Never a Lack of Ideas

Can't see the video? Click here . See more photos  here Today is opening day at Universal Studio's new theme park, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter – Diagon Alley . I don't understand why this isn't a national holiday! While I'm sad I'm not there today, I know I'll get there soon. And I'm still coming off the high of doing this just a few months ago. To promote the opening of the new park, Universal invited members of the media to an exclusive preview event a few weeks ago. A friend of mine scored an invite and she was kind enough to give me the invitation she received. Check it out in the video and photos. My friend was sad she couldn't make the event (and so was I!), but at least we have the cool invitation to drool over. Add This To Your To-Do List Grand opening events are huge for generating word of mouth and PR. If you're going to have an event like this, go big. This invitation is the perfect example of getting the detail...

Think Small   Many marketing professionals think bigger is better when it comes to printed marketing materials. I actually think the opposite. For several years I've been touting the "precious presence" when it comes to printed pieces. The idea is simple: people like to pick up small ("precious") brochures because they are less intimidating and invite the reader to handle with care. Of course, I don't have any actual research behind this theory, but I've seen it happen time and time again — people are intimidated to pick up giant brochures, envelopes, and unfamiliar magazines. Yet, people are happy to pick up and handle well-made, beautiful, small printed pieces. They have a bigger presence than their larger counterparts. The precious presence goes beyond just size, though. If you can include surprises into your small printed pieces like varying textures, page sizes, and page shapes, you will really begin to engage the reader. Add a pop-up f...

X Marks the Spot My co-worker recently went to Disney World. Before she left, she was able to log onto www.disneyworld.com and view detailed maps of all of Disney's theme parks. She was able to choose which attractions within each park were most appealing to her and then Disney's website built her a customized map based on her selections. After entering in some basic contact information, Disney mailed her complimentary custom maps (see the image on the right), which included: Her name at the top of the map, "The McMillan Family Guide to the Magic Kingdom" A list of the attractions that she said were most interesting Recommended attractions based on her selections Stickers to put on the map in order to identify her resort and additional appealing attractions The maps are beautiful and my co-worker's children, ages 5 and 3, loved them. The maps got her kids really excited to go to Disney and gave them a way to imagine what their experience at Disney would be like. ...