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Parks letting the public name their rides

nadroJ

nadroJ

CF Legend
Basically, is it a good idea?

I've noticed recently that a few UK parks haven taken to social media and asked the public to name their new attractions, most popular name wins!

Now to me this opens up the door for all kinds of shenanigans, but I've had a read through and they're mostly fairly PC, with a few slip-ups from younger kids who no not of their unintentional innuendos (Mast Blaster anyone?). So yeah, it has taken me by surprise to see how engaged the public are with things like this and how nobody exploited a situation that could easily have ended up in disaster.

What do we think, is it a good idea?
 
Those results can always be manipulated so that the park gets to name it whatever they want anyway. It's a publicity stunt, but a good one for parks with a smaller advertising budget.
 
Yeah I think they're used not as a genuine competition but as a mixture of both publicity and market research; they'll already have a name in mind and this is just a way to get people engaged, get a bit of hype around it and also see if their choice is the one the public go for.
 
I agree that it's mainly a PR exercise, but if it engages people who then feel more of a connection to the park then I'm all for it. I find it's just a bit of fun which is what the industry is all about imo.
 
Of course it is a good idea, as it is a PR move for engaging audience. These ballots are never a true democracy, and the final say always goes to the park's discretion. Public suggesting ride names is another good way to drum up excitement around the ride.

Absolutely there is room for exploitation (See University of Mississippi when they allowed for the public to vote on a new mascot), but that is easily overcome by establishing general guidelines and using common sense.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ljrGXktR4[/youtube]
 
Hyde said:
Absolutely there is room for exploitation (See University of Mississippi when they allowed for the public to vote on a new mascot), but that is easily overcome by establishing general guidelines and using common sense.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7ljrGXktR4[/youtube]
Click to expand...

I lived this stupidity.

As for GP naming, just, no.
 
gavin said:
Those results can always be manipulated so that the park gets to name it whatever they want anyway. It's a publicity stunt, but a good one for parks with a smaller advertising budget.
Click to expand...
This.

At Linnanmäki they had a naming competition for the Skyloop coaster and they stated the "top10" suggestions before announcing the winner and there were like four names which I preferred. I can understand that the winning name was "Ukko" as it is a 'god' of weather and harvest in the old finnish mythology. However it's sort of silly as the name is nowadays more commonly used for '(random) old guy', so you could say:"I was waiting for the bus, and then a weird 'ukko', suddenly started talking to me".
 
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