Comments on: The Ears Have It!

By: Drew McLellan

Drew McLellan — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:47:31 +0000

Jeanne,
Even though we know better — as marketers we sometimes forget that it is the little things that push a consumer’s experience from okay/normal to something they’ve got to talk about.
That was Walt’s brilliance. He understood that to be worthy of buzz, his parks could not be pretty clean — they had to be immaculate. His cast members couldn’t be friendly, they had to be aggressively friendly.
Every detail mattered to him. It could never be good enough. It had to be spectacular.
And as you say — that does not happen by accident.
Anyone who has stood at the foot of Main Street and watched a child look down the street and see the castle for the first time understands the absolute power of Walt’s wisdom.
I’m so glad you enjoyed the series.
Drew

By: jeanne bliss

jeanne bliss — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 04:00:33 +0000

Kudos to Drew. We all know that it takes a lot of well, (ears) to explain exactly what makes the magical kindgom magical.
Alot of people characterize Walt Disney as becoming maniacal at the end of his career. But in fact, he just became more specific. Pulling off a purposeful experience for customers down the the street signs, what people are called (cast members) and how people would feel when they first see the magical castle takes a lot of time. Walt was likely up day and night envisioning his dream and then took the time to be specific about how it was enacted.
Some might call that meniacal, I call it passionate. And Walt shares that passion with almost every leader who has gone on to build brands that customers love.
Because these brands, these experiences don’t happen on accident. Do you think Virgin Atlantic just happened? Do you think that the Mandarin Oriental’s experienc just happened? NO! Someone took the time to envision the experience…then found a way to inspire others to deliver it.
Bravo to Drew to helping us remember the master of pixie dust!

By: Drew McLellan

Drew McLellan — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 01:52:01 +0000

Gavin,
Thanks for the nod. Your point is on the money. We all hear many things. How often do we have the courage, vision and/or moxie to get up and take action.
That’s what we challenge our clients to do — get up and do something different! So, it seems only fitting that we should take some of our own advice.
Of course, the prospect of seeing CK in the ears was plenty of motivation!
Drew

By: CK

CK — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 21:05:26 +0000

Great article/angle Gavin. When I spotted Drew’s Series, and the dedication and time that went into it–on his family vacation, no less!–I just knew there was too great a risk of it not getting to the many people who could benefit from it. While we’re all reading and benefiting from blogs, most of the industry is just not reading them regularly.
Series such as Drew’s give us great promo pieces that can delight clients, prospects and colleagues. And yeah, sometimes you need to get a little silly. Whatever gets the job done .

By: Mario Vellandi

Mario Vellandi — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 20:00:12 +0000

Sweet deal on the PDF. I was going to offer to design one, but Drew took care of it well.
Nice job!

By: Cam Beck

Cam Beck — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:58:29 +0000

As it turns out, the use of the big ears for a “marketeer” is very funny AND poignant. Nice observation.