Except marketing isn't doing what they're supposed to be doing. They're being lazy & not providing something "new" to entice people to even go. People will see it and "oh look, TWD... again. Guess I'll go to Knotts".
If you're going to advertise the event, then actually advertise the event as a whole... All they're doing is advertising the TWD... NOT HHN.
Using your largest and most popular property to help advertise your event
is enticing people to go. Echoing what Brover said above, a very, very small amount of people are going to see the aforementioned commercial and scoff because of The Walking Dead's return. In reality it will probably be the opposite. All you have to do is look at how crowded Horror Nights has become the last few years to know that marketing is doing it's job.
This year is lazy all the way around with all of the repeated IPs (minus CP & TITE)...
Lazy to some, exciting to others. Aside from Alien VS Predator (voted by fans as their favorite maze of all time, by the way), everything else is new to the event. Sure, some of the properties have been used in the past, but the mazes will be completely new. Now if we were seeing the same exact Insidious, Halloween and Walking Dead as previous years, you would have a solid point.
We're getting new content based on properties that people love. I don't see the issue with that.
If the only thing you're pushing is TWD because its the "biggest maze ever" (or because, as you put it, "biggest show on tv), you're seriously failing to even try.
I'm not just saying it's the biggest show on television. It really is:
The Walking Dead has the highest total viewership of any series in cable television history, including its two most recent (fourth and fifth) seasons, during which it averaged the most 18- to 49-year-old viewers of all cable or broadcast television shows. Total viewership for its season five premiere was 17.3 million, the most-watched series episode in cable history.
(from Wikipedia)
I think it is important to remember that the general public is
not on forums talking about Halloween Horror Nights year round (or ever, for that matter). They don't care that there was a Halloween maze in 2009, or that Alien VS Predator was featured last year. They want to see things that are familiar, and they want a fun experience. Horror Nights delivers that.
PS: I wasn't trying to pick apart your post, it is just way easier to respond to certain points this way.