KidZania provides children and their parents a safe, unique, and very realistic educational environment that allows kids between the ages of four to twelve to do what comes naturally to them: role-playing by mimicking traditionally adult activities. As in the real world, children perform "jobs" and are either paid for their work (as a fireman, doctor, police officer, journalist, shopkeeper, etc.)
The indoor theme park is a city built to scale for children, complete with buildings, paved streets, vehicles, a functioning economy, and recognizable destinations in the form of "establishments" sponsored and branded by leading multi-national and local brands. Each KidZania city offers as many as 90 role-playing activities at more than 60 establishments with a range of difficulty levels to meet the abilities and interests of each child. Kids can choose to pay for goods and services with KidZania's own currency or they can choose to work. Pilots navigate airplanes, TV anchors read the news, police officers perform detective work, and pizza chefs make tasty food. KidZania is a city just for kids, complete with a hospital, fire station, beauty salon, bank, radio station, supermarket, television station, pizzeria and theatre. At two-thirds of their actual size, all facilities are designed to be just the right size for children. Kids select a job, are instructed in a specific task, don a real uniform and start working. Kids are paid for their work in kidZos, the official currency of KidZania. Recognized at every KidZania city throughout the world, kidZos are used to buy products and services. When opening an account at the bank in KidZania, kids receive a real debit card to be used at ATMs. With it, they can deposit kidZos into their account for use during their next visit. They can also use their earnings to play at KidZania, learn about saving their kidZos or shop at KidZania's stores. Personal experience is a powerful learning tool. At KidZania, children learn about society through work and activities. As kids build on their experience, they develop independence, social skills and a sense of monetary value. At the same time, children learn valuable lessons associated with each substantive occupation as the KidZania experience is designed to reflect school curricula around the world. Industry partners/sponsors provide key realism to KidZania by branding each establishment inside KidZania with products, processes and technologies. The KidZania concept allows brands to reach families in a natural, unique and non-intrusive manner in a direct and interactive way through direct one-to-one channel marketing, experiential marketing, interactive advertising and immersive engagement, generating awareness and brand loyalty. The result is short term and long term spending decisions with brands that earn family trust. With attendance generally averaging 500,000 – 900,000.000 visitors annually, corporate sponsors are thrilled at the prospect of imprinting and showcasing their brands. KidZania’s sponsors include a “who’s who” of blue chip companies such as Wal-Mart, American Airlines, Coca Cola, Domino's Pizza, Mitsubishi Motors, Honda, HSBC, Johnson & Johnson, McDonalds, Nestlé, Sony, Unilever, Avis, Mattel, and Fuji Film. Staffs of “Zupervisors” are on hand to provide support the experience at each activity. Zupervisors are adults trained to help kids accomplish their tasks as they work and play. Attention to professionalism and training has earned KidZania the highest level of trust as a facility where kids can enjoy themselves and be independent. KidZania is uniquely appealing as a leisure destination for shopping centres and malls. KidZania locations draw an average of 27% from beyond a 90-minute catchment attracting large visitation segments which are usually uncaptured in saturated markets. It is also a destination for the most attractive shopping centre demographics –parents 25-45, with discretionary income, homemakers who purchase home accessories, clothing and school supplies for their children. KidZania offers children a 5-hour experience so parents have plenty of time to shop and spend and our state-of-the-art security system is designed to allow and encourage parents to leave their children safely at KidZania while they take some time of their own to shop, eat, see a movie, etc. The first KidZania opened in Mexico City in 1999 and quickly became the premier children’s entertainment destination location in Mexico. This flagship location has received more than 9 million visitors since opening its doors. The company’s second venue successfully opened in 2006 in Monterrey, Mexico. The third KidZania was the company’s first international location in Tokyo, Japan which also opened in 2006. In Tokyo, tickets remain sold out months in advance and weekdays are packed with students on excursions from across Japan. Unlike the wholly owned and privately held Mexican locations, KidZania Tokyo reflected the company’s extension into global franchising which has now become the impetus for explosive international growth. KidZania Jakarta opened in November 2007 to great success and record-breaking crowds. In 2009, KidZania opened in Osaka and Lisbon and in 2010 new locations have opened in Seoul and Dubai. New locations are also being built or in development in Mumbai, Bangkok, Santiago de Chile, Istanbul, Shanghai, Cairo, São Paulo, Singapore, Moscow, Kuwait, Jeddah and Kuala Lumpur and negotiations are in process for many additional countries. KidZania will also launch a derivative concept in Cuicuilco, Mexico in 2011.
