Helvetica - The Documentary

While sifting through documentaries to watch for class my roommate and I were immediately attracted to Helvetica since we're both Integrated Marketing Communications majors. First, I was blown away by how widely Helvetica is used. I guess I was more surprised by the fact that I never noticed. I’ve spent my fair share of time sifting through fonts but somehow I never seemed to notice the most popular one all around me. I guess that is the beauty of Helvetica. It is so unassuming and simple.

It is interesting the phases that design goes through. You can look at logos and ads and just know what decade they were made in. Helvetica is very clearly attached to the 60s and 70s. In the 80s/90s bold, blocky type was popular and now lowercase, softer designs are all the rage. The image to the left shows the change in two logos. UPS has kept the lowercase but changed to a little softer font. The image is shinier, with a more modern feel overall. At&t went with the lowercase trend and slightly changed their logo to a less “digital” looking ball, away from the IBM type of logo.

The Pepsi logo since the 60s has had the same general feel with red, white and blue circle, but small aspects of the logo have changed regularly to keep up with changing ideas of how logos should feel. They originally started with a script font. That was very common at the time. Coca cola used it and has stuck with it. The change to a simpler font for Pepsi is around the time that Helvetica became very popular. It’s no coincidence. Pepsi probably wanted a fresh feel that all other companies were moving towards.

Fandango Mobile App

Fandango understood the dot com boom and had an innovative idea that took the hassle out of going to the movies.  With Fandango there is no more standing in line or worrying about a show selling out.  From the comfort of your home you can buy and print tickets to a movie that night or later in the week.  Once you get to the theatre there’s no waiting you can just walk right in.

Fandango was a lifesaver when it came to HUGE box office hits like Harry Potter; where if you did not buy tickets the week or even day they went on sale you were not seeing this movie for another month after it came out.

Fandango is not the only company to offer this service.  Movietickets.com also offers the same service and actually has a name that makes more sense when a customer would be searching for this service. So how did Fandango become the go-to site for movie tickets?  When Fandango first launched they had great TV ads with paper bag puppets that got the fandango name associated with movie tickets online.

Fandango as a website has been very successful.  With the emergence of the mobile technology, Fandango understood the importance of having a presence in this market as well.  All the convenience of Fandango gets even more accessible when consumers can use Fandango on their phones.  Now you can be anywhere, and if you decide you want to see a movie it’s no problem to just check your phone and buy some tickets.  Maybe you’re on a date that’s going well want it to keep going.  Through the mobile app consumers can browse movies, find a theater, view trailers and purchase tickets.  The Fandango app also connects with Facebook so you can share with your friends what you saw, and what you thought about it.

Fandango as a site has a very broad target audience.  The range of movies offered attracts customers of all ages.  The mobile app will have a little more defined target audience mostly because the smart phone users are a smaller target audience.  Mobile apps in general are targeted to younger users about 18-35.  The Fandango mobile app will have a similar target audience of about 18-35, specially focusing on high school and college students because they have to disposable income and time to go see movies.

The Fandango mobile app makes a lot of sense and is very convenient for users, but execution is key.  The reviews for the Fandango app are pretty mixed.  Some users thought it was great and had no problems using it, but other reviews said that the app crashed whenever you tried to use it.  A glitch like this could turn loyal customers to use a competitor’s mobile app.

Movietickets.com also has a mobile app, but it is only available for the iphone and blackberry, where as Fandango’s app is available on all smart phones and the ipad.  The Movie tickets mobile app is not as well developed as Fandango’s.  The features offered by the Movie tickets mobile app is not as extensive as Fandango’s.

Criticism or Copyright Infringement?

Lamebook is a blog that parodies Facebook.  The site posts funny pictures, typos and interesting statuses.  Users submit all the material posted.  Last names and pictures are blurred to preserve the identity of those being shamed.  Content can also be removed upon request.  Lamebook is a great procrastination site and really has no other value than wasting time; nonetheless I believe that the creators should be allowed to continue their site.  Lamebook is currently in a legal battle with Facebook over first amendment rights.

Facebook is very protective of their identity.  In March 2010, Facebook sent a cease and desist letter to Lamebook.  Cease and desist letters are commonly sent by Facebook to sites that use the “book” suffix or “face” prefix.  Facebook claimed that Lamebook was violating copyright and demanded the site be shut down.  The cease and desist letter combated Lamebook’s claim of parody because they do not provide actual commentary.

            On November 4^th 2010, in an unusual move, Lamebook decided to take action and sued Facebook before they could get a chance.  In a statement on lamebook.com the creators believe that Facebook likes to pick on the “little guy” and Lamebook is here to stand up for little guys everywhere! (I mean I’m paraphrasing a little but this is the gist I got).   Lamebook has turned to their readers to help fight the “multi-billion dollar behemoth” Facebook.  Readers have the opportunity donate to the “legal fund” to support the ongoing lawsuit. (http://www.lamebook.com/donate)

An email response from Facebook said “We’re disappointed that after months of working with Lamebook they have turned to litigation. We believe their website is an improper attempt to trade off of Facebook’s popularity and fame and we will continue to protect our brand and trademark.”  Lamebook believes Facebook just doesn’t have a sense of humor.

Fair use clearly covers criticism but the deciding factoring in this case is going to be whether the courts believe that Lamebook is parody.  This case is still in litigation and I suspect we won't hear an outcome any time soon.


Personally, I believe Lamebook has a right to continue using content from Facebook.  Although I may be partial to Lamebook, the blog really does not take any money away from Facebook, in fact it actually encourages users to find content by browsing Facebook.


Here's the article's I used to help me write this article: 
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-09/facebook-sues-lamebook-parody-site-for-alleged-u-s-trademark-infringement.html
http://www.avclub.com/austin/articles/lamebook-sues-facebook-explains-why,47290/ (An onion article because of course they understand parody)

A Case Study on Euro Disney (for int'l mkgt)

           Disney theme parks are enormously successful in the United States.  Families flock there at all times of the year.  Disney’s best customers are repeat customers.[1]  When Tokyo Disneyland opened in 1983, it was more popular than Disney ever imagined.[2]  With one foot in to the international area, Disney decided to conquer Europe.  They scouted out possible locations and decided on an area outside of Paris, France.  The deciding factors that led to France were available space, convenient location in Europe, and possibly most encouraging support from the French government.[3]

            Disney was optimistic about the success of Euro Disney and they spent lavish amounts constructing the park.  The location was prime with 310 million Europeans just a 2 hour flight away; Disney expected to make over $100 million in their first year.[4]  Almost $3 billion was spent on the park and surrounding hotels.  The castle was built with extra attention to fit with its European background (where actual castles can be found).

            With all this hype who would expect the enormous losses Euro Disney suffered in its first year?  The park lost over $900 million, not even close to the expected $100 million profit.  Were there signs that Disney missed?  Looking back on the sentiment of the French during the construction of the park, Disney should have been more careful.  A criticism from Ariane Mnouchkine, a Paris theater director, described Euro Disney as “a cultural Chernobyl.”[5]

            Disney also did not account for European vacation habits.  Most Europeans are not willing to take their children out of school for a trip to Disney.  Instead families take month long vacations in the summer.  Factories and business even shut down to allow employees to take these vacations.[6]  Families did visit Euro Disney, but only as a pit stop on the way to their final vacation spot.  And probably most detrimental is that families spent less time in at the park than predicted.  While American families spend 3-4 days at the parks, the average stay at Euro Disney was only 1-2 days.[7]  A slumping economy also kept guests from visiting the park in the first place.

            After a bailout of Euro Disney parent company, Disney.  The new park started to make some adjustments to attract the European audience.  The park name went through some changes and ultimately became Disneyland Paris.  Park prices were lowered and hotel prices were cut by 30%.[8]  A new marketing plan targeted individual countries in advertisements.  In 2001, Walt Disney Studios Theme Park was added to Disneyland Paris.  This new addition was designed with the French audience in mind, and could accommodate conventions which were always more profitable than expected. With the new additions and refocused marketing plan Disneyland Paris started turning a profit and now attracts more guests than the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre combined.[9] 

            After years of trial and error in Europe, was Disney ready to start another park?  Plans for Hong Kong Disneyland began in the early 2000s.  This time around park designers took special care to accommodate Chinese guests.  A feng shui master was consulted during construction.  Disney was more successful in Hong Kong but they did make some big cultural mistakes, similar to Euro Disney.  Original commercials advertising the park feature a family with 2 kids.[10]  Really Disney? It didn’t come up in research that Chinese are only allowed one child?

Lack of Research

            Euro Disney was a huge investment for the Disney Corporation.  So when the park was unsuccessful it became an even bigger failure.  The park lost money in the first couple of year, and interest on their debt was only growing.  How could Disney have missed the mark this badly?  Could this have been prevented?  In examining the major downfalls of the park, it seems that Euro Disney could have benefited from better research.

            Tokyo Disneyland found enormous success in Japan.  The park in Tokyo has very little differences from the American Magic Kingdoms.  Tokyo’s success with like change from the American parks might have led Disney executives to the misguided belief that cultural differences would not affect the success of Euro Disney.  But Tokyo and Paris have some pretty critical differences.  Tokyo not only has a higher concentrated population surrounding the park but the average income is higher.[11]  Probably the biggest difference is that Japan, as a country, tends to embrace American culture much more readily than the French.

            The cold winters on Paris were identified as a potential problem but when asked in a meeting if Europeans would be willing to stand in the cold a Disney executive simply stated, “The Japanese do.”[12]  Japanese and Paris winters vary greatly.  Paris has 3 times as many rainy days.  And the average highs during winter are 5 degrees warmer in Tokyo than in Paris.[13] 

            When opening a vacation destination it seems obvious to understand the vacation habits of the target audience.  This is by far the biggest oversight of Euro Disney.  A simple survey could have clued Disney executives in and possibly have changed their minds about ever entering Europe.  Europeans take month long summer vacations every year.  This is drastically different than American habits.  In Europe, factories and businesses shut down for the whole month to allow for family vacations. Unlike Americans, European parents are not willing to take their children away from school for a mid-year trip to Disneyland. [14] 

            Disney executives also did not have a grasp of how Europeans spent their money.  Because European vacations are longer, they tend to spend their money more modestly.  Guests are not as thrilled about superfluous spending on souvenirs, and extravagant meals at the parks.   The prices at Euro Disney were set higher than the American parks.  The European economy slump that paralleled the parks opening could not have been as easily predicted as other factors.  But between the economy lull, airfare wars, and lower prices in the states, it was actually cheaper to make a trip to Walt Disney World than to visit Euro Disney.[15]  An added bonus of Walt Disney World is the warm Florida weather and easily accessible beaches.

            A combination of bad weather, schools being in session and preference for long summer vacation, Euro Disney suffered very low attendance during the winter months.  Disney had predicted much higher attendance than the park ever saw but where were these predictions coming from?  It seems logical that a society that enjoys long summer vacations, and values education were never planning on changing their lifestyle just because Disney appeared.

French Aversion to American Culture

            French culture is rich and the French people take a lot of pride in.  Paris is host to the Louvre, one of the largest museums in the world.  As Spencer puts it, “The French, in general, harbor a modicum of hostility toward American culture.”[16]  The French press waged its war against Disney in time leading up to the park’s opening.  Michael Serres, a French scholar, was explicit about the damage he thought Disney would cause to French culture.  One essay by Serres “If we’re not careful, we will soon lose our philosophical language and even our language for raising our children.”[17] Serres was not alone in this point of view.  Marc Lambron, a French commentator, compared Disney to Marxism and feared that Disney movies and characters would replace classic French literature.  An image of Mona Lisa with Mickey Mouse ears might amuse American but disgracing this revered painting offends the French.[18]  Disney is the epitome of mass consumerism, which the French finds as a detriment to their civilization.

            Disney entered France with and purpose and their attitude only succeeded in push the French people farther away.  The people of Marne-la-Vallee (the location of Euro Disney) were never consulted about park developments.  Not only were they not involved in negotiations; they were not even kept informed.  Local officials took it upon themselves to form an association to get some answers.[19]

            Environment concerns were raised about Disney constructing a huge park in Marne-la-Vallee.  Local ecologist worried about the “threat of irreparable damage to the region.”[20]  And farmers staged protests about the environment impact.[21]  Disney did not address any of these concerns and continued with construction, further alienating the French people.

The Next Frontier

Disney is always expanding and they are going to be looking to open more parks throughout the world.  So where to next?  How about a new continent?  The next Disneyland should be in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in South America.  Brazil’s economy is the largest in South America and has been steadily improving since 2003.  Brazil was one of the first economies to recover from the 2008 recession.[22]

Brazil’s economy will only continue to grow in the coming years.  In 2014, Brazil is hosting the FIFA world cup, which put Brazil at the center of the global stage.[23]  Then in 2016, Brazil is will once again play host but this time for the Olympics.[24]  Both these international events will put Brazil in the spotlight and increase tourism. 

Disney will not run into the weather issues that plagued Disneyland Paris.  Brazil has warm weather and beaches for guests to enjoy all year long.  Another potential problem is the high poverty level in Brazil and bordering South American countries.  The new park would help create jobs to alleviate high unemployment rates, hopefully helping to boost the economy even further.

A Rio de Janeiro Disneyland could be a very risky option considering poverty rates in South American.  But with Brazil’s growing economy it might just be the perfect time for Disney to invest.

---

[1] “Disney Traditions” Disney University, Orlando, FL. February 5, 2008

[2] Spencer, Earl P. “Educator Insights: Euro Disney- What Happened? What Next?” Journal of International Marketing Vol. 3, No. 3, 1995, pp.103-114

[3] Amine, Lyn S. PhD. “The Not-So-Wonderful World of Euro Disney- Things are better now at Paris Disneyland” International Marketing. MKGT 38000/ 14^th Ed.

[4]  Amine, Lyn S. PhD. 382

[5] Amine, Lyn S. PhD. 382

[6] Amine, Lyn S. PhD. 383

[7] Amine, Lyn S. PhD. 383

[8] Amine, Lyn S. PhD. 383

[9] Amine, Lyn S. PhD. 384

[10] Amine, Lyn S. PhD. 385

[11] Spencer, Earl P. 106

[12] Spencer, Earl P. 106

[13] Spencer, Earl P. 106

[14] Amine, Lyn S. PhD. 383

[15] Amine, Lyn S. PhD. 382

[16] Spencer, Earl P. 111

[17] Forman, Janis “Corporate Image and the Establishment of Euro Disney: Mickey Mouse and the French Press” Technical Communication Quarterly Vol. 7, No. 3. 1998, pp. 247-258

[18] Forman, Janis 249

[19] Forman, Janis 250

[20] Forman, Janis 251

[21] Spencer, Earl P. 107

[22] Central Intelligence Agency The World Factbook: Brazil. www.cia.gov

[23] 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil www.fifa.com

[24] Rio 2016 http://mobile.rio2016.com.br/

Pandora: A Web 2.0 Company Profile

Pandora was started by the Music Genome Project.  To understand Pandora’s website and capabilities it is important to understand the Music Genome Project.  The Music Genome Project was started by Will Glaser and Tim Westergren in an effort to “capture the essence of music at the fundamental level.”  They evaluate songs based on many different attributes and group songs together based on how alike they sound.

When using Pandora you can start with your favorite song or artist and Pandora will create a special station that combines your favorite artist with others of a similar sound.  In this way Pandora uses mass customization by allowing users to each create stations based on their musical preferences.  Once you create a station you can alter it by liking certain songs, telling Pandora you don’t like other songs by hitting the thumbs up or thumbs down you can see on the screen shot.  

You can even say you’re tired of some songs and Pandora will put that song on the self for a while.  In the menu you can find out why this particular song was chosen for you.  Another great feature is that you can combine stations. My favorite study station is a mixed of Disney and Jason Mraz; this station can be upbeat showtunes but also mixes in some awesome pop rock.

The awesome technology that decides which music I like is a great example of the Semantic web that Tim Berners-Lee talks about.  Originally it was a group of people that find the attributes of each song but that was turned into a computer program that allows each user to have their own original stations. This technology is crucial is provided the mass customized experience for members.

It is clear the Music Genome Project is a great idea but great idea isn’t always a profitable one.  In this video from the Colbert Report, Westergren talks about Pandora turning a profit for the first time ever in 2009.  This is extremely important in a digital age.  It is very important that Pandora be able to earn a profit while retaining users.  A major attraction for users is that Pandora offers a free membership.  The free membership comes with disadvantages.  There are ads played similar to a AM/FM radio station by way less often.  Subscribers have the option to avoid ads by paying for their membership.  This article in from the New York Times also discusses the great fortune Pandora has experienced by surviving while so many other web 2.0 companies have failed.

Wikinomics Principles: 

Openness- The technology used to determine which songs we hear on Pandora is not shared with customers or competition but Pandora has teamed up with OpenLaszlo to bring us music. OpenLaszlo is an open source platform that powers the Pandora media player. 

Peering- Pandora is a mix of a traditional hierarchical business and peering.  Pandora itself uses traditional hierarchy to run all the business aspects of the site.  The Music Genome Project, on the other hand, follows a peering model. Everyone works together to break down songs to understand their “genome” which is then added and compared to all the other songs that have been researched.

Sharing- Although the Music Genome Project does not share their technology they have gathered together music from all over and allowed their users to share with each other.  They have had to work with the music industry to gain access to all the music that the stie has to offer.

Pandora also allows users to interact with other users.  Members can share stations that they have created with each other.  Connecting with other friends is set-up through Facebook.  By partnering with Facebook, Pandora

Acting Globally- Pandora has only recently started turning a profit so the site has not expanded globally.  Currently the site is only accessible to computers in the United States.  As the site grows I’m sure they will take their innovative internet radio to the rest of the world.  Pandora has already started making alliances that will helped them make a global transition.  Pandora has teamed with iTunes and Amazon to allow users to buy music they hear on Pandora.