I moved to Orlando, Florida on September 6, 2010 and it was probably one of the best life decisions I have made. I work at Disney World!! I work in EPCOT at Innoventions, "where invention and innovation intersect on the road to tomorrow." When Walt Disney bought land in Florida for his next big project, he did so because he wanted lots of land to build a future world...Experimental Prototype Community Of Tomorrow. EPCOT houses the world showcase, but it also has some amazing things sponsored by companies that use technology to better our world. EPCOT is continuously evolving, and best of all, it contains the coolest examples of PR I have even seen.
In Innoventions, companies can show off their products and services in a way that gets people excited. Raytheon sponsors Sum of All Thrills, where guests can design their own bobsled, roller coaster, or jet ride and then test it on a simulator. Their goal is to get kids to realize that you can do really cool stuff with math and physics. Our world needs new creative engineers, and this venue does an awesome job of getting kids excited about technology. In Test The Limits Lab sponsored by Underwriters Laboratory, kids learn how the company tests products to make sure they are safe for homes. They can release a weight equivalent to a 22 mph baseball on a TV screen to see if it shatters or drop a steel drum on a fireman's hat to test its durability. IBM sponsors RunTime where guests run, jump, and dance on camera and are then put into their own video game. The most out of the box example of PR I have ever seen is the venue sponsored by Velcro. Slapstick Studios houses a comedy game show where guests do some wacky things with Velcro hook and loop fasteners. Kids stick blocks together to see who can build the tallest tower, couples attach Velcro covered bags to each other to pack for vacation, and (most entertaining) dads use Velcro to put diapers on baby dolls and attach them to their purple aprons. :) After the show, guests can decorate their own Velcro frog with princess crowns and dresses, pirate hats and clothes, or even mickey ears.
Before working here, I knew nothing about any of these companies, and now I have such a respect for them. Did you know that Underwriters Laboratories began when one man was concerned with fire safety at the Worlds Fair in 1893? William Henry Merrill then went on to develop a company that tested the first TVs and PCs as well as many other home appliances. The multinational company has its UL safety symbol on over 17 billion appliances worldwide and serves not for profit. Their main goal is to "Know by Test and State the Facts." IBM got its start with punch machines used in the census and is now at the cutting edge of computer technology. The Velcro company got its start from Georgle de Mestral in 1955 after he noticed cockleburs sticking to his dog's fur. He made hook and loop fasteners that are now used on NASA suits and even tanks for the armed forces (and lets not forget those awesome shoes for those of us who can't quite loop swoop and pull yet).
As someone with a degree in PR, I know how hard it can be to get a product or company out into the public, and then how much harder it can be to actually have the audience take an interest in it. I applaud these companies (and several others I didn't mention) for coming into Innoventions with a goal of getting kids and families excited about what they have to offer. It's far from traditional PR, and I think thats exactly what it takes to succeed in today's world.
