People who know me, know I can be a little impulsive. I get my mind set on something and I tend to dive into whatever "that" is and try to wrap my head around till I feel as if I can hold my own in any conversation around whatever the topic is.
I know this is kinda weird but in some ways it best describes me and how my mind works.
The current thing I have been burning brain calories on is "news"....and when I say I have been thinking of news I mean how news works and not just how many ladies are becoming instant millionaires thanks in part to the media and Tiger Woods.
When I do obsess over these topics I usually find some silly fact in my head that may be true or not and begin my journey. So in the case of news I have always been fascinated by the fact that when Abraham Lincoln was killed it took almost a month for the news to reach most of the population.
Jumping forward but staying with the theme of Presidential tragedies, On November 22, 1963, a nation huddled around a single news source to learn from Walter Cronkite that at 1pm CST - 2pm EST President Kennedy passed away. At the time this was as close to real time news as possible.
Now, thanks to Michael Jackson and Tiger Woods we are learning that news is instantaneous and people are growning accustomed to receiving it right away. No longer is there a single trusted source or even a handful of trusted sources. Citizen journalism can be as accurate (and faster) as major news outlets and don't even get me started on the how TMZ has changed what a "Breaking Story" actually means.
An interesting example (at least I think so) is recently Lady Gaga preformed a concert in Toronto and had restricted media from this performance (she might be doing this for the whole tour but I only know about the Toronto show for sure) and while there was no formal media there was still more chatter then any show would receive a year or so ago because people were posting twitter reviews of each individual song as well as almost real time You Tube clips from the show. Now I realize that Lady Gaga is not hard core news but the fact that people not able to attend the show could still experience the show in close to real time is a powerful shift in the way news will be delivered in the not so distant future.
I am a few days late on this announcement but surprisingly I didn't see much pickup on it so I am going to blog about this now as if it was two days ago.......so here goes.
Any regular reader of this bloggie blog know that I love movies. I used to think I would only be happy working for a fancy pants movie studio (even though I am very happy doing what I am doing now)and because of my passion for this stuff I follow the industry news reasonably closely.
Well today (remember I said we are pretending) I came across an announcement that Cineplex Entertainment (the largest movie theater chain in Canada) is moving forward to revolutionize the movie going experience .
According to their press release "Cineplex will unveil some impressive out-of-home entertainment extras. The new amenities and services at the 12-screen, 45,000-square-foot movie complex include bowling, billiards, babysitting and VIP auditoriums.
The chain's aim is nothing short of "revolutionizing the entertainment landscape in Canada," says Cineplex president/CEO Ellis Jacob. "This is a true entertainment complex like no other, with something for guests of all ages to enjoy. It is the next generation in theater entertainment, with many new amenities and services all under one roof."
Taking this on face value I think this is a cool idea and it is something I suggested a while back but I wonder if this will work the way they are counting on it to.
I say this because as someone who loves movies I actually have absolutely no complaints about the movie going experience. If I had my way I would only see films in the theater and only watch films at home that are not available any where else.......so why am I skeptical about this announcement?
Because going to the movies is about spending a lot of money. This is not just a perception but a reality. Concessions are out of hand and a single ticket is actually less then getting a hot dog and a large drink. In my humble opinion I think movie chains would benefit a great deal from making films and concessions more reasonable instead of offering us more ridiculously overpriced forms of food and entertainment.
So you are probably asking yourself how I know that these new options will be over priced and the answer is..............I don't! But my perception (and this is their brand because all good marketers know that your company brand isn't what you think it is but rather what others think it is) is that all stuff by this chain is over priced and expensive.
Anyway here is the full list of all the new stuff going into the theater
• The Backlot family entertainment centre has six lanes of bowling, a licensed lounge with appetizer menu offerings, two party rooms and a games room with the latest interactive video games and billiards;
• VIP Experience (for ages 19 and up only) with three auditoriums featuring reserved seating, in-seat service and a licensed lounge with appetizer menu offerings, private box office, concession stand and premium seats;
• Cineplex Kids Club child-minding services staffed by the YMCA of Oakville for parents and caregivers while they watch movies;
• Canada's largest digital cinema system with nine cutting-edge projectors delivering razor-sharp images;
• FastLane Service allowing guests to order food and beverages at an automated kiosk and then proceed to the FastLane counter to pick them up;
• XTRAS - a retail store offering DVDs, CDs, books, magazines and movie collectibles including posters, action figures and T-shirts. (again I need to pat myself on the back because I thought of this along time ago)
Check out this news report to see just how far I will go!
-saul
p.s. I will post something real interesting later
