Lee Dunbar

May

30

Themepark bans PDAs

May 30, 2008

For a one week period, an amusement park in the UK, Alton Towers Resort, has experimented with a no PDA policy. The experiment could become a permanent policy if things go well, becoming part of a social movement designed to draw lines of proper gadget usage in public places such as movie theatres, convention meetings and restaurants.

They actually had a squad of “PDA police” roaming the park. If any dastardly adults are caught with a qualifying device, they will be directed to a PDA Drop Off Zone where they can leave their device for the day. The web site does not mention what reproductions adults will face if they refuse to turn-over their phone.

Russell Barnes, Divisional Director for the Alton Towers Resort explains; “What we have here is the ultimate short break location where every member of the family can unwind and have fun. We feel it’s so important for parents and kids to focus on nothing more than having the best possible time, we are prepared to take drastic action to ensure that parents really leave their work behind!”

Of course, many people in this day and age will use a device as such to take pictures of their vacation and remain in contact with other family members or friends if they go separate ways for a time period while at the park — as family members have different interests and age will dictate that some family members are not permitted on certain attractions.

It is an interesting concept, and does create/support a perception that Alton Towers is certainly about putting family first.

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Brand Experience Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff
Comments: No Comments

 

May

25

The wildly popular Lego Star Wars games have been followed up with the soon-to-be released Indiana Jones The Original Adventures game.


Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Design Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Neat Stuff, Retail Stuff, Technology Stuff
Comments: No Comments

 

May

24


“Most of my job is about problem solving. I hate the problems, but I love the solving.”

Andrew Stanton is a writer, producer and even performer in such films as Cars, Wall-E, Finding Nemo, Toy Story I & II, Ratatouille, Monsters Inc, A Bugs Life and the Incredibles.

Tags: Experience Design Stuff
Comments: No Comments

 

May

24

The Round-Up

May 24, 2008

I happened upon a great, great idea. Apparently “solar trees” have been popping up in parking lots. These “solar trees” are in-fact solar panels mounted on poles in parking lots. They capture energy for use on the grid while providing shade for the vehicles in the parking lot. Here’s an older article on Wired that describes how Google is using solar panels in their parking lot to meet about 30% of their power requirements.

Ever wonder who’s calling you? I was curious about a number that had called me about twenty times over a 48 hour period. Upon Googling the number, I came across this great service that allows you to enter a phone number, and if others have reported it, you will see who has called you and add them to your blocked numbers list.

I guess there are people who always need to be entertained. A couple Belgians have developed a video game played by — wait for it — peeing in a urinal. That’s right, if relieving yourself is too boring, you can now virtually slalom down ski slopes or kill aliens to pass the time.

Speaking of which — does ‘away from the Internet’ anxiety kick in while commuting to work or taking the family for a drive? Well, along comes .Car. Web content delivered to your dash. Just what we need. More distractions while people drive. You know there is some good in a service like this such as finding amenities while traveling. But you also know that there is some bonehead that’s going to ram into the back of you because he’s too engaged in the great video he’s watching on YouTube.

Mashable Photoshop? “The appeal of extending one’s app with lightweight, cross-platform, network-aware widgets is so obvious that we were busy building support in my first app some eight years ago–and we had to build our own Flash Player clone to do it!” John Nack, product manager at Adobe wrote on his blog.

Tags: Community Stuff, Customer Service Stuff, Design Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Funny Stuff, Neat Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
Comments: No Comments

 

May

23

It’s not often that we get an inside view of what it is like being a Disney character. LAmag.com has an article by Dave Gardetta outlining the hiring, work conditions and eventual dismissal of Brandon Pinto – aka Captain Jack Sparrow – at Disneyland, California.

On the auditions: “Thirty-seven actors showed up that day, four of us in costume. Only eight were chosen for the next round. We were told we would be auditioning the next day at Disneyland. When I showed up, there were now 23 guys—15 that had been pulled from in-house auditions. There was this assistant who would come in and pull people one by one—“Steve, can you come with me?” Then you’d never see Steve again.”

On being “Captain Jack” at a Disney Park: “Disney warned us we were going to have a lot of horny women coming on to us. They were also worried about girls. I heard Disneyland had an Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She was very flirtatious, and they finally pulled her because men found her too sexually arousing and were acting out.” In the summer of ‘07 we went to Quebec City for Les Fêtes de la Nouvelle-France and a Captain Jack  — who seemed to be independent of the festival — showed up on the street. Let’s just say that he definitely drew the attention of the females in the crowd, so I can see why Disney management trained the Jacks on how to act in these situations.

On Disney policies: “When training started, I found out the park allowed mustaches but had a no-facial-hair policy for all employees. I had the Jack goatee, and I threw a small fit. No facial hair for this character? Why would you want to glue on a mustache in summer? You can see the glue!”  I found this part especially amusing — they wanted him to shave his real goatee so that he could glue on a fake one. Although I do have to say that we met Captain Jack at Disneyworld and his goatee was very real. He allowed the woman that was in-front of us in line pull it to verify that it was indeed real. Then in true Jack style, he teased her husband for his lack of facial hair (he was a very good Jack by the way).

On the Disney hierarchy: “There was a ranking system in the dressing room: If you were a princess, you pretty much got that long mirror wall. For some reason the Jacks always ended up in the back corner.”

On the implications of social media: “If a character does something a parent believes is wrong, that’s the video that ends up on YouTube. I was on YouTube after I sat in a lady’s stroller. It’s something I often did, and parents would laugh and take pictures. But management came to me and said, “It looks like you’re sitting down on the job, and we can’t have that.”

On the “dismissal”: “You’d hear that it sucks to work for Disney. They’re Nazis in Mickey hats. But I’d thought, “How bad could it be?” By the time I got fired, half of me was relieved. I was getting sick of constantly being barked at about what to do. It was a month before I went back to the park. I missed it. At first I thought it would be a Walk of Shame, but everyone was very nice.”

You hear stories about how strictly Disney adheres to their ‘brand’, and while I certainly take this with a grain of salt, a lot of this story would certainly show this to be the case. In any case, it is certainly an interesting story.

Tags: Brand Experience Stuff, Customer Service Stuff
Comments: No Comments

 

May

20

Here is a video showing a fun tool being developed that turns photographs into a virtual 3D world.

 

Tags: Experience Design Stuff, Neat Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
Comments: No Comments

 

May

18

Wall-E Spotted in LA

May 18, 2008

There have been rumours that Disney has built a real life version of Wall-E. Below is video that shows that Wall-E does indeed exist.

 
Wall-E Spotted in LA! from Blink on Vimeo.

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Brand Experience Stuff, Design Stuff, Experience Design Stuff, Marketing Stuff, Neat Stuff
Comments: No Comments

 

May

18

One thing I remember from college is what we nicknamed the “Mac and Cheese Theory of Economics”. This occurs when consumers trade down from higher-end products to less expensive products in times of economic down-turn. While a middle class family of four may eat mac and cheese a couple times a month, (kids love the stuff don’t they?), in times of economic pressure they may eat mac and cheese once or twice a week.

We have seen a couple indications of this in the last week. First, Report on Business reports that Miller Brewing CEO, Tom Long, has outlined that while Miller’s premium beers are struggling, they have seen the market shift towards their economy beers. While they expect to see volume remain the same, they also expect to see a continuation of this trend — especially if the price of gas continues to remain at current levels.

Second, there are a couple of stories I saw this week that are related to how gas prices will affect peoples’ travel plans. While there has been a trend for people to travel closer to home because of pressures related to time constraints (a cost as well), the increase in the price of gas is exacerbating the trend. There are two things to look at here that affect the local tourism market. First, air carriers have added a fuel surcharge on flights. Second, the hassle of crossing the US/Canadian boarder.

While we are expecting to see considerably fewer tourists from Northern New York in Ottawa and Eastern Ontario, it is also expected that even more people will travel closer to home.

Look and the trends and focus your resources appropriately. Don’t completely abandon previously strong markets as the economy will strengthen, In fact, studies show that companies that continue marketing through poor economic times return stronger than those who cut their efforts.

Tags: Advertising Stuff, Brand Experience Stuff, Business Stuff, Marketing Stuff
Comments: No Comments

 

May

14

News is that Versus wants to use puck tracking technology. Fox did this. It was a joke. By way of ‘guilty by association’ the NHL was seen as a joke. Using cheap parlour tactics that were more of a distraction than enhancement to a person’s enjoyment or understanding of the game.

Anyone who understands hockey will tell you that what is important for viewers to understand and watch is how a play develops, the position of the players on the ice. Not — “Versus’ senior vice president of programming, says puck tracking could be a great tool to trace the pinpoint passing of NHL stars. “You could see how they thread the needle,” he says. That’s obviously a guy that doesn’t get it.

The time a player has the puck on their stick during a game can be measured in seconds. Of the average twelve or so minutes players are on the ice, (as little as a couple of minutes for role players to the high twenties for first defence pairings), most is spent without the puck. To put such focus on the puck would lose the very essence of the game. What every coach should be teaching children learning the game — what you do without the puck is the most important part of hockey. If you aren’t in the right position: a) you likely won’t get the puck; and b) you will be out of position to do anything with it if you do receive it.

What would be far more effective is to have someone with a telestrator immediately review a play during a stoppage — a tracker might work here — just not live. That’s how people will learn to appreciate the game. Not with glowing pucks that show “pinpoint passes”

 

 

Tags: Experience Design Stuff, Sports Stuff, Technology Stuff
Comments: No Comments

 

May

12

Monday Round-Up

May 12, 2008

Will fuel surcharges added to airfare force Canadians to vacation closer to home? That’s one thought — but this could be offset with the strong Canadian dollar. But then again, disposable income is disappearing fast! “It’s going to increase the cost of travel and will eat away at discretionary income of Canadian households, which will have an effect on leisure travel,” says Randy Williams, head of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada.

The Emergency Management Office is cautioning Nova Scotians that 911 calls placed over the Internet may not be as safe as emergency calls over a land line.

Are you being watched when you’re online? Odds are good that you are. The National Post writes that the Privacy Commissioner is launching an investigation into whether Canada’s telecommunications giants are breaking the law when they use technology that allows the companies to monitor the online activities of their Internet customers.

Over at bloomberg.com, Kevin Hassett questions whether the humble polar bear could cause oil to go over $200. If the polar bear is declared as a threatened species, it could cause some serious side effects.

Are regulations getting in the way of the adoption of green fuels? Yet another reason to shake your head.

What’s wrong with the NHL? Here’s just one thing.

Tags: Business Stuff, Community Stuff, Sports Stuff, Technology Stuff, Web Stuff
Comments: No Comments

 


 

Search


Categories

Archives from Recent Months

Archives - Yearly