Yes, that is a lion. In a sidecar. Pulling G’s with some real entertainers. Not a warning sign in sight. Now that’s entertainment. Line forms to the left.
Actually, the setup was a wooden barrel board wall of the “Thrillarena” or “Wall of Death” It’s called Motor Drome Riding and it was popular in the 20s and 30s. Someone along the way said “Hey, let’s put lions in the drome” uhhhh kay… sure, that’ll bring ‘em in. And it did.
Jason Falls had me thinking about this post after I wrote it so I updated it. When you use Gimmicks, you must just keep cranking them out. You must start out with a dog in the sidecar, then a goat, then a friggin’ lion. But what do you do when the lion gets boring?
So if you’re dependent on gimmicks – keep your foot in it – cause if you slow down, you’ll be lunch.
images from thrillarena.com
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Great illustration. My only question is where do you draw the line between being remarkable and having a gimmick? It’s kind of the difference between Digg traffic and a link from a trusted blogger with a big audience. One results in a huge spike … lion in the drome. The other in sustained interest … the best funnel cakes around.
But dude, we have LIONS. RWWWARRRRRR.
After you’ve watched 20 minutes of spinning motorcycles, it’s hard to say you built a brand relationship with the ‘drome. It’s never going to become an indispensable part of your day.
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