if you don’t know how to use it.
4 – The most technologically advanced escape room in the City/Town/State/Country in general!
Many escape room companies are doing interesting things with technology.
Some use it to show off; others do an incredible job of hiding their technology.
I’d be hard-pressed to point towards one specific escape room company and say, “the technologies here are the best!”
Note, experience design using technology is my professional area of expertise.
Just be honest
Every interesting escape game I’ve encountered had something special about it. It wasn’t that it was the first, biggest, had more silicon, or was the “best” (whatever the hell “best” means).
It was special because the creators imbued their game with their own interesting skills, backgrounds, and perspectives.
Don’t reduce yourself to silly or baseless claims; your marketing should highlight what is truly special about your game.
This is the best post I’ve ever read on Escape Room Marking BS!
Seriously, thank you for saying this. I get so sick of this.. and of the reporters calling me and wanting the sound byte of “What’s the first escape room ever?”
Yeah. We get that question all of the time and we’re always saying, “you’re asking the wrong question.”
I’m an escape room owner and I agree. However, I often use “top team-building choice” in my marketing because it is indeed a top choice these days for groups looking to do team-building and group outings. Not saying OURS is the top but the concept is a top choice.
I’ve been very disappointed with the behaviors of other escape room owners. Not nice at all and very cut-throat. Even in our reviews we’ve seen dirty things done. And once we had a group sabotage a clue. We soon after realized they were opening another in the area.
Lying and doing dirty things to try to get to the top is NOT a winning strategy. Just do your best and give your customers a great experience. That’s what they deserve and that’s all you can do!
The Escape Lounge (DC)
Hi Ayanna, no doubt the owner community can be hit or miss.
I have heard more than a few stories of very bad behavior between competitor.
This is our general stance on competition between escape rooms companies.