The cynics said that we would protect our privacy at all costs.
The doubters waved their arms and said that there wasn’t anything to entice us in large numbers to join and see value in permission-based programs run by brands. We will be spammed, they foolishly predicted.
The doomsday gang said that we are all too busy to notice calls to action that ask us to do something.
Wrong.
Wrong.
And wrong.
In the most eye-opening permission-based wireless success to date, Disney World has enticed more than half of its 18.6 million annual park visitors to use its MagicBand wearable device and the accompanying app to, as Wired put it, “skip long lines, preorder food, and charge purchases to their Disney resort room. And it kind of feels … fun.” http://www.wired.com/2014/09/design-package-2014/
Fun. And of value to the masses. Here today, not something that you can only find in Fantasyland.
“The things you want to do at the park all become the family's mission,” says Tom Staggs, Disney's chair of parks and resorts, told Wired. “Being able to lock that mission in de-stresses your whole vacation.”
And there’s value all along the journey, making the Happiest Place on Earth even happier.
According to Wired, visitors use an app to pre-select three rides for which they can enter express lines. Taking into account ride availability and proximity, the app plots those choices into itinerary options. The app also offers updates on wait times for every ride. Disney had sped up entry into the park by 25% by created V-shaped gates that all viewers to walk side by side.
Visitors can use the app to reserve a table and select a meal at Be Our Guest. When a visitor with a MagicBand crosses the bridge to the restaurant, a host greets him or her by name and the kitchen is alerted to prepare the food. Sensors in the tables let the servers know where the patron is.
The lessons here? Some want their anonymity, but not many.
Wired reported that an RFID chip lets resort guests swipe their bands to pay at any register in Disney World, access express lines, and unlock their hotel room. Readers throughout the park flash the wearer's name so that employees can give personal greetings.
Disney has seemingly thought of everything. The battery in the band works for two years because it knows to go to sleep when the wearer leaves the park.
And the design of the band ensures that it fits every wrist.
It’s all sensible and valuable.
Many of those aforementioned naysayers claim that location-based services, including ones employing beacons, will be invasive and distributors of spam. I disagree. Disney showed that on Main Street and elsewhere a responsible marketing and customer service program puts a smile on one’s face much like a few minutes on Space Mountain.
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Article first appeared on imediaconnection.com http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2014/10/06/disney-proves-that-the-naysayers-belong-in-fantasyland/?imcid=nav
