"In the desert...the military makes it so... Hulu licensing." -"drive-in" business sketch towards bottom
So last night a Christmas Miracle happened! Well, not really, but that is what I was told upon running into my pals Mike, Jess and her brother Wes at the Jade Monkey near my home.
The route to the Christmas Miracle was about 4 miles in length and born of physiological circumstances. Now, I won't lie, my extended family has problems with sugar, and the holidays bring all manner of diabetic, death bound, temptation. To better understand I have to give the back story. Back around April fools day I put an end to sugary treats. This included putting my love for Coca-Cola to bed, mostly for good...goodbye dear friend, our codependent and masochistic relationship was killing me. I love you, I do, I miss you too but I am better off without you! (note- I've had two cans of Coke since April...one on RAGBRAI and one with some rum while on a research trip in Boston post 45miles worth of riding).
Quitting sugar or high fructose corn crap in America is no small task. At workplaces in towns big and small people bring cookies, brownies and cakes. At my day job, the skinny people bring in the treats they would never eat to "help me get rid of it." Even my dentist and wife's auto mechanic both put out free cookies for customers. Free samples of empty calorie pastries and other similarly sugary treats are pushed at the market, even places like WholeFoods. Temptation is at every corner and unless you plan well you might end up giving into the subsidized American treasure: super low cost, high calorie, unhealthy food options. Honestly, even meatballs from the supermarket have some amount of high fructose corn crap in them! Crazy and sad!
None the less, and for the most part, I have rocked my new lifestyle. I've slimmed down, I feel better and my system seems to be much better balanced. No doubt I have a long way to go ...and no, I haven't cut "all" sugar from diet, and yes I have had a cookie now and again but it is so infrequent that I can count most all "treat" occasions on my hand. (That is a strange realization I just had, I can literally remember almost all instances of crappy food in the last six months it's so infrequent-that's kinda neat...and I am the kind of person who gets peeved at the idea of someone else telling me what I should or shouldn't eat!).
This all brings me to the "Christmas Miracle." This week has been a bad food suck hole. We've had both sides of the family in for the last ten days. A big group combined with the logistics of large group meals and Holiday food expectations provided many opportunities to let myself down. Last night was no exception. After dinner I gave into the best ice cream (sorry, frozen custard) perhaps on this planet,Michaels Frozen Custard! No joke that frozen custard is fantastical. My wife's mom is in from LA and she goes nuts for the stuff whenever she is in town. Needless to say we have a bunch of flavors in the house and I ate a little less than half a pint after dinner.
When you don't eat much raw/processed sugar just one spoonful ends up giving a euphoria equal to a narcotic high. In that moment of creamy heaven life is beautifully blissful really! It's is amzaing really. Imagine what a can of Coke tastes like after not having any for a year...it will either be amazing or awful or some mix of both! For me it was the mix of both! About an hour after eating the stuff I felt like a pile of super-poo, mentally and physically. No kidding my joints became inflamed, I had a faint hint of a head ache and most important I let myself down (and Dr Julie).
Given the circumstance, and the fact that it was a balmy 45degrees out, I went for a walk to help mellow the effects of sugary system issues. In short I was trying to walk off the sugar and the guilt!
Finally the Christmas Miracle and the business sketch.... I walked a couple miles and realized I needed to hit a restroom thus two miles into the walk I turned around and started back towards home. It became obvious the pee would not wait thus a half mile from home I popped into the only open business with public restroom, the Jade Monkey Bar/Lounge. The place was packed as usual. I did my business and proceeded to the door. That's when I saw Mike, Jess and Wes as noted at the beginning.
I stopped over at their table to say hello and Jess exclaims, "IT'S A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!!" Why you ask? Well, I used to go out quite a lot but since starting a family not so much anymore. When people see me out and about sans my son it is a shock for some... really. Shock and awe happened and one thing led to another and my healthful walk was thwarted by a couple fun beers purchased for me, not by me. Thanks team!
Onto the business sketching! As noted several blogs before, this site and these stories are dedicated to the creation of business ideas, value models, life inspired products and anything that increases value (business models woot) small or large, simple or complex. There will be no posts without a business sketch of some sort and all posts are generated based on life experiences. Wooo, back to the Monkey!
Here is the set up for the sketch. I work with those wonderfully fun people with the exception of brother who currently lives far away in the desert somewhere and is a military man. As usual with that crew we started talking business ideas based on the banter of table talk. One thing led to another and somehow I arrived at Flash Mob DriveIn idea.
The very first sentences and title were the notes I typed to myself at the table. "In the desert...the military makes it so... Hulu licensing." "Flash Mob drive-in"
The elevator pitch is this:
An event or event marketing company leveraging creative commons and bulk licensing (Hulu partnership) of films to provide the very best in mobile/transient film experiences.
Revenue from "ticket sales" (meaning sold as individual tickets or in bulk for any number of secret events where customer is notified just days before the event via mobile or web) and concession partnerships (this company would be good at events, concession partnerships would be brokered with people who know concessions.)
Venues would include super low cost or "abandoned" properties (such as the genesis of BurningMan's location-secret = exclusive experience) that would not be permanent but exist as venues for the transient experience.
Revenue would flow from ticket sales, concessions and merchandising as well as aggregated member data (think a whole new way to make FourSquare that much more Rad).
Likewise as an event marketing firm the events would also be sold as a service for special marketing events (private) and as a community vendor (public/municipality events vendor).
Expanded inspirations and support arguments ILOLAM:
The military reference? I was told the military has inflatable movie screens for outdoor events. I thought cool, the tech and precedent and usage model exists! If the military does it then there are future employees and partners in the waiting.
Next, ever noticed those Halloween stores that pop up in abandoned retail space during Sept and Oct each year? Same with Christmas Holiday vendors who take over similar spaces or funky portions of public space within existing shopping malls? For certain we all know about the Christmas Tree vendors who set up Santaland Tree Sales in vast portions of unused mega mall parking lots. ...Well, take that idea and mash it up with the old illegal rave model (but keep yours legal -LOL). Raves used to be secret, exclusive, "spontaneous" -at least to participants and somewhat mysterious. They brought vast amounts of people together in a very short period of time for a killer dance/music experience. If you ask me the entire Flash Mob thing is simply a legal evolution/variation of illegal dance parties that have gone on for years. These events are secret and exclusive, mysterious and b...take that inspiration for movie events for profit.
Next inspiration- movies in the park. Neighborhood associations across America do this all summer long. Why not support public events (small scale pricing) while going big with private ventures (larger scale investment, bigger pay off).
All events have partnership opportunities big and small.
All events from the FlashMob Drive-In would seek to provide a similar vibe (fun, spontaneous, "secret" transient) whether that be for adults or for kids, public or private!
Last note, as I lose steam. Sound could be broadcast via local signal to car audio (if a car drive in scenario) or with the good ole PA system, rock band style (in a blanket/lawn/park scenario).
Woo that was way longer than I thought! Way cooler than I expected too...esp for a sketch that came from ten minutes of bar banter!
Happy New Year folks!!!
-cL!
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