Dec. 18, 2023
What Taylor Swift Can Teach You About Storytelling
Taylor Swift is Time Person of the Year, and we discuss the parallels between her career and storytelling (“All great art is the art that sees you”). Philip referenceshttps://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/15/podcasts/the-daily/the-year-of-taylor-swift.html.
Taylor Swift is Time Person of the Year, and we discuss the parallels between her career and storytelling (“All great art is the art that sees you”). Philip references this episode from The Daily.
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From our studios in Los Angeles and
Tampa. This is Green Tag Theme Park
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in thirty. I'm Philip, and
as always I'm joined by my co host
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Scott Swinson, a Scott Swinson cretit
development. On Green Tager course, we
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review the week's top news in the
world of theme parks and we try and
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make it make sense to you.
And this week, Scott, I have
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a little bit of a stretch,
a little, a little it's almost in
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the notes. Phi. Okay,
all right, if you will bear with
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me, and I promise this is
not a way just to work in this
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story that I really like so or
maybe it is, but it's our show,
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so who cares? So right?
Well, yeah, and to be
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honest, I mean, just so
everybody knows Philip puts together the show notes.
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I just sit here and smile and
go uh huh and then share my
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opinions. So you know, Philip
does all the heavy lifting. So this
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is let's just if you don't like
this particular story, let's just say this
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is our way of saying thank you
Philip for doing all the heavy lifting for
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the show. All right, okay, so go on, uncle Philip,
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tell us a story. Okay,
here's the story. Taylor Swift has been
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named Time Person of the Year,
and there's been well from the watching from
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the business community. I have seen
a lot of people who criticize it as
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always and a lot of people who
agree and say, of course, like
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it should be like gravity, it's
obvious that there this was the thing that
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happened. And there's the story I'm
going to link to is actually from the
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New York Times, and it is
their story about the story of Time.
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And it's because the New York Times
one really gave gives a great, you
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know, full breadth of it and
really goes into the reasons why and whatnot.
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I don't want to go too much
into it, but I guess even
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I had not realized the kind of
you know, the extent of the economic
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impact and the extent of just the
impact around all this. And as I
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was listening to the story, I
couldn't help but think, oh, basically,
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Taylor has crafted a very strong brand
and IP and that's what it is.
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It's an IP and it's to me, it's just as strong clearly as
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something like a Disney I mean,
it's really showing that an individual person then
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through all the trials to gain back
ownership of her music and to gain back
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ownership of all the elements of it, and to make multiple revenue streams and
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multiple ways for fans to access it, even as Disney breaking into streaming,
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you know, streaming the concert series. I mean, it's everything we talk
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about here on the show. It's
like gaining control doing original content, gaining
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control of that content directly, and
then distributing it in live interactive concert serieses
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that sell out and crash ticket systems
all over the world. I mean,
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to the fact, to the I
didn't even realize to the point where one
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of their shows so many people were
moving at once it caused a minor earthquake
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that registered on this scale. And
I didn't realize that world leaders have been
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lobbying Taylor to come to their countries
because she has such an economic impact it
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would help them save off a recession
just with her coming to the country.
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And then just the idea of that
we've been talking about, where you create
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that and then you do in person
experiences, and then you create streaming experiences
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and take that content and push it
out. So I think it's a really
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good when looked at it, and
that that's my argument when you look at
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it in that lens, and there
are the New York Times reporter that did
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the story has two great lines that
I want to throw to Scott because I
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think these two things are something we
can learn from. First, the reporter
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is trying to explain why she thinks
that this has worked as an ip when
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other people have not. You know, other people you know are still pop
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stars, whereas Taylor is a whole
experience. Right, So she says two
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things. One, it's specificity that
we've been missing from our songs, and
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that all great art is art that
sees you. And I I think that
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really hit home to me as a
note of like, oh yes, something
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that is so specific that it sees
you resonates with people much more greatly.
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And then it reminded me of how
Scott as a scriptwriter, right, We're
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always writing these shows, and I
feel like the push always for the shows
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at parks and just are It's like
the theme parks in total. The push
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for them all is what we just
talked about last show, which was pushing
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to a general audience. And that
is the opposite of making specific art that
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resonates with people is making art for
general audiences. So I'm wondering, Scott,
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what you think about all of that, just the whole thing, and
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do we need to potentially be more
specific when we are even though you know,
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theme parks and attractions are general audience
endeavor, do we need to be
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more specific to people and get away
from this whole like we're just going to
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have Christmas. That's Christmas. Well
Christmas, So I have to I want
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to take half a step So there's
a bunch of things to unpack here.
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Yes, welcome to my ted talk, Thank you for coming exactly exactly,
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but I want to take half a
step back. And first of all,
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let's talk about what Time person of
the Year is. Time person of the
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Year is not oh, the best
person of the year. I mean,
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let's face it, Vladimir Putin was
a former Time Person of the Year,
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so you know, as was as
was Bill Clinton, as was Obama,
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as was you during the Information age, you know, I mean there there.
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So this is basically who has impacted
the world on a level that is
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well brand worthy, that is that
is uh, you know, monumental.
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So so let's let's first of all
put this into perspective that that time magazine
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is not saying that Taylor Swift is
the be all and end all of humanity.
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That is, that is not the
case. So and then to take
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it as you were saying, Philip, she is a She is a brand.
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The Taylor Swift machine is a brand, and it is a brand that
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has swept a has swept the middle
of the demographic by storm. I'm going
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to say this because in all,
in all transparency, I'm not a Taylor
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Swift fan. I recognize when I
see the live performances or see video of
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the live performances, because I won't
go. But when I see the videos
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of the live performances, I recognize, this is a phenomenon. This is
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the level of This is the level
of the Beatles, and this is the
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level of more recently Madonna, I
guess, except Taylor's not pissing off her
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her core audience, but this is
this is the level where she has created
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I'm gonna now, I'm going to
dive into your specificity quote. She's created
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the illusion of specificity. She has
found a way to tap into such a
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mass market and make it feel like
she's talking just to me. But when
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you're sitting there in a stadium filled
with people who the only reason they got
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to go is because they happened to
win out in a lottery. That's a
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while. That is not specificity.
That is not specificity. That's really incredibly
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well crafted storytelling because it creates the
illusion and it's to be honest, you
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know, to make the connection back
to the theme park industry. It's what
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Disney has done. You know.
In the Golden Age, everybody, everybody
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felt like you know, everybody felt
like the story of Bambie was just about
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them. Everyone felt that the Little
Mermaid was just spoke to them frozen.
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There are tons of sisters I know
who said, oh, they finally told
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our story. No, they told
a story that resonated with you. And
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that is actually more difficult than just
telling a good story to finding to have
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your finger on the pulse of what
is going to resonate and make people feel
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as though it is specific it is
targeted to them, and have billions of
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people around the world feel that is
either incredibly well crafted or incredibly timely or
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just playing dumb luck, you know, I mean, it is, it
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is and probably a combination of all
three. It's probably a combination of all
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three. You know again, I
go back to looking at persons of the
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Year from Time magazine caregivers during Ebola, and by putting that out there and
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out in front of people, resonated
with everyone. I also, in my
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slightly cynical manner, want to point
out that Time magazine is out to sell
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Time magazines. So by saying that
Taylor Swift is the person of the Year,
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there is a huge, massive amount
of people who are going to be
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like, well, I have to
have that magazine. I'm going to subscribe,
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I'm going to follow, I'm going
to read, I'm going to at
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least talk about and there is a
pretty substantial group that will say, oh
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my god, I can't believe it's
Taylor Swift. Yeah. Well, yeah,
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they already have because because so what
they're what they've done is they've gotten
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everybody to talk about it, which
is I will I will be completely honest.
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Had you not put this in the
show notes, I never would have
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read the article. Yeah, I
never would have read the article. Well
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I actually did. And and uh, to add to what Scott is saying
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about the story crafting here, I
that's why I'm gonna The one I link
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to is the one of New York
Times. It's it's an episode of The
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Daily, which I'm going to link
to because it's a podcast and you're already
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listening to ours. It's you can
just listen to that and just play it
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next. It is a fantastic piece
of reporting. I mean, I mean,
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I don't know. It's one of
those things where, like you very
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rarely do stumble upon something that is
so so well reported. It's it's it's
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incredible of a piece of journalism.
But uh, but basically, the journalist
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breaks down several of the most popular
songs and ties them and explain the storytelling
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behind them and explains exactly what Scott
I mean. Its almost like a lyric
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where it breaks down here's the lyric, Here's what it means, here's the
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why it relates to Taylor's life and
what was going on in the history of
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her, and here's how it related
to the Whier people, and how all
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that was able to tie together into
a few lyrics, and how that is
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done in each album to update for
the timeliness of the area. And so
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it really breaks down exactly if you
want to know what Scott means when he
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says these things. It is an
excellent resource to like to actually hear hear
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it, but I guess I want
to know again tying it back, I
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mean, isn't that to me?
I listen to this and my thought,
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my actual thought was, this is
what we are missing in live entertainment,
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and like the theme part specifically because
especially looking around at Christmas, I feel
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like everything is just bland. It's
not like it might be timely because it's
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Christmas, but it's missing the resonance. And I feel like that's yeah.
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But like I said, this is
like capturing lightning in a bottle. I
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mean, this is what we all
want to do. We want to create
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the illusion that I'm talking just to
you, all one million, three hundred
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and eighty six thousand, two hundred
and five of you, I'm talking just
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to you. I'm doing something that
just pink plucks your heart strings. The
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challenge specifically and as a writer and
as a creator of Christmas content, the
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challenge is Christmas is Christmas is significantly
more difficult to and you would think it
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would be the opposite, but it
is significantly more difficult to find thing the
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find things that are personal in Christmas
because personal is based on your memories your
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demographic. You know what Christmas meant
to you when you were growing up.
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With Taylor, breakups are breakups,
and when she writes a song about a
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breakup and how she's dealing with it
and how she's come out the other end
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of it, that's going to resonate
with a ton of people. And so
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you don't. It doesn't have to
specifically, she only has to She always
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to resonate on the level of breakup. She doesn't have to resonate on the
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level of breakup and break up during
Christmas. You know, the more specific
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you get, the more difficult it
is to make it appear as though you're
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talking just to that one person.
But that is why when I do things
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like Christmas, because you brought that
up as an example, when I do
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things like Christmas, I try very
hard to play upon Christmas memories, Christmas
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traditions, because those are the heartstrings
you want to pluck. I've done things,
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you know. I did something for
Franklin Institute in Philly where they didn't
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want to do Christmas per se.
They wanted something that was a bit more
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secular. So I said, what
if we did trains because it tied into
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their brand and It ties back to
people of a certain age demographic who always
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think about model trains at Christmas time, because we always had one running around
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our tree, you know, And
even if you didn't have one running around
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your tree specifically, you're familiar enough
with the concept of a Christmas tree that
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has a train running around it.
So I mean it's part of the reason
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that at Christmas, for example,
Christmas Story can play twenty four hours and
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people will sit and watch it because
it's not that it's you know, it's
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a good movie. It's a fun
story, it's well told. But each
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of the elements within that story,
the way it is written, the way
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Jean Shepherd wrote the original story,
and the way the film was crafted,
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is that each of the individual elements, you cannot watch that film without having
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without having at least one twang of
Okay. When I was a kid,
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this was the last moment before we
were on Christmas vacation or had there was
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a bully in the neighborhood and I
finally turned and somebody finally turned and beat
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the crap out of him, or
you know, there's something that can resonate
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with everybody. So I think this
how this ties back beautifully is. Taylor
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is a well crafted brand. And
I'm going to use the term they not
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because those are her personal pronouns,
but because it isn't. It is a
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machine. Taylor Swift is a machine
now. It is not all her,
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and that's true. I'm not being
I'm not being negative towards her specifically.
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That's true with every major star,
every major rock star, every major brand.
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But they have found a way to
make it so that these wide,
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massive demographic from you know, and
people are gonna get angry at me for
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saying this, but because they targeted
moms of young girls, it's okay for
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young girls and young boys. I
know quite a few young young guys who
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think she hung the Moon, and
moms are okay with it. They can
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attend the concerts because there's nothing the
least bit offensive. There's nothing the least
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bit controversial about anything that she does. And they put, you know,
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the the Taylor Swift machine puts together
a phenomenal experience. I mean, you
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really want to feel see what the
that the tie in is back to to
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live entertainment in theme parks. Go
see one of her shows because there are
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special effects and creative use of said
special effects that will blow pretty much any
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theme park show out of the water. You know, you can go to
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Disney World and watch Fantastmic and go, wow, that was amazing, and
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then you go to a Taylor Swift
show and go, oh my god,
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and this tours. You know.
It's that's why I love to go to
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high production value concerts period, simply
because it gives me great ideas for things
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that we can do in theme parks. Yep, you know, so I
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think that I think that these quotes
are interesting because I agree, but I
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would add the phrase creates the illusion
that it is specific or creates the illusion
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that it sees you. It makes
people feel as though they are being seen,
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because I can promise you, if
you are sitting in Nosebleed North when
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you go to see one of Taylor's
shows, she's not seeing you. She
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may have created something that resonates with
you, and that's wonderful and that deserves
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a great deal of praise. But
to use the phrase specifically it is art,
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the art that sees you, I
question whether that is true. I
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question whether that is true, but
I totally understand the mentality behind it and
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the sentiment behind it. You need
to feel as though there is a connection
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between you and any form of art, and if that connection. You know,
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we talk a lot about Halloween,
we talk a lot about Christmas,
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we talk a lot about theme park
in general, we talk a lot about
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conservation. Whatever it is that you
want to resonate with the with the viewer,
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you've got to create something that makes
it feel as though it is accessible
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to them and matters to them.
And I think that's really the biggest,
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the biggest message here as far as
the tailor Swift phenomenon, and the fact
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that of course person of the Year
Time Magazine obviously sees it exactly that way
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as well. She has They have
created a machine that makes it feel very
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personal and an individual on a massive
scale. Yeah scale that obviously creates earthquakes,
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yeah literally, quite literally. Okay, please do more of that,
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thank you, Please do more.
Please, Yeah, you gotta, you
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gotta and and and honestly, if
you want to, if you want to
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figure out how to do that,
and I'm still working at it too,
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don't misunderstand me. But one of
the one of the things that I think
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works best is to make certain you
listen. Listen to the crowds figure out
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what those stories are. Well,
yeah, I was gonna say that too.
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You know, I think the reporter
here who you know, I I
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think that this journalist is has has
this is their beat, so I'm gonna
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trust them. But you know,
because it's what they do. But it's
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not like it's not like Taylor's is
uh, at least from this reporter standpoint,
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it's like Taylor is. Things happen
to Taylor, and then that is
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she you know, writes stories around
those things and creates songs on them,
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right, which is but I think, you know, as we've talked about
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before, there's the other way of
understanding who your audience is, right like,
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you know, as an understanding like
who is coming to the theme park.
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And I remember many many episodes ago, I think we talked about this
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specifically when Scott was working on the
Tampa Zoo Zoo Tampa and the Christ and
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the Wild and specifically why you broke
it up into regions because there are different
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demographics that come to there, and
there's different traditions that you need to speak
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to. But I think that's that's
an element maybe that is present that isn't
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in this because you know, Taylor
doesn't need to do that, but I
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think we do need to think about
who is actually who are we trying to
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serve, because we're not trying to
serve the whole world, right, I
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think that's another big difference. We're
trying to serve the people who are coming
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to our attractions, which is not
the whole world, and we're trying to
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resonate with them specifically. And I
think the thing you can do, the
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most dangerous thing you can do,
is to say, who is Yourrah the
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whole world? Because you know,
I'm gonna I'm gonna throw in one of
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my favorite quotes and again not mine. When you try to be everything to
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everyone, you end up being nothing
to anyone. And Taylor Taylor has a
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very There's no question that Taylor Swift
fans are a very wide cover of very
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wide demographic. I get that,
and that's brilliant storytelling, brilliant branding,
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brilliant crafting of the content. Yeah, I will say the other just real
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quick, because I know you've gone
off on this for way too long.
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But the other thing that I think
is important here too, is to recognize
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that the reason she has this or
the reason the machine has this giant following
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is because of the content itself.
It is not what she says she is.
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It is not what her publicists say
she is. It is. It
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comes back to the content itself.
The execution, the execution, the execution.
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Yeah, and we talked about that
a gazillion times. Yeah, that's
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why Jollibub Nights was a complete failure. You know, actually nights. You
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know, the premise again, the
press release exactly what you just said.
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The the what they put in the
press announcement resonated with audiences. You know,
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they're like, oh, we would
love to have this nineteen you know,
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this period style Christmas party with traditional
stuff and all this great things.
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And then the execution was terrible and
that's why it failed. So yep,
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so and if you if you doubt
then it failed, just google it so
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anyway and you will find out you're
still on sale and hard to get.
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So I don't think they're hard to
get. I have a few I can
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tell you, Okay, please contact
me. Okay, So all right,
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well I should look at that.
That took the two thirds of show.
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Okay, Okay, that's okay.
I knew though, I was like,
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I'm gonna talk about storytelling's what's gonna
keep going. So okay, we have
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a few more stories to get to. These two are related to parallel play,
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which we talked about a while back, and we talked about parallel play
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is being one of those things that
was supposed to be It was supposed to
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be a theme that was going to
be ongoing for a while in the next
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several years when we talked about it
as you know, one of those things
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where the industry predicted, you know, that was going to be the direction
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of things. And I feel like
we didn't hear too much about it.
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But we do have two stories this
week they came up that are relating to
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parallel play. And the first is
that this is from in Park Magazine.
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It's the newly expanded Savannah at San
Antonio Zoo will offer overnight stays. And
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this is a great article that goes
into all of the planned expansions from the
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San Antonio Zoo, and if you
read through them, there's there's bit cetter
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parallel plays in, you know,
reorganizing the habitat so that you can walk
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through them and closer to animals and
all that kind of stuff. But the
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one that is important for this The
most important I think is this bit right
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here about the overnight stays. It
says the Expanded Savannah also introduces a unique
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new feature, a private rentable lot
called Specrum Lodge, nestled within the majestic
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habitat, granting guests the unparalleled opportunity
to reserve an overnight stay in the heart
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of the Savannah. The log will
feature incredible views, a primary suite,
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a kitchenett, a living area,
kids bunk beds, and a private outdoor
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patio. This exclusive overnight experience is
the only one of its kind with giraffes
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at an azy a Credit zoo in
Texas. So uh again, I think
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this is exactly well. I thought
the theme apparelel Play was a great one
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because I even I had kind of
sense that that would be that a needed
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evolution of animal areas, just because
for the reasons we've talked about, you
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know if I mean, there's so
much you can do in your home and
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on your foace, like, you
know, how do you really make this?
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And that's that's a great way to
do it. And I think that
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this is a good I think this
is overall more of that we need,
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you know, more to see more
examples of this. If if this,
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if this genre is going to become
more sustainable of the use of animals.
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So what do you think is that? Oh? I think this is I
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think this is an incredible addition.
I had not heard about this until Philip
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found it in the news, and
I am tickled because I actually have a
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couple of San Antonio clients and I
may see if I can book it,
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because I think this would be incredible. It's similar or reminds me of what
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Disney's Animal Kingdom did for a while
for a very very exclusive audience. They
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had these elevated and when you see
the article, you'll see the artists renderings
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of what it would look like.
But these elevated areas out in their quote
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unquote veldt, which created the illusion
that you were literally out in the middle
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of nowhere. You completely forgot you
were in a theme park. And they
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wouldn't do overnights days, or they
didn't at the time, but they would
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do that's where you've had lunch,
and they had you know, boma boxes
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which would come out stacked and you'd
have a lovely lunch and were surrounded by
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animals just kind of meandering all around
you. It's kind of what they want
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an Animal Kingdom lodge to be as
well. But I think that this just
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shows that zoos if they do it
correctly, and again I realize that they
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have to be very careful based on
as accreditation because that you want to make
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sure that the animals, the animals
safety and well being has to come first.
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But in this particular case, I
think this is an incredible way for
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them to to generate revenue. And
zoos post COVID are very hit or miss
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as far as how they're how they're
coming back and uh, and this will
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be just another great way to raise
big chunks of money and to get people
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talking about them all around the country. So San Antonio Zoo, excellent job.
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I can't wait. As soon as
I get something booked out there,
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I'll see if you have any availability
because I would love to come do this.
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And on the same vein not a
zoo, but the Aquatica Orlando has.
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They're put out information about their new
water slide called Tassies Underwater Twist.
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It's being built. That's Florida's most
interactive water slide. The part that interested
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me was here about the the actual
experience itself. So it says the slide
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measures one hundred and twenty nine feet
long and features a unique bowl element where
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riders on two person tubes will be
surrounded by lush seagrass meadows, schools of
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color for fish, and even in
an occasional shark. This is also SYNCD
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to video projection, display and music
to further enhance the experience. So basically,
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it's kind of incorporating the areas,
you know, are as they're riding
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through the tubes. It's kind of
incorporating the areas, which it's very similar
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to the at least similar in concept
a little bit. Well, I think
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it's similar to the aquatic car thing
that we talked about from the Ayappa announcement
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of kind of dive into water.
That one you're actually you know, there's
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no projection, you're you're actually in
water. And this one, it's kind
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of a mix of elements together to
make it to make you feel like you're
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sliding through water. But I think
the theme in all of these is still
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the concept of parallel play. It
being surrounded by natural elements in a natural
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way, you know, not in
a manufactured way. Well, but this
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is very manufactured. I mean this
is this is a this is a This
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is the the way I'm interpreting this, And maybe I'm wrong, but the
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way I'm interpreting this, based on
what I've seen from a rendering and based
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on what I've read, this is
basically a three hundred and sixty This is
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a three sixty video mapping experience on
a water slide. Yeah, to create
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to create the illusion that you're going
through an underwater environment. I hesitate.
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Again, it all depends on how
you define the word immersive. I have
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a very I have a very specific
definition, and by my definition it it
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is not it is not immersive.
It seems I would I would agree with
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that. It's it's very wealthy.
Yeah, it's noting. Yeah, immersive.
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Again, Immersive to me has to
break the wall where the guests are
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actually doing something that impact the environment. Now, maybe when they talk about
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timed video, maybe that is part
of it. Maybe it is when the
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when there's a there's a motion trigger, and when the motion trigger hits a
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certain time, a shark shows up
or whatever. I don't know, I
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don't know, but you know,
again, it is I'm excited about this
376
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for a really odd reason. I'm
excited about this because to me, this
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shows once again a melding of ride
and show element together. All too often,
378
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theme parks have said, Okay,
we're gonna do a song and dance
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show over here, and depending on
the park, it was like a really
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hokey song and dance show over here, And then this is and then we'll
381
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spend a ton of money on a
ride, and we'll spend a small percentage
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of that to create a live show. This is creating a show element.
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Now granted, I know there are
no performers, but this is creating a
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show element within a ride. And
and that's what excites me the most is
385
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the fact that they're starting to rethink
they're exciting cash cow rides because they have
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00:28:06.359 --> 00:28:10.039
to. You know, you can
only do so many slides that claim to
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be the fastest, highest, tallest, twistiest. Now it's the most immersive,
388
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and so I think that is the
exciting part for me in this story,
389
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and that is the fact that the
element of entertainment, the element of
390
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visual storytelling, is being incorporated more
into rides in ways other than your standard
391
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dark ride track. So I think
that's I think that's cool because you can't
392
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really do or you can do less
of a standard dark ride in a water
393
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park, So I think that's I
give aquatica great kudos for that, and
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I'm excited to see how it actually
turns out. Once again comes down to
395
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execution, but I think it sounds
fun. Sounds like it would be fun.
396
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Okay, we have like a minute
left. We have one last story
397
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in here, and this one is
coming from our good health friends at Ocean
398
00:28:55.160 --> 00:28:57.640
Park in Hong Kong. Basically,
it seems like they're back in the green.
399
00:28:57.799 --> 00:29:03.119
That's the gist of the story.
Set on Wednesday's Businesses came out of
400
00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:06.279
the red in its twenty twenty two
twenty twenty three fiscal year, recording a
401
00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:10.319
profit of just under Hong Kong one
hundred and twenty million, compared to a
402
00:29:10.359 --> 00:29:14.240
loss of they had the previous year, and they said the reason was because
403
00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:18.799
there was a forty five percent rise
in visitor numbers and a six percent rise
404
00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:23.400
in spending and thanks to the revitalized
economy as it returned normal life. They
405
00:29:23.400 --> 00:29:27.079
also said it was as well as
the company's business strategy implemented in twenty twenty
406
00:29:27.079 --> 00:29:30.799
one, which is now showing results. And not too much news here,
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00:29:30.799 --> 00:29:33.200
but if you remember when we talked
about that when the new strategy came out.
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Basically what they remember what decided to
was like split up the park and
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make it more like the Universal model
where parts of it were rented kind of
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area like a city walk and then
part of so it kind of condensed the
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park basically give up part of the
land and also really lean much more into
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the natural experiences, so you know, the walks and the walks more in
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nature and doing all that kind of
stuff. So it seems like that,
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combined with the economy, has put
them in the green and that is great,
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00:30:00.240 --> 00:30:04.160
good job. Yeah, it's a
change in theme and it they've also
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quite honestly just given people more opportunity
to spend money with that sort of you
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know, rented CityWalk kind of of
mentality. And it goes back to a
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phrase that we started using several years
ago, and that is don't panic,
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just pivot. And this is on
a massive scale. They've pivoted their business
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model and it has been successful.
Well, we have been successful in filling
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yet another thirty minutes so on behalf
of Philip Hernandez with on a Attraction Network
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00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:33.960
and GANDAM Lighting and myself Scott Swinson
with Scott Swinson Creative Development. This is
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00:30:34.039 --> 00:30:37.599
green tagged theme park in thirty and
we will see you next week
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From our studios in Los Angeles and
Tampa. This is Green Tag Theme Park
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in thirty. I'm Philip, and
as always I'm joined by my co host
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00:00:07.799 --> 00:00:11.519
Scott Swinson, a Scott Swinson cretit
development. On Green Tager course, we
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00:00:11.560 --> 00:00:15.519
review the week's top news in the
world of theme parks and we try and
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make it make sense to you.
And this week, Scott, I have
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a little bit of a stretch,
a little, a little it's almost in
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the notes. Phi. Okay,
all right, if you will bear with
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me, and I promise this is
not a way just to work in this
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story that I really like so or
maybe it is, but it's our show,
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so who cares? So right?
Well, yeah, and to be
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honest, I mean, just so
everybody knows Philip puts together the show notes.
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I just sit here and smile and
go uh huh and then share my
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opinions. So you know, Philip
does all the heavy lifting. So this
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is let's just if you don't like
this particular story, let's just say this
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is our way of saying thank you
Philip for doing all the heavy lifting for
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the show. All right, okay, so go on, uncle Philip,
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tell us a story. Okay,
here's the story. Taylor Swift has been
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named Time Person of the Year,
and there's been well from the watching from
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the business community. I have seen
a lot of people who criticize it as
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always and a lot of people who
agree and say, of course, like
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it should be like gravity, it's
obvious that there this was the thing that
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happened. And there's the story I'm
going to link to is actually from the
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New York Times, and it is
their story about the story of Time.
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And it's because the New York Times
one really gave gives a great, you
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know, full breadth of it and
really goes into the reasons why and whatnot.
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I don't want to go too much
into it, but I guess even
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I had not realized the kind of
you know, the extent of the economic
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impact and the extent of just the
impact around all this. And as I
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was listening to the story, I
couldn't help but think, oh, basically,
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Taylor has crafted a very strong brand
and IP and that's what it is.
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It's an IP and it's to me, it's just as strong clearly as
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something like a Disney I mean,
it's really showing that an individual person then
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through all the trials to gain back
ownership of her music and to gain back
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ownership of all the elements of it, and to make multiple revenue streams and
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multiple ways for fans to access it, even as Disney breaking into streaming,
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you know, streaming the concert series. I mean, it's everything we talk
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about here on the show. It's
like gaining control doing original content, gaining
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control of that content directly, and
then distributing it in live interactive concert serieses
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that sell out and crash ticket systems
all over the world. I mean,
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to the fact, to the I
didn't even realize to the point where one
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of their shows so many people were
moving at once it caused a minor earthquake
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that registered on this scale. And
I didn't realize that world leaders have been
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lobbying Taylor to come to their countries
because she has such an economic impact it
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would help them save off a recession
just with her coming to the country.
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And then just the idea of that
we've been talking about, where you create
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that and then you do in person
experiences, and then you create streaming experiences
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and take that content and push it
out. So I think it's a really
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good when looked at it, and
that that's my argument when you look at
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it in that lens, and there
are the New York Times reporter that did
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the story has two great lines that
I want to throw to Scott because I
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think these two things are something we
can learn from. First, the reporter
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is trying to explain why she thinks
that this has worked as an ip when
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other people have not. You know, other people you know are still pop
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stars, whereas Taylor is a whole
experience. Right, So she says two
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things. One, it's specificity that
we've been missing from our songs, and
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that all great art is art that
sees you. And I I think that
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really hit home to me as a
note of like, oh yes, something
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that is so specific that it sees
you resonates with people much more greatly.
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And then it reminded me of how
Scott as a scriptwriter, right, We're
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always writing these shows, and I
feel like the push always for the shows
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at parks and just are It's like
the theme parks in total. The push
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for them all is what we just
talked about last show, which was pushing
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to a general audience. And that
is the opposite of making specific art that
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resonates with people is making art for
general audiences. So I'm wondering, Scott,
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what you think about all of that, just the whole thing, and
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do we need to potentially be more
specific when we are even though you know,
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theme parks and attractions are general audience
endeavor, do we need to be
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more specific to people and get away
from this whole like we're just going to
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have Christmas. That's Christmas. Well
Christmas, So I have to I want
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to take half a step So there's
a bunch of things to unpack here.
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Yes, welcome to my ted talk, Thank you for coming exactly exactly,
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but I want to take half a
step back. And first of all,
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let's talk about what Time person of
the Year is. Time person of the
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Year is not oh, the best
person of the year. I mean,
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let's face it, Vladimir Putin was
a former Time Person of the Year,
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so you know, as was as
was Bill Clinton, as was Obama,
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as was you during the Information age, you know, I mean there there.
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So this is basically who has impacted
the world on a level that is
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well brand worthy, that is that
is uh, you know, monumental.
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So so let's let's first of all
put this into perspective that that time magazine
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is not saying that Taylor Swift is
the be all and end all of humanity.
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That is, that is not the
case. So and then to take
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it as you were saying, Philip, she is a She is a brand.
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The Taylor Swift machine is a brand, and it is a brand that
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has swept a has swept the middle
of the demographic by storm. I'm going
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to say this because in all,
in all transparency, I'm not a Taylor
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Swift fan. I recognize when I
see the live performances or see video of
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the live performances, because I won't
go. But when I see the videos
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of the live performances, I recognize, this is a phenomenon. This is
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the level of This is the level
of the Beatles, and this is the
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level of more recently Madonna, I
guess, except Taylor's not pissing off her
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her core audience, but this is
this is the level where she has created
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I'm gonna now, I'm going to
dive into your specificity quote. She's created
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the illusion of specificity. She has
found a way to tap into such a
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mass market and make it feel like
she's talking just to me. But when
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you're sitting there in a stadium filled
with people who the only reason they got
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to go is because they happened to
win out in a lottery. That's a
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while. That is not specificity.
That is not specificity. That's really incredibly
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well crafted storytelling because it creates the
illusion and it's to be honest, you
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know, to make the connection back
to the theme park industry. It's what
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Disney has done. You know.
In the Golden Age, everybody, everybody
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felt like you know, everybody felt
like the story of Bambie was just about
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them. Everyone felt that the Little
Mermaid was just spoke to them frozen.
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There are tons of sisters I know
who said, oh, they finally told
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our story. No, they told
a story that resonated with you. And
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that is actually more difficult than just
telling a good story to finding to have
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your finger on the pulse of what
is going to resonate and make people feel
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as though it is specific it is
targeted to them, and have billions of
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people around the world feel that is
either incredibly well crafted or incredibly timely or
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just playing dumb luck, you know, I mean, it is, it
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is and probably a combination of all
three. It's probably a combination of all
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three. You know again, I
go back to looking at persons of the
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Year from Time magazine caregivers during Ebola, and by putting that out there and
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out in front of people, resonated
with everyone. I also, in my
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slightly cynical manner, want to point
out that Time magazine is out to sell
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Time magazines. So by saying that
Taylor Swift is the person of the Year,
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there is a huge, massive amount
of people who are going to be
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like, well, I have to
have that magazine. I'm going to subscribe,
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I'm going to follow, I'm going
to read, I'm going to at
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least talk about and there is a
pretty substantial group that will say, oh
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my god, I can't believe it's
Taylor Swift. Yeah. Well, yeah,
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they already have because because so what
they're what they've done is they've gotten
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everybody to talk about it, which
is I will I will be completely honest.
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Had you not put this in the
show notes, I never would have
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read the article. Yeah, I
never would have read the article. Well
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I actually did. And and uh, to add to what Scott is saying
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about the story crafting here, I
that's why I'm gonna The one I link
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to is the one of New York
Times. It's it's an episode of The
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Daily, which I'm going to link
to because it's a podcast and you're already
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listening to ours. It's you can
just listen to that and just play it
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next. It is a fantastic piece
of reporting. I mean, I mean,
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I don't know. It's one of
those things where, like you very
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rarely do stumble upon something that is
so so well reported. It's it's it's
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incredible of a piece of journalism.
But uh, but basically, the journalist
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breaks down several of the most popular
songs and ties them and explain the storytelling
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behind them and explains exactly what Scott
I mean. Its almost like a lyric
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where it breaks down here's the lyric, Here's what it means, here's the
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why it relates to Taylor's life and
what was going on in the history of
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her, and here's how it related
to the Whier people, and how all
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that was able to tie together into
a few lyrics, and how that is
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done in each album to update for
the timeliness of the area. And so
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it really breaks down exactly if you
want to know what Scott means when he
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says these things. It is an
excellent resource to like to actually hear hear
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it, but I guess I want
to know again tying it back, I
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mean, isn't that to me?
I listen to this and my thought,
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my actual thought was, this is
what we are missing in live entertainment,
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and like the theme part specifically because
especially looking around at Christmas, I feel
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like everything is just bland. It's
not like it might be timely because it's
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Christmas, but it's missing the resonance. And I feel like that's yeah.
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But like I said, this is
like capturing lightning in a bottle. I
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mean, this is what we all
want to do. We want to create
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the illusion that I'm talking just to
you, all one million, three hundred
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and eighty six thousand, two hundred
and five of you, I'm talking just
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to you. I'm doing something that
just pink plucks your heart strings. The
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challenge specifically and as a writer and
as a creator of Christmas content, the
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challenge is Christmas is Christmas is significantly
more difficult to and you would think it
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would be the opposite, but it
is significantly more difficult to find thing the
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find things that are personal in Christmas
because personal is based on your memories your
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demographic. You know what Christmas meant
to you when you were growing up.
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With Taylor, breakups are breakups,
and when she writes a song about a
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breakup and how she's dealing with it
and how she's come out the other end
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of it, that's going to resonate
with a ton of people. And so
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you don't. It doesn't have to
specifically, she only has to She always
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to resonate on the level of breakup. She doesn't have to resonate on the
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level of breakup and break up during
Christmas. You know, the more specific
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you get, the more difficult it
is to make it appear as though you're
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talking just to that one person.
But that is why when I do things
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like Christmas, because you brought that
up as an example, when I do
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things like Christmas, I try very
hard to play upon Christmas memories, Christmas
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traditions, because those are the heartstrings
you want to pluck. I've done things,
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you know. I did something for
Franklin Institute in Philly where they didn't
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want to do Christmas per se.
They wanted something that was a bit more
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secular. So I said, what
if we did trains because it tied into
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their brand and It ties back to
people of a certain age demographic who always
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think about model trains at Christmas time, because we always had one running around
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our tree, you know, And
even if you didn't have one running around
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your tree specifically, you're familiar enough
with the concept of a Christmas tree that
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has a train running around it.
So I mean it's part of the reason
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that at Christmas, for example,
Christmas Story can play twenty four hours and
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people will sit and watch it because
it's not that it's you know, it's
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a good movie. It's a fun
story, it's well told. But each
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of the elements within that story,
the way it is written, the way
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Jean Shepherd wrote the original story,
and the way the film was crafted,
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is that each of the individual elements, you cannot watch that film without having
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without having at least one twang of
Okay. When I was a kid,
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this was the last moment before we
were on Christmas vacation or had there was
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a bully in the neighborhood and I
finally turned and somebody finally turned and beat
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the crap out of him, or
you know, there's something that can resonate
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with everybody. So I think this
how this ties back beautifully is. Taylor
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is a well crafted brand. And
I'm going to use the term they not
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because those are her personal pronouns,
but because it isn't. It is a
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machine. Taylor Swift is a machine
now. It is not all her,
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and that's true. I'm not being
I'm not being negative towards her specifically.
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That's true with every major star,
every major rock star, every major brand.
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But they have found a way to
make it so that these wide,
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massive demographic from you know, and
people are gonna get angry at me for
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saying this, but because they targeted
moms of young girls, it's okay for
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young girls and young boys. I
know quite a few young young guys who
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think she hung the Moon, and
moms are okay with it. They can
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attend the concerts because there's nothing the
least bit offensive. There's nothing the least
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bit controversial about anything that she does. And they put, you know,
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the the Taylor Swift machine puts together
a phenomenal experience. I mean, you
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really want to feel see what the
that the tie in is back to to
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live entertainment in theme parks. Go
see one of her shows because there are
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special effects and creative use of said
special effects that will blow pretty much any
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theme park show out of the water. You know, you can go to
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Disney World and watch Fantastmic and go, wow, that was amazing, and
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then you go to a Taylor Swift
show and go, oh my god,
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and this tours. You know.
It's that's why I love to go to
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high production value concerts period, simply
because it gives me great ideas for things
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that we can do in theme parks. Yep, you know, so I
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think that I think that these quotes
are interesting because I agree, but I
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would add the phrase creates the illusion
that it is specific or creates the illusion
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that it sees you. It makes
people feel as though they are being seen,
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because I can promise you, if
you are sitting in Nosebleed North when
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you go to see one of Taylor's
shows, she's not seeing you. She
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may have created something that resonates with
you, and that's wonderful and that deserves
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a great deal of praise. But
to use the phrase specifically it is art,
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the art that sees you, I
question whether that is true. I
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question whether that is true, but
I totally understand the mentality behind it and
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the sentiment behind it. You need
to feel as though there is a connection
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between you and any form of art, and if that connection. You know,
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we talk a lot about Halloween,
we talk a lot about Christmas,
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we talk a lot about theme park
in general, we talk a lot about
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conservation. Whatever it is that you
want to resonate with the with the viewer,
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you've got to create something that makes
it feel as though it is accessible
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to them and matters to them.
And I think that's really the biggest,
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the biggest message here as far as
the tailor Swift phenomenon, and the fact
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that of course person of the Year
Time Magazine obviously sees it exactly that way
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as well. She has They have
created a machine that makes it feel very
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personal and an individual on a massive
scale. Yeah scale that obviously creates earthquakes,
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yeah literally, quite literally. Okay, please do more of that,
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thank you, Please do more.
Please, Yeah, you gotta, you
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gotta and and and honestly, if
you want to, if you want to
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figure out how to do that,
and I'm still working at it too,
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don't misunderstand me. But one of
the one of the things that I think
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works best is to make certain you
listen. Listen to the crowds figure out
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what those stories are. Well,
yeah, I was gonna say that too.
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You know, I think the reporter
here who you know, I I
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think that this journalist is has has
this is their beat, so I'm gonna
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trust them. But you know,
because it's what they do. But it's
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not like it's not like Taylor's is
uh, at least from this reporter standpoint,
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it's like Taylor is. Things happen
to Taylor, and then that is
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she you know, writes stories around
those things and creates songs on them,
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right, which is but I think, you know, as we've talked about
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before, there's the other way of
understanding who your audience is, right like,
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you know, as an understanding like
who is coming to the theme park.
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And I remember many many episodes ago, I think we talked about this
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specifically when Scott was working on the
Tampa Zoo Zoo Tampa and the Christ and
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the Wild and specifically why you broke
it up into regions because there are different
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demographics that come to there, and
there's different traditions that you need to speak
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to. But I think that's that's
an element maybe that is present that isn't
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in this because you know, Taylor
doesn't need to do that, but I
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think we do need to think about
who is actually who are we trying to
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serve, because we're not trying to
serve the whole world, right, I
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think that's another big difference. We're
trying to serve the people who are coming
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to our attractions, which is not
the whole world, and we're trying to
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resonate with them specifically. And I
think the thing you can do, the
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most dangerous thing you can do,
is to say, who is Yourrah the
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whole world? Because you know,
I'm gonna I'm gonna throw in one of
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my favorite quotes and again not mine. When you try to be everything to
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everyone, you end up being nothing
to anyone. And Taylor Taylor has a
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very There's no question that Taylor Swift
fans are a very wide cover of very
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wide demographic. I get that,
and that's brilliant storytelling, brilliant branding,
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brilliant crafting of the content. Yeah, I will say the other just real
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quick, because I know you've gone
off on this for way too long.
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But the other thing that I think
is important here too, is to recognize
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that the reason she has this or
the reason the machine has this giant following
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is because of the content itself.
It is not what she says she is.
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It is not what her publicists say
she is. It is. It
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comes back to the content itself.
The execution, the execution, the execution.
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Yeah, and we talked about that
a gazillion times. Yeah, that's
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why Jollibub Nights was a complete failure. You know, actually nights. You
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know, the premise again, the
press release exactly what you just said.
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The the what they put in the
press announcement resonated with audiences. You know,
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they're like, oh, we would
love to have this nineteen you know,
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this period style Christmas party with traditional
stuff and all this great things.
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And then the execution was terrible and
that's why it failed. So yep,
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so and if you if you doubt
then it failed, just google it so
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anyway and you will find out you're
still on sale and hard to get.
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So I don't think they're hard to
get. I have a few I can
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tell you, Okay, please contact
me. Okay, So all right,
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well I should look at that.
That took the two thirds of show.
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Okay, Okay, that's okay.
I knew though, I was like,
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I'm gonna talk about storytelling's what's gonna
keep going. So okay, we have
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a few more stories to get to. These two are related to parallel play,
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which we talked about a while back, and we talked about parallel play
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is being one of those things that
was supposed to be It was supposed to
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be a theme that was going to
be ongoing for a while in the next
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several years when we talked about it
as you know, one of those things
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where the industry predicted, you know, that was going to be the direction
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of things. And I feel like
we didn't hear too much about it.
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But we do have two stories this
week they came up that are relating to
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parallel play. And the first is
that this is from in Park Magazine.
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It's the newly expanded Savannah at San
Antonio Zoo will offer overnight stays. And
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this is a great article that goes
into all of the planned expansions from the
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San Antonio Zoo, and if you
read through them, there's there's bit cetter
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parallel plays in, you know,
reorganizing the habitat so that you can walk
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through them and closer to animals and
all that kind of stuff. But the
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one that is important for this The
most important I think is this bit right
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here about the overnight stays. It
says the Expanded Savannah also introduces a unique
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new feature, a private rentable lot
called Specrum Lodge, nestled within the majestic
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habitat, granting guests the unparalleled opportunity
to reserve an overnight stay in the heart
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of the Savannah. The log will
feature incredible views, a primary suite,
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a kitchenett, a living area,
kids bunk beds, and a private outdoor
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patio. This exclusive overnight experience is
the only one of its kind with giraffes
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at an azy a Credit zoo in
Texas. So uh again, I think
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this is exactly well. I thought
the theme apparelel Play was a great one
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because I even I had kind of
sense that that would be that a needed
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evolution of animal areas, just because
for the reasons we've talked about, you
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know if I mean, there's so
much you can do in your home and
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on your foace, like, you
know, how do you really make this?
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And that's that's a great way to
do it. And I think that
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this is a good I think this
is overall more of that we need,
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you know, more to see more
examples of this. If if this,
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if this genre is going to become
more sustainable of the use of animals.
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So what do you think is that? Oh? I think this is I
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think this is an incredible addition.
I had not heard about this until Philip
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found it in the news, and
I am tickled because I actually have a
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couple of San Antonio clients and I
may see if I can book it,
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because I think this would be incredible. It's similar or reminds me of what
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Disney's Animal Kingdom did for a while
for a very very exclusive audience. They
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had these elevated and when you see
the article, you'll see the artists renderings
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of what it would look like.
But these elevated areas out in their quote
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unquote veldt, which created the illusion
that you were literally out in the middle
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of nowhere. You completely forgot you
were in a theme park. And they
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wouldn't do overnights days, or they
didn't at the time, but they would
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do that's where you've had lunch,
and they had you know, boma boxes
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which would come out stacked and you'd
have a lovely lunch and were surrounded by
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animals just kind of meandering all around
you. It's kind of what they want
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an Animal Kingdom lodge to be as
well. But I think that this just
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shows that zoos if they do it
correctly, and again I realize that they
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have to be very careful based on
as accreditation because that you want to make
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sure that the animals, the animals
safety and well being has to come first.
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But in this particular case, I
think this is an incredible way for
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them to to generate revenue. And
zoos post COVID are very hit or miss
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as far as how they're how they're
coming back and uh, and this will
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be just another great way to raise
big chunks of money and to get people
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talking about them all around the country. So San Antonio Zoo, excellent job.
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I can't wait. As soon as
I get something booked out there,
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I'll see if you have any availability
because I would love to come do this.
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And on the same vein not a
zoo, but the Aquatica Orlando has.
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They're put out information about their new
water slide called Tassies Underwater Twist.
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It's being built. That's Florida's most
interactive water slide. The part that interested
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me was here about the the actual
experience itself. So it says the slide
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measures one hundred and twenty nine feet
long and features a unique bowl element where
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riders on two person tubes will be
surrounded by lush seagrass meadows, schools of
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color for fish, and even in
an occasional shark. This is also SYNCD
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to video projection, display and music
to further enhance the experience. So basically,
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it's kind of incorporating the areas,
you know, are as they're riding
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through the tubes. It's kind of
incorporating the areas, which it's very similar
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to the at least similar in concept
a little bit. Well, I think
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it's similar to the aquatic car thing
that we talked about from the Ayappa announcement
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of kind of dive into water.
That one you're actually you know, there's
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no projection, you're you're actually in
water. And this one, it's kind
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of a mix of elements together to
make it to make you feel like you're
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sliding through water. But I think
the theme in all of these is still
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the concept of parallel play. It
being surrounded by natural elements in a natural
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way, you know, not in
a manufactured way. Well, but this
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is very manufactured. I mean this
is this is a this is a This
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is the the way I'm interpreting this, And maybe I'm wrong, but the
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way I'm interpreting this, based on
what I've seen from a rendering and based
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on what I've read, this is
basically a three hundred and sixty This is
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a three sixty video mapping experience on
a water slide. Yeah, to create
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to create the illusion that you're going
through an underwater environment. I hesitate.
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Again, it all depends on how
you define the word immersive. I have
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a very I have a very specific
definition, and by my definition it it
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is not it is not immersive.
It seems I would I would agree with
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that. It's it's very wealthy.
Yeah, it's noting. Yeah, immersive.
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Again, Immersive to me has to
break the wall where the guests are
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actually doing something that impact the environment. Now, maybe when they talk about
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timed video, maybe that is part
of it. Maybe it is when the
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when there's a there's a motion trigger, and when the motion trigger hits a
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certain time, a shark shows up
or whatever. I don't know, I
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don't know, but you know,
again, it is I'm excited about this
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for a really odd reason. I'm
excited about this because to me, this
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shows once again a melding of ride
and show element together. All too often,
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theme parks have said, Okay,
we're gonna do a song and dance
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show over here, and depending on
the park, it was like a really
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hokey song and dance show over here, And then this is and then we'll
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spend a ton of money on a
ride, and we'll spend a small percentage
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of that to create a live show. This is creating a show element.
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Now granted, I know there are
no performers, but this is creating a
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show element within a ride. And
and that's what excites me the most is
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the fact that they're starting to rethink
they're exciting cash cow rides because they have
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to. You know, you can
only do so many slides that claim to
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be the fastest, highest, tallest, twistiest. Now it's the most immersive,
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and so I think that is the
exciting part for me in this story,
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and that is the fact that the
element of entertainment, the element of
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visual storytelling, is being incorporated more
into rides in ways other than your standard
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dark ride track. So I think
that's I think that's cool because you can't
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really do or you can do less
of a standard dark ride in a water
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park, So I think that's I
give aquatica great kudos for that, and
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I'm excited to see how it actually
turns out. Once again comes down to
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execution, but I think it sounds
fun. Sounds like it would be fun.
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Okay, we have like a minute
left. We have one last story
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in here, and this one is
coming from our good health friends at Ocean
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Park in Hong Kong. Basically,
it seems like they're back in the green.
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That's the gist of the story.
Set on Wednesday's Businesses came out of
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the red in its twenty twenty two
twenty twenty three fiscal year, recording a
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profit of just under Hong Kong one
hundred and twenty million, compared to a
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00:29:10.359 --> 00:29:14.240
loss of they had the previous year, and they said the reason was because
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there was a forty five percent rise
in visitor numbers and a six percent rise
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00:29:18.880 --> 00:29:23.400
in spending and thanks to the revitalized
economy as it returned normal life. They
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00:29:23.400 --> 00:29:27.079
also said it was as well as
the company's business strategy implemented in twenty twenty
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00:29:27.079 --> 00:29:30.799
one, which is now showing results. And not too much news here,
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but if you remember when we talked
about that when the new strategy came out.
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Basically what they remember what decided to
was like split up the park and
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make it more like the Universal model
where parts of it were rented kind of
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area like a city walk and then
part of so it kind of condensed the
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park basically give up part of the
land and also really lean much more into
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the natural experiences, so you know, the walks and the walks more in
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nature and doing all that kind of
stuff. So it seems like that,
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combined with the economy, has put
them in the green and that is great,
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good job. Yeah, it's a
change in theme and it they've also
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quite honestly just given people more opportunity
to spend money with that sort of you
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know, rented CityWalk kind of of
mentality. And it goes back to a
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phrase that we started using several years
ago, and that is don't panic,
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just pivot. And this is on
a massive scale. They've pivoted their business
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00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:25.759
model and it has been successful.
Well, we have been successful in filling
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00:30:25.799 --> 00:30:30.160
yet another thirty minutes so on behalf
of Philip Hernandez with on a Attraction Network
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00:30:30.160 --> 00:30:33.960
and GANDAM Lighting and myself Scott Swinson
with Scott Swinson Creative Development. This is
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green tagged theme park in thirty and
we will see you next week
