Something Completely Different

Sad news from Cowtown...Skybus Airlines is dead.

Lots of folks had questions about how this thing could work, based on a model of minimal service, routes to "say wha?" destinations, and $10 fares on every flight.

Me? I took advantage of the cheap rates and enjoyed the direct flights to Oakland and Burbank.

Most of all, I was rooting for Skybus. I wanted it to succeed. This was not just because I was benefitting...I admired the pluck involved in starting a new carrier based on a novel business model...all in the middle of Ohio.

Well, golly, if Ohio Governor Ted Strickland doesn't look as pleased as punch in this photo.

Now, Skybus is no more. I'd like to say I'm happy just to have known Skybus. But, really, I'm pissed off. Not with the Skybus people (though I am sure none of SB's saavy investors lost any money in this scheme). But with our disinterested government and the opportunities it's costing the folks who live in the struggling Midwest.

I hate regulation in general, but there are a few places it seems necessary. Air travel is one of these exceptions. Safety is involved. So are countless individuals and businesses that trust that they will actually be able to travel on the flights that they book.

The FAA grants these carriers the right to fly in the Unites States. They should also mandate an orderly process should an operator elect to close up shop.

Instead, Skybus employees are suddenly jobless. Customers are stranded in places like Greensboro and Gary. Other carriers like Southwest and JetBlue, responding to Skybus's presence, have limited their operations, leaving communities like Columbus with reduced airline capacity. And gobs of tax dollars got spent on red carpets that were rolled out for a bunch of carpetbaggers that skipped town.

It's hard to tell what guys like Columbus's Mayor Mike Coleman were told, formerly or otherwise. But before he or Ohio Governor Ted Strickland exposed their citizens to this kind of risk, they owed it to the people who elected them to ensure Skybus was in this for the long haul and would not pull up stakes with no announcement. And the feds should be mandating the same thing with every carrier.

AB

PS - I just rebooked a trip to Florida this morning on Southwest (an airline that offers service that is INFERIOR to any Skybus service I experienced). My original flight was going into St. Augustine, now I am headed to Orlando. Mickey wins. Ponce de Leon, not so much.

Pee #1 - PURPOSE (aka Attraction Viagra)

So, getting into the Three Pee's of Great Attractions, we'll start with what may be the most obvious Pee: Purpose.

It seems natural that all attractions have a purpose of some kind. On a cynical level, the purpose of many attractions is to separate guests from their money.

But that's not what we're talking about when we say "purpose." We are asking whether an attraction has a reason for being. Is that reason something that audiences sense? Does it really matter to folks that this place exists?

When attractions have Purpose, it's an energy, a form of potency. It's Attraction Viagara. These places are going somewhere.

Places like the British Museum have this kind of Purpose. At the British Museum, people experience Great Works. The art here spans thousands of years and encompasses sexy things like Egyptian statuary and enormous pieces of Greek architecture. And it is all RIGHT THERE. You're not supposed to touch the stuff (some do) but you can examine things down to the pock mark. It can be seen from all sides. It can be smelled. It is a heady and a huge experience.

Artifacts like this Moai are presented at the British Museum, giving locals a reason to stay out of pubs.

Disneyland certainly had Purpose when it opened. Walt Disney conceived this park in the midst of America's great suburbanization. This was a place where families could have fun together. Disneyland embodied the aspirations of middle America circa 1955. Visiting the park became a sort of pilgrimage.

(Walt's original vision behind Disneyland is less central to the park today and its purpose is less focused. Corporate Disney wants to suggest that this is a wholesome fun park that is uniquely able to dispense "magic." For many folks, the park has taken on a more vague, nostalgia-influenced role. We will talk about this more when we get to Pee #3-PLACE).

Disneyland's purpose came from Walt Disney's convictions in what a theme park could be. For the first four years, there were no thrill rides due to concerns that many adults wouldn't be interested.

Why is Purpose important? Well, look at some of the places that lack a sense of purpose.

When Planet Hollywood debuted in New York in 1991 and began to deliberately open locations in destinations like Beverly Hills, this was a brand that felt like it had purpose. "Real" movie artifacts were on display and real movie stars visited and owned the joints. It felt like each of these places were special, each one existed as a unique Hollywood oasis created so that regular folks could step into that exclusive world. Joe Sixpack from Columbus, Ohio would brag to his pals that he'd visited the Planet Hollywood in Miami (and also buy a t-shirt).

But expanding into places like Columbus, Ohio is not the way to remain special. As Planet Hollywood grew, oversaturation eroded what guests percieved as its Purpose. Today, Planet Hollywood has gone through two bankruptcies and is just a big Johnny Rockets with rubber Schwarzenegger props.

Planet Hollywood Casino: Why does the world need one of these?

The same thing happened with the entire Six Flag's Worlds of Adventure fiasco. For years, two fine parks--Sea World and Geauga Lake--existed on the same little lake in Northeast Ohio. Sea World, in fact, was a huge success, much better received than its cousin that opened in Orlando a year later.

Sea World works because there is a palpable sense of Purpose behind the place. That was obliterated when Six Flags bought that marine park and subsumed its brand. No more was there a modest little amusment park across the lake from a special little sea life park. Now, there was this behemoth that sounded like it belonged in Orlando and could never really explain what kind of animal it wanted to be. Six Flags couldn't make sense of it. Neither could Cedar Fair. Come this summer, it will all be reduced down to just another water park.

Anyone else remember when the Justice League was at Sea World Ohio?

Purpose matters. It's how guests understand what an attraction "does." When there is no apparent Purpose, the attraction just goes limp in the public's mind. Purpose is attraction Viagra.