Five Points From A Road Trip Vacation

Not if the kids aren't looking

A few points to share with you all from my recent vacation, as it loosely pertains to the stated life goal of marketing and advertising. We promise that more coherent and full-form work will result as we get back in the swing of things, assuming, of course, that you found the previous work to be coherent, and in full form.

1) Shockingly, South of the Border still exists, and will punish you with relentless outdoor advertising... that children will totally miss.

The tourist trap that beckons I-95 commuters, with the questionable taste in Mexican-American humor and the omnipresent road signs? Still doing land office business, at least in terms of outdoor buys. Perhaps the costs of outdoor ads in the Carolinas makes it a slam dunk, but judging from the impact in my own car with my own kids -- locked into phones, iPods, and in the case of my budding eldest child, a ukelele -- it's not a winning investment in the future. Only the parent drivers noticed, and we're not exactly the target market to pull over for that destination.

2) The Internet of Things is such a slam dunk for theme parks.

This year, we revisited Universal Orlando, because the youngest is very much into the Potter... and truth be told, the whole family is pretty much down with those books and movies. You can now buy your budding witch or wizard a wand that is IoT connected, which means it will activate various actions in the themed areas, which is pretty cool, even in beta. Soon enough, of course, the tech will allow a much more definitive experience than just the same thing that other kids are doing, and the day when you can use it to skip a ride line or six, well then... maybe you won't wince so much at the cost for a stick of your kid's own. (Oh, and the memories, of course. Those essential memories.)

3) Seven days, one hour.

My little family are not culture snobs; we enjoy all kinds of mass market stuff, really. But in the week we were all sharing the same hotel room, the television was on for all of one hour -- the crossover episode of "Supergirl" with a guest appearance from the star of the CW's "The Flash" -- and then went right back off. Mostly this is because I wasn't watching sports, and knew that on demand would have everything I missed back home waiting for me, but still. If you are looking for evidence that the next generation isn't much into tech that isn't personal, here it was, in microcosm. And it's not exactly a new development.

4) Mapping tech makes all of this so much easier.

GPS saved us hours with alternatives to main highways in both directions, and also made getting around town, sometimes in torrential thunderstorms, much less stressful. I remember vacations without mapping apps, and I'm so glad that we never have to have one of those again.

5) Old school fun still works.

As good as the IoT and craft of Universal is -- and honestly, we had a fine time, though not, of course, a fine value -- there's something to be said for more traditional approaches. Two of the other three days for us were spent at Fun Spot, a park where you can enter and park for free and ride attractions that don't take very long at all, and Wet and Wild, the first waterpark in America. (It's closing at the end of the year for a Universal rebrand.) No screens, promotional tie-ins, must-have souvenirs or cachet to saying we went there... but the good times were as valid or better, and the overall day, probably superior. And so was the board game we played in the hotel room as a family, the time we spent in the car -- necessary to afford the other stuff -- and the overall bonding. It's good to get away, and it's better to be back. Onward!

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