Originally Posted By Manfried There is a point, however, when a person like Al loses touch with the changing times, kind of like his key source. Al swore that a new Lincoln attraction would have them waiting in long lines to see it. He helped his source get it re-installed. The bottom line? No one goes in, and it was the final nail in his source's "retirement" this year.
Originally Posted By danyoung >ORDDU: Actually, there IS an Al Lutz. My sisters and I have met him, personally...< I'm not sure I'm willing to accept the word of a mythical Witches character on the reality of Al Lutz . . .
Originally Posted By Dabob2 Al was never a lone voice in the wilderness. I remember him from all the way back to the days of ADD, and he was never saying anything that dozens of us weren't also saying. He did create a website, give him that. But a little perspective here; he ain't John the Baptist. Al is okay, but he does tend to see Disney execs with either a black hat or a white hat, which is probably the most annoying thing about him after his writing style. Everyone's either a savior or a devil.
Originally Posted By Yookeroo "Al has undoubtedly been a major force in shaming the WDC into changing their ways in relation to their parks." You're not serious, are you? Although I'm sure Lutz believes that.
Originally Posted By TP2000 The bad publicity, fueled for years by Lutz, helped quite a bit. Even if all he did was annoy the heck out of bozos like Pressler and Cynthia Harriss, then he did an important job.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt The single biggest and most tangible reaction from Disney to Al, along with other fan bloggers, was the Disney Parks Blog. Disney was tardy to the party, but they've done a pretty decent job overall of controlling the message online with that site. Consider the difference between the way the plans for DCA 2.0 was communicated online by Disney compared with the original park over a decade ago when the bloggers and online community were ripping the place apart with barely a peep from Disney. It was a mess.
Originally Posted By Jim in Merced CA ^^^Excellent point, Hans. Disney most certainly did NOT have control over the California Adventure message. Even their own commercials, with Buzz Lightyear 'peeking' over the hedges into the new park, were stupid. And the billboards in So Cal 'Are you Mouse Enough?' -- totally stupid.
Originally Posted By DlandDug >>Even their own commercials, with Buzz Lightyear 'peeking' over the hedges into the new park, were stupid.<< What's odd about that is that the ad campaign was very carefully crafted to avoid the debacle that Universal had gone through with the debut of Islands of Adventure. It seems their message was muddled, and many guests were furious when they discovered that all those wonderful new attractions were not part of Universal Florida. So Disney came up with a campaign to emphasize that DCA was NOT a part of Disneyland, but was "just next door." Hence, all the characters spying on the "new park" on the other side of the hedge.
Originally Posted By FerretAfros I thought that the Universal campaign was perfectly clear, as someone who was in their target audience living in an area that had a ton of air time for their ads. What wasn't so great was the "Universal Escape" tagline, which made it sound like you could never leave, rather than an escape from your normal life. I never got to experience the glory of DCA's original ad campaign, but what I've seen of it online looks average at best.
Originally Posted By sjhym333 I always hated the Universal Escape tag line. It was always one of those things that made me think...didn't anyone in the advertising dept hear how stupid it is? Disney was very late to the internet/social media game. In fact I remember when Disney refused to court or invite websites like LP to their events. I know that several fan sites worked hard over a couple of years to convince Disney of the importance of their presence as not only a fan site but as a place that people went for Disney information.
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance I don't think marketing depts and advertising execs are human. Half the stuff that gets past them are usually beyond me. Did you ever see the little guy that is the symbol for Hertz car sales? It looks like a characterized lemon. FOR A CAR SALES COMPANY YOU CHOSE A CARTOON LEMON!?!?!?!?!?!?!?
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Here he is.... <a href="http://goldplus.hertz.co.uk/images/home/horatio.png" target="_blank">http://goldplus.hertz.co.uk/im...atio.png</a>
Originally Posted By CuriousConstance Ever wonder who gave the green light for this new Ken character in this new Barbie animated movie? <a href="http://images4.fanpop.com/image/photos/16100000/Barbie-a-fairy-secret-barbie-a-fairy-secret-16138211-327-450.jpg" target="_blank">http://images4.fanpop.com/imag...-450.jpg</a>
