Never a Lack of Ideas

This is the second of two posts on the psychology of illusions. Read the first post here . I hate waiting. I'll bet you do, too. My vision of hell involves waiting in a long line that never ends. Smart marketers know people hate to wait, so they create illusions to trick us into thinking that we're not waiting. Theme parks have gotten really good at this. These days, every major new ride created at a theme park includes things to see and do right in the line. Example: Touring Hogwarts When Universal Studios Islands of Adventure opened its Wizarding World of Harry Potter park in 2010, my wife, sister, and I were among the first to visit. We happily waited in line for nearly two hours to ride the main attraction: Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey. Why were we happy to wait in line? Because it took us on an awesome tour through Hogwarts. In each room we waited, magical things happened to us. The Sorting Hat sang us a song. Harry, Hermione, and Ron cast spells i...

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...

My sister and I just visited the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Studio Tour outside of London and we came back with the greatest souvenir these two Harry Potter fans could ever own: videos of ourselves flying on brooms, just like in the Harry Potter books and movies. YES!!!! Enjoy the video above . I've shown it to my wife and kids many, many times. It's time you saw it, too. As a marketer, I love this souvenir because it's something that visitors will take and show to people after their trip. Maybe you didn't even know that Warner Brothers kept two of its Harry Potter studios open after filming ended and that you can now tour them if you can get to Watford, England. But now you do, and that's because I've shared this video with you. I paid for a copy of this video and now I'm telling all my friends about the studio. Incredible. And this souvenir is so much better than just a t-shirt; it shows my friends exactly what they'll get to do if the...

Best Brands in the Land Happy Halloween! In what will hopefully become an annual tradition, I present to you my list of the top ten brands in the United States. To create this list, I relied heavily upon my opinion of the general perception of each brand versus its competitors, and how much of a premium the brand can charge because of that perception. I didn't get hung up on revenue data or market share numbers — I just went with what I see and hear every day and threw in my own opinion from a marketer's point of view. Here's my list, starting with the best brand in the land: Victoria's Secret — The brand became a household name by charging a premium for products that very few people see when worn; and then turned that brand equity into a complete line of clothing. Google — Do you use any other search engine? I'll bet you've even used the word "Google" as a verb. Apple — The iPod, iTunes, and iPhone have defined their categories. Facebook — The d...

Florida or Bust Orlando, Florida is the only place on Earth in which you can buy a glass of official Butterbeer, the imaginary drink that author J.K. Rowling wrote about in each of the seven Harry Potter books. You can only buy Butterbeer at Universal Studio's " Wizarding World of Harry Potter " exhibit, part of Universal's "Islands of Adventure" theme park. Rowling was personally involved with the creation of the recipe for Butterbeer. Certainly, she and her business partners had offers to license the product and sell it online and in stores around the world, but she declined all offers in an attempt to make the theme park the only place in which the drink can be bought. In doing so, Universal Studios has created exclusivity for Butterbeer. If you want some, you're going to have to go to Orlando to get it. If You Brew It, They Will Come Having a product or service that is exclusive to your business is a very powerful word of mouth marketing tool. It gi...

A Wizard Invasion Until September, the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago is home to Harry Potter: The Exhibition. It features thousands of props, costumes, and sets from the first six Harry Potter movies. Die-hard fans will appreciate the gift shop at the end of the exhibit that offers many Harry Potter collectibles that I’ve never seen before. Some of the notable items available at the gift shop are: A custom-made wizard chessboard for $400. Replica Quiddich brooms starting at $300. A replica Marauder’s Map for $50. As you can see, there are some high-priced items available in the gift shop, but it lacks creative, personalized items. All that was Missing was Me (and You) The gift shop is missing a great opportunity to make a lot more money and to offer exhibition visitors the opportunity to go home with a truly unique souvenir. The gift shop should offer families the chance to dress up as characters from the Harry Potter movies and pose for a photograph. But not just any pho...

Conjuring up the Spectacular The Harry Potter edition of the classic board game Clue is fantastic because it exceeded my expectations. Even fans of Clue who have never read a Harry Potter book or seen a movie will enjoy this new take on the game because it’s something new. It’s original. A Major Makeover Parker Brothers, the game’s manufacturer, could have simply created a Clue game in which: the suspects are characters from the Harry Potter series the weapons are spells the rooms are located in Hogwarts – the school for witchcraft and wizardry That would have been enough to sell the game to thousands of Harry Potter fans, but Clue fans wouldn’t have been excited about the game. Parker Brothers chose to go above and beyond a simple facelift of the game, and they actually spent time thinking about how to improve the game by adding twists from the Harry Potter series. The resulting game is more fun to play than the original Clue, and will sell far better than the simple facelift would...