Jaki Ellenby, Chief Commercial Officer at ABBA Voyage, on thirty years of building categories of one. Disney. Cirque du Soleil. Dubai Mall. Yas Island’s three theme parks. And now a virtual concert residency that has injected two billion pounds into the UK economy since launch.
"Ask why. All the time."
Thirty years across Disney, Cirque du Soleil, Just for Laughs, Dubai Mall, Yas Island’s theme parks and now ABBA Voyage. Jaki Ellenby on what three decades of building categories of one has taught her about brand, about commercial alignment, and about the particular craft of marketing something that is impossible to describe.
Jaki Ellenby’s career began at Disneyland Paris before it opened, then ran through Disney Online for Europe and Latin America, Parc Astérix, Just for Laughs in Montreal (the world’s largest comedy festival), five and a half years at Cirque du Soleil, Yas Island’s three theme parks, Dubai Mall, Global Village and Dubai Municipality. She took the CCO role at ABBA Voyage in March 2025, leading ticketing, partnerships, marketing and brand strategy for a show that has injected more than two billion pounds into the UK economy.
In this conversation, Ellenby sets out her career thesis that being the only one is the only durable edge, makes the case that marketing and sales are the same function, unpacks how experience brands host stories rather than telling them, and connects her cross-cultural work in the Middle East (Ferrari World, Dubai Mall, Global Village) to practical lessons about insight, behaviour and the hazards of comparison-based positioning.
"Every brand I’ve worked for has been the only one of its kind."
From Disney to Cirque du Soleil to Ferrari World Abu Dhabi to Dubai Mall and now ABBA Voyage, Ellenby has spent her career inside categories of one. Her conclusion: competing on faster, biggest or cheapest is a race the brand eventually loses. Disney never advertised fastest rides. It told stories. Uniqueness is the only advantage that cannot be out-spent.
"A congregational church show circus. That’s the best definition. I can’t put it on a poster."
Producer Ludwig’s definition of ABBA Voyage is evocative but hard to put in a campaign. Ellenby’s approach has been to bypass description. The new campaign pairs photos of real audiences at the show with ABBA lyrics, so viewers hear the music in their head before they see the stage. Communication carries the emotion rather than describing the product.
"Word of mouth might now be called viral. It’s still word of mouth."
Ellenby’s framing is that marketing fundamentals have barely moved in three decades. Human motivation, social proof and emotional contagion still drive demand in the experience category. What technology has delivered is amplification, faster, wider, more measurable. The strategic work is still identifying the conditions that create word of mouth in the first place.
"When people ask what I do, I say I sell tickets."
Ellenby runs ticketing, partnerships, marketing and brand strategy at ABBA Voyage under a single commercial spine. The functions sit together because, in her view, marketing and sales are the same function with different specialisations. When they sign different contracts they eventually run in different directions. She wants them in lockstep, with the tension reserved for style, not objective.
"Ask why. All the time. Question yourself. Question everyone around you."
A sign on her desk, gift from a previous team, reads "Why?" because she asks it so often. Her belief: what works this week will not work next year; what wins next year was someone’s odd idea last month. Agility, versatility and curiosity, in her framing, are the non-negotiable traits of today’s marketing leader. The "all-rounder" temperament sits behind all three.
"We’re racing on our own. And we set the terms."
Host What first drew you to marketing?
Ellenby At fourteen my school did Young Enterprise. I got assigned the CMO role in a candle-making business. That was the first time marketing was even a thing in my head. I was always an all-rounder, across sciences, arts and social sciences. Marketing was the job where being all of those things was the point.
Host Three decades of brands. What’s the pattern?
Ellenby Every brand I’ve worked for has been the only one of its kind. Amusement parks chase the fastest roller coaster or the highest drop tower. Disney never entered that race. They talked about story. The trouble with fastest and biggest is someone can always out-build you. If you’re the only one, you’re racing on your own. You get to set the terms.
Host Experiences vs. consumer products.
Ellenby Experiences come with a story and a legacy built in. You don’t have to create something out of nothing. P&G with Pampers, a commodity category, ran a beautiful content operation aimed at expectant parents. Information when it’s scariest and most welcome, before the baby arrives. By the time the product was in use, the relationship was there. Entertainment can skip that step because the emotion is already there.
Host The campaign you’re about to launch.
Ellenby We took photos last year of real people at the concert. Not publicity shots. Real audiences. And we’ve overlaid ABBA lyrics, not song titles. When you read the lyrics, you hear the music in your head. You’re already singing along before you see the stage. That connects emotionally in a way a picture of the stage never would.
Host ABBA Voyage, in commercial terms.
Ellenby Over two billion pounds injected into the UK economy. We’re based in a historically under-invested part of east London, and the training and opportunity work locally is part of what I care about most. Sixty percent of international visitors to London for ABBA Voyage are coming for ABBA Voyage. That’s not money from people. It’s time.
Host Impossible to describe.
Ellenby People call it a hologram show. It isn’t. The best definition I’ve heard is from our producer Ludwig: a congregational church show circus. Perfect, evocative, and unusable on a poster. So we stop trying to define. We let the audience do it. The first time I went I was on my own, introverted, in the interview process. Within ten minutes I knew every person around me. It is a communal experience. That has to show up in the marketing.
Host Gen Z and ABBA.
Ellenby Fifty percent of ABBA streaming in 2025 was by Gen Z. People who didn’t grow up with the music. Sometimes they know Chiquitita before they know who the band is. The lyrics campaign works because people know the lyrics. Social media has turned ABBA into something that is constantly rediscovered.
Host Marketing and sales.
Ellenby They’re the same function. I had a professor who drummed it into us. Marketing is sales. People in the industry get on a high horse about it. Fundamentally we talk about brand and insight and all the great things, but when somebody asks me what I do, I say I sell tickets. Marketing and sales in different contracts eventually run in different directions. The tension between sales and marketing personalities is healthy. The tension between their objectives is not.
Host The customer journey.
Ellenby Every touchpoint, from the first poster to the journey home. Front-line staff matter enormously. The first time I went to Voyage, the staff loved it. Last week I was there and an usher in the corridor was dancing. He’s been there since the beginning. Every single night, four years in, he is still dancing. That makes the experience. That I didn’t have to build.
Host Regional differences in marketing.
Ellenby Less than people think. Fundamentals are similar. The differences are behavioural and cultural. At Yas Island, we knew there were service issues but customer-satisfaction scores were through the roof. I went to the data and then to people. The exit surveyors were wearing Ferrari World shirts, and culturally in Asia you don’t tell someone to their face they’re doing a bad job. We changed the shirts, presented the surveyors as independent, and suddenly got real feedback.
Host Advice for the next generation?
Ellenby Ask why. All the time. A team once bought me a sign that says "Why?" because I ask it so often. What’s successful today is not what you’ll do next year. Be curious. Question yourself. Question everyone around you.
Host A brand that consistently delivers.
Ellenby If you’d said band instead of brand, because ABBA always says we’re a band, I would have said ABBA.
New guests and insights. No noise.