The future of theme park tickets?
*** Edited 7/7/2007 9:34:04 AM UTC by P18***
dexter said:
I do not like for enormous corporations to track my every move so they can figure out how to trick me into spending more money.
They already do that without tracking your every step, anyway, because it's not difficult to simply watch how people behave and think and react.
Ever been to the grocery store to buy a gallon of milk? You gotta walk to the other end of the store past all the stuff you don't plan on buying.
Ever wonder why the flowers are right next to the entrance? I mean who really goes to the grocery with "flowers" on their list? That's why you have to hit people with the impulse buy fast.
Ever bought something off the an end cap? The average consumer perceives they're getting a better deal even if the items aren't even on sale. And if they are on sale you're likely to buy a lot more than you had planned.
Ever been to the grocery with a kid? All the garbage loaded with corn syrup and chemicals and covered in bright colors and cartoon characters are halfway down the shelf, at grubby little hand level.
The difference is that all theme parks are different and most groceries are almost identical in layout but obviously parks can use a lot of the same techniques to get you to buy, buy, buy. It doesn't take GPS tracking.
I'm a huge technology junkie so I find the whole "useless technology" idea laughable. I usually hear this from people (like my Mom) who do not keep up with the latest advances and sometimes even annoyed when something new is announced.
Oh well, its the age we live in. Good find Tim!
Fate is the path of least resistance.
Fast pass adds value because it's relatively inexpensive to implement and keeps people out of lines and spending money. Consolidated magnetic cards add value because it's relatively inexpensive to implement (card readers everywhere already) and it encourages spending.
Do you think that Disney World cares if you can find your friends? What do they get out of electronically giving you history of the park? What do you get out of it that you can't get by the static signs in front of attractions?
The bottom line is that these things don't represent a revenue opportunity. Again, solution seeking a problem.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
The only obstacle that the business have is to make us WANT technology that gives them this unfair upper hand without letting us know thats what they're up to.
Without naming any names, it IS already happening right now as we speak right under our noses to a degree.
Spychips.com has a lot of great, although biased, information on the subject of the misuse of RFID.
Restaurant X is having little business that day... your little device says: get fresh pizza at Restaurant X! A new pizza was just made and you can get slices for 20% off with your card!
You could give them away for free, and help "control" peoples thoughts :)
honestly it is win win... the guest sees what lines are like around the park, and get discounts for putting up w/ advertising. Of course, this device is OPTIONAL, but if guests see that having one gives discounts around the park, and can give you wait times etc. I bet quite a bit would take them!
sounds good to me... *** Edited 7/7/2007 6:53:50 PM UTC by SFDL_Dude***
"The man is trying to hold us down!"
We all might as well sit in our homes with tin foil on our heads. :)
-Tambo
SFDL_Dude said:
Of course, this device is OPTIONAL
Thank God, considering between my glasses and my wallet and my cellphone and every thing else wife* and kids* may be lugging around I don't really need something else to carry around. For me even a Qbot was a bit of a hassle and when I'm at a park I'd just rather be as un-bothered by extraneous BS as possible.
I mean there comes a point when being spontaneous and just focusing on having fun has to trump having a device that allows the park to attempt to micro-manage your every move.
If I can go to Hershey and CP and HW and BGW and Epcot and Knoebels and Canobie and Disneyland and IOA and have a blast every single time I enter the gate, why do I need something like this, again?
Oh, that's right, because I don't. :) Thanks, I'm having more than enough fun already. *** Edited 7/8/2007 2:24:09 AM UTC by matt.***
Conspiracy theories aside, I do feel that businesses are stopping nothing short of breaking the law when it comes to parting me with my money. This creating a problem and then solving it at a price is one of the many things I see clearly that some companies do to gain an unfair advantage.
Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a portable interactive billboard that can be carried around with you all day, telling you what the park, who knows everything about your spending habits and desires from an enormous database, thinks you need to spend your extra money on? I don't think that it would be necessary, but they would find a reason that you need it and make you believe it...
..."Hello Mr. Dexter. This is your friendly portable billboard speaking from inside your pocket. I have found from my extensive database that you have rode "SuperCoaster 2020" 5 times today and haven't bought a "SuperCoaster 2020" T-Shirt yet. You have bought 2 T-Shirts per year from "Magical Adventure Theme Park" in the past but this year you have only purchased one so far. You are now passing the "SuperCoaster 2020" Gift Shop on your right. If you decide to purchase a "SuperCoaster 2020" T-Shirt within the next 60 seconds, you will receive a $10 discount off of the regular price of $50. Should I go ahead and deduct that from your bank account at this time Mr. Dexter?"
This is simply the direction marketing is headed. When profits hit the top and can't go any higher, "tricking" (for lack of a better word) your customers into spending more is the only alternative they can take.
Weather you believe it or not, I don't care. It is how I view it. You may realize someday that the dexter guy had it somewhat figured out way back in 2007.
*** Edited 7/8/2007 4:11:15 AM UTC by dexter***
I fully disagree with your choice of the word "trick" here because to me it implies something devious, which I don't think fair promotion and marketing is. I mean at the end of the day it takes two to tango and if you're opening up your wallet for random BS you wouldn't have bought otherwise and that ends up being...like, a real detriment to your experience I think you have bigger problems than what's going on at your local Six Flags.
Maybe "trick" is a strong word. I just can't figure out a word to describe what I am trying to say I suppose.
Wouldn't it get annoying for business to know everything about you, and figure out the right words to say to you personally to get you to buy more? I would downright get offended if they used any weaknesses the knew about my buying habits against me in order to TRY (I'll say try this time as to not appear like there is something wrong with me) to get more of my money. No one needs more advertising forced onto them, especially in such an invasive way. That's all I am saying.
I wouldn't want to tell the computer "NO" all day. I am at an amusement park to have fun and relax a little, not to spend spend spend.
dexter said:I would downright get offended if they used any weaknesses the knew about my buying habits against me in order to TRY (I'll say try this time as to not appear like there is something wrong with me) to get more of my money.
I hope you don't use a credit card or debit card to purchase anything then. :)
-Tambo
dexter said:
...and by "you" and "your", I hope you mean people in general and not me.
In English "you" can be either the second person singular or second person plural.
Frankly, I'm not going to elect to clarify when I'm using one or the other for your benefit in the same way I'm not going to put "IMO" or "IMHO" or whatever at the end of my opinions because you struggle to tell the difference between subjective opinion and objective fact.
Back on topic, as has already been pointed out, more than likely corporations do know everything about you. It's already happened, it's done, over, they have you pegged. Your money is already gathered and accounted for as far as they are concerned, it's just a matter of making intelligent choices with your money and acting like a grownup and not behaving like merchants are somehow twisting your arm and stealing your money out of your wallet.
I don't see what's hard about it but I'm not compulsive/impulsive about buying. But even for people who are, how about buying your tickets online when you can, leaving a credit card in your car in case of emergency, and only walking around the park with a limited amount of cash? That way, when you've had your weakness exploited, haha, well tough titties, you only got $20 in your pocket. Not that hard!
matt. said:
I fully disagree with your choice of the word "trick" here because to me it implies something devious.
C'mon. "Trick" is exactly what advertising is. I get a good laugh when marketing types say things like "we are helping the consumer make a choice by providing them with product to enhance their lifestyle" As if the purpose of these companies is to help and assist people in making their lives easier.
Advertising is nothing more than tricking people into spending money on something they would otherwise avoid or to make them believe that product X will get them hot girlfriend.
The world is drowning in advertising and I'm sick of it. The last thing anybody needs is another way for companies to bombard people with more ads.
But since I was not a "business major" my opinion is worthless I suppose.
I can resist advertising. I'm very aware of ad tactics. Advertisers act as if the human race are very stupid. Just watch closely sometimes at the way they get you to laugh at the dumb guy. I get annoyed with the desperate attempts advertisers use to get me to buy.
When advertisers don't insult my intelligence, I reward them with my business. *** Edited 7/9/2007 8:31:41 PM UTC by dexter***
millrace said:
But since I was not a "business major" my opinion is worthless I suppose.
Oh boo hoo. Your opinion is worthless because you seem to automatically associate making a profit with trickery and whatever other negative connotations you can come up with.
As long as you can chalk up spending based on advertising to tricks or whatever and not on personal free will this is going to be nothing but a joke to me.
Doesn't it all come back to having a little sense of personal responsibility?
I mean seriously guys if advertising and marketing are all "tricks" what do you for a living that doesn't involve that? Seriously, I'd like to hear this. Is all for-profit business based on deception and lies? C'mon, let's hear it guys. *** Edited 7/10/2007 1:03:53 AM UTC by matt.***
MY OPINION (lol) is that advertisers use tricks to get us to spend money on the product that they are advertising. It is a fact in my world.
Cartoons to advertise medicine and sugary sweetened breakfast to children. They play on your fears, desire to be thin (or muscular), the well being of your family. If you really loved you children, you'd buy them Jiff peanut butter. If you really care about your family, you'd buy the more expensive car with the better rated safety features, because you can't put a price on your family's safety.
Seriously, I think that your just trying to pick a fight here, like usual, matt.. It is common knowledge to everyone I know that advertisers hire psychologists to tell them how to make people spend on their product.
And I will not disagree with you at all about most everyones job involving some kind of encouragement to spend. That's why business is around. But I believe that sometimes businesses search for a way to have an unfair advantage. Once the shoe store of the near future, for example, bounces a signal, without my consent, from the RFID embedded in the pair of shoes I am wearing into their store, and then searches their extensive database for info on how many pair of shoes I have bought in the past and where I buy them and how much I spend on them and if I have children that I buy shoes for and who much I spend on them and how often i buy them, and then try to use that info to TRY to ANNOYINGLY talk me into buying more shoes, than yes, that is an unfair advantage...And that is just the tip of the iceberg.
Wait, isn't this CoasterBuzz?
*** Edited 7/10/2007 3:30:47 AM UTC by dexter***
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