Hercules

That is the site that was xworks.com. xworks.com took you to the Media Corp webpage. I really don't think that Media Corp is a real company. I think it is all part of the campaign. EDIT: It did check out. I just checked out the London Stock Exchange, and there is a mediacorp listed as a comany. I just thought it was interesing that a trade price was at exactly 1.00, indicating that something was up there, but according to the opening of the market, it really was at a flat 1.00. Anyone have any other ideas?

That is interesting. I was just able to access it about 5 minutes ago. And now it is asking for a username and password. That is very odd..... Does this just add to the campaign? Or does that mean that I am very wrong? I kind of wish I took a screen shot now.

I have to say that this is pretty much totally it. http://www.xworks.com/ Just look at the site. It is something that looks like it was just thrown together. The stock ticker on the left has random information on it, and I bet it won't even change over the next couple of days. It has the 2009 copyright on it. which is a pretty good giveaway. Plus, the address is in the UK. I mean, I think that all signs have to point at Alton Towers here. Just another viral marketing campaign.

Wow. Look at the East this year. I definitely don't think that the West is the dominent conference at all this year. It is great to finally have a little bit of competition in basketball, and not just one really good East team, and 7 very good West teams. I love watching the Blazers and the Hawks develop into good teams. I really think the Blazers will be a force in years to come. Is Dwight Howard not a beast? Who is going to stop this year from being another Celtics-Lakers showdown? I really don't see anyone in the way........ other than LeBron.

Of course you will watch. It is the Super Bowl. That is my point. With the way the NFL is now, you could have just about any team play and people would watch. The ratings for the NFL for just about any game will top any other sport. You could have the Bengels playing the Lions, and I'm sure the ratings would be higher than most match-ups in baseball, basketball and hockey. Some of this is due to the networks these channels are broadcasted on, but most of it is due to the superior popularity of the NFL in general. Even if people aren't as excited about the game as they were last year, they will still watch because it is a huge cultural event. I don't see the ratings going down a bit.

They probably don't want to release the specs just because they don't want any kind of an attempt at replication. They don't know who is emailing them on the other end.

And ladies and gentlemen, that is the thread.

Personally, I just suggest to scale it down a little bit. Though, I don't really know how much money and time he wants to spend.

^ Pretty much exactly the point that I was trying to make. I don't really see why there is an argument about the size of the market matter? I live near the 4th largest market in the country, and the fanbase for the Eagles (although they are extremely loyal and dedicated fans) is no where near the magnitude of the Steelers fanbase. With the Super Bowl the market size of the cities the teams belong does not matter. People are still going to watch because it is the SUPER BOWL. Just because you don't find the teams interesting, you know you are still going to watch, and so will millions and millions of other people. Just because your team isn't in the big game, doesn't give you the right to cry about it.

Guy - Seriously. Talking trains = major creepy.

Not to mention Cedar Point, SFNE, and King's Island have terrible wooden coasters, and Busch doesn't have any wood at all. The scope of your trip is very, very long. I mapquested a route starting from Six Flags New England and did the best I could in maping it out. Overall, with the parks that you listed, it would be roughly 2070 miles of driving, which would be estimated at about 35.5 hours in the car. Check out the length here

The Superbowl had lower ratings than the AFC Championship in 2006? Millions of people all over the world watch the Super Bowl. How could it have lower ratings than the AFC Championship game? Am I not understanding what you said or something?

Or if they took the time to do the whole makeover like the "real" Mr. Six, that would work pretty well.

Will you watch?

No Mr. Six commercial during Degrassi, Survivor or the Amazing Race!? That is ludicrous!

Once again, I tip my hat. If an incident occurs at Knotts, it won't effect attendance or public perception at World of Fun. But if something happens at Six Flags ______, Six Flags _______ somewhere else will be effected. Oh so very true. This is a great case of a company with no true identity, and a faulty direction.

^^^ Some excellent points there. When the incident with the tower at Kentucky Kingdom occured, there were people on the radio saying "Did you hear about that thing that happened on that ride at the Great Adventure in Kentucky?" And yes, we nerds tend to be much more critical of certain specifics that would not be picked up by the "untrained" eye. Thus, kind of making my point that there is really no point in spending additional money trying to incorporate local park faire into national advertisements. ^^ Also some good points made Joey. Maybe Six Flags is going wrong by trying to make themselves known as a national brand. I'm definitely not disagreeing with you there. I am just saying that is what they are trying to do. Is it a good move? I don't really know. I just see where they are coming from.

Honestly, I didn't even really notice it. I thought that was all generic footage also. I think they were still using shots of some wooden coaster from the promo commercials for El Toro before the ride was even completed. The Great Adventure commercials I saw were just compelations of random parks and random footage.

^ And that would comply completely with Joey's feelings about the whole Mr. Six thing. And believe me, I completely agree. It is just very tough from a business stand point. Once again, it is just a lot easier and more cost effective to have the Mr. Six character shoot a few generic commercials at 1 or a few parks. That way, another campaign can be created showing each park in their regional market. Things just get really dicey when there is a national figure involved in a marketing campaign. Cedar Fair does a very good job at marketing each individual park, because there is no need for brand identification - due to the fact each park is not "flagged". Each park is sold as its own product in each market that it operates in. And the formula is very simple too - a couple of family oriented commercials, a couple of commercials aimed toward teens, and a couple of commercials promoting a new attraction. Six Flags is really caught in a tight place because it is a national brand, and they have to find a way to promote that.

^ Can you give any examples of so-called "better names"?

What the hell? Where did you get that? --Chris I got that from the Bill Simmons article that Beemer posted a couple of pages ago.

Oh come on people. Is Possessed really that bad? Or are you all just bashing on Cedar Fair just because? It's not terrible. Plus, it works with the sign. Just take off VooDoo, throw on Possessed, and you have yourself a winner. Good enough by my standards.

That's where the last Mr. Six ad campaign went wrong IMO. I seem to remember most of the commercials following this formula: fun commercials with slapped on generic b-roll footage and voice overs for each park at the end. The end result was everyone knew Mr. Six...but they never really sold the parks themselves. A chain of parks can't really help that though. It is a lot more cost effective to just have one generic commercial after another with Mr. Six in it. The Mr. Six character can't possible shoot footage at every single park. All people need to know is Mr. Six = Six Flags. It is just simple brand recognition. Then, of course, you can have a different set campaign tailored to each individual park, promoting a new ride or attraction of some sort, and have those air in each specific market. But those don't necessarily have to have Mr. Six in them either.

The only time I watch the Cowboys is when they play the Redskins. And I would watch the Cowboys if they were in the Super Bowl, because IT IS THE SUPER BOWL! Those would be the only times I would consider watching a Cowboys game. God and puppies eh? I guess consider Troy Polamalu satan and James Harrison a puppy killer.

I found myself really believing that the Cardinals were going to blow that game yesterday. Even at the half, when it was 24-6, and the Eagles hadn't even begun to mount that great comeback, I really knew that they were going to get it back and going. I didn't really want to see the Eagles win, but I think it would have made a great match-up with either the Steelers or the Ravens. And, it would have capped an amazing run for a team that literally ran through the crack that was opened for them the last day of the season. Steelers-Cardinals is a good match up, and certainly not one that anyone expected (but with the NFL, what really is expected?) You have the excellent Steelers defense against and very good, yet extremely one dimensional, Cardinals offense. And then there is the mediocre Steelers offense against a Cardinals defense that finally started to show its true self in the second half yesterday. How can you not like the Steelers to win this game? Then again, you can't assume things. I just want to see a great game.