Kim's Corner
Page 3 of 5

SoundStation Pins - Release

SoundStation pin release - the good
OK - now the tough part - as there was very little good about the release. So much should have been done differently that it defies everything I know about mass-market collectables. It seems that each of the good points is counteracted by a couple bad points that the positive is overshadowed. A couple of the SoundStation pins were still on the rack last time I checked - so the limit must have worked - although the process didn’t. After two years I can’t imagine that they were surprised by the crowd - they asked for the crowd didn’t they? I can’t imagine that they didn’t know that adding several minutes for receipt and stamp check to each and every transaction at every pin venue would slow the process to a crawl. I can’t imagine that any not one of them watched the weather report and didn’t know that it was supposed to be sunny and hot. I can’t imagine that no one thought that this was too much to ask of one brand new venue. If it worried me - why didn’t it worry any of the merchandise managers whose job it is to worry?

That the event was designed and the pins were produced was good. That the lack of venue planning required to make the event a success was so complete as to make the event a failure was bad. Combining Store Operations and Merchandising at the DLR was a bad move - costs needing to be cut or not - these two divisions are two sides of the same coin and should drive each other - one guy - no matter how dedicated can’t complain to himself - nor can he be accountable to himself. And I was dumbfounded watching Sunday’s event go from worse to truly terrible and trying to reconcile it to the events of just the day before. Same venue - same managers - completely different results.

As the burn on my nose went from regular to extra crispy I kept asking those around me - Why weren’t vouchers used for the pin release? They’ve been used before - color-coded time specific vouchers were used for the doll signing. Why wasn’t the underground, air-conditioned tunnel used for the pin event? It was used just the day before. Why wasn’t the same entrance and exit flow of guests maintained for the pin event? It worked for the doll signing. Why didn’t any of the dozen or so resort managers present on Sunday send for more umbrellas to take care of those guests in the sun? They were a simple phone call away Why wasn’t any care taken that there was cold water available? When it gets too hot at DCA they break out the free water and at WDW they get free cookies and lemonade in line. The cost in water would have outweighed the bad feelings - and resulting bad press?

A little good will goes a long way - but it would have come out of the profit and profit is king. It can’t be that difficult to see an event sliding out of control.

That certain of the pins were available in a venue adjacent to each of the different stamping locations was good. That the communication between cast and guest broke down - not once but four times during the map event - was bad. That there was no provision for the combining of receipts to maximize the gift with purchase pins was an oversight. That the Jungle Cruise venue didn’t even have gwp pins - because they weren’t a "pin location" was an oversight. That it could have so easily have been remedied - and wasn’t - was inexcusable.

To institute new pin trading and purchase guidelines was good - to do it on a Super-Pin Sunday - with a limited edition pin release - a gift with purchase promotion - a dozen open stock pins being released - a limited edition Tinkerbell - of all characters - signing planned - in a brand new venue - with a brand new control method - with incomplete training - was bad.

To try to control the secondary market is good - if completely impossible - to do this at the expense of the resort’s most valued guests is bad. Making the many pay for the actions of a few is bad business. Someone should have seen this - someone should have mentioned it - someone should have known. They all have business degrees - years of merchandising experience - and if I was bright enough to have seen it coming - they should have as well.

To bring the Disneyland Resort into some sort of pin-parity with the WDW Resorts is good - to try to apply business principals to one business and then expect that it will fit another business is bad. The DLR is not WDW - not by any stretch of the imagination - the purchase base is completely different - the ratio of day guests to annual passholders is completely different - the ratio of pin traders to day guests is completely different - the application of business models to two disparately different venues is short-sighted in the extreme and - most importantly - BAD business. And so it goes - failure is a foregone conclusion.

For those who missed the letter that went out from Mike Griggs last month - here it is - while it looks good on paper - it’s unworkable in practice. You can’t enforce a system without consequences for those who break the rules - and the offenders know that the powers that be at the DLR will not escort someone to the gate or pull an AP - and if there are no consequences for breaking the guidelines there are - effectively - no guidelines.