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mousketeer
05-17-2003, 11:15 PM
American Telephone and Telegraph has dropped their sponsorship of Indiana Jones Andventure. Their five year contract has expired, and as with Epcot's Spaceship Earth and Innoventions, contracts are not being renewed.

This does not surprise me. As with Dole, I cannot see how AT&T sponsorship dollars are keeping up the attraction, as anyone can see much of the ride's magical special effects are no longer working.

This year has seen General Electric and Federal Express pull out of their Walt Disney World attractions, and it is not unknown that remaining Epcot Future World sponsors, especially ExxonMobil, are voicing dissatisfaction with their returns. But then again, what does ExxonMobil expect guests to do after visiting the Universe of Energy pavilion? Buy some stock? They should have thought of having a resident broker.

jerjer2005
05-18-2003, 06:26 PM
hummmm... where did you retrieve your information from on this fact about At&T? i was there last week and the signs STILL read at&t.

hondo1975
05-18-2003, 06:29 PM
I work for AT&T, and several months back we recived an e-mail about us ending our sponsership at DL and WDW. It is just a matter of time before they remove the AT&T logos.

Klutch
05-18-2003, 06:58 PM
Originally posted by mousketeer
... what does ExxonMobil expect guests to do after visiting the Universe of Energy pavilion? Buy some stock? They should have thought of having a resident broker.

It may seem weird that a company like Exxon would sponsor a Disney attraction. What they are after is a positive public perception. If millions of people a year enjoy an attraction sponsored by Exxon, they will likely view Exxon as "nice guys" and not complain when Exxon stations dot every other corner.

I think Monsanto's sponsorship and creative work on the old "Adventures through Inner Space" was for similar reasons. Nobody goes out and buys a "Monsanto" brand product, but many of the products they do buy were developed by Monsanto. People tend to be leary of big chemical companies. But hey, if they make cool, psychedelic trips through snowflakes, they must not be so bad.

If more and more companies are dropping sponsorships at Disney parks, they must think they aren't getting a positive public perception. This could be because the attractions are run down or Disney Parks don't mean what they used to. Then again, it could just be those short-sighted, pointy-headed bureacrats at work again.

mousketeer
05-18-2003, 07:17 PM
Originally posted by jerjer2005
hummmm... where did you retrieve your information from on this fact about At&T? i was there last week and the signs STILL read at&t.

Press release.

sydney
05-18-2003, 07:34 PM
the signs at indy have been re-painted. Messages like "true rewards await those who choose wisely" are now gone.

Lani
05-18-2003, 07:54 PM
Originally posted by mousketeer
American Telephone and Telegraph...Federal Express... ExxonMobilSince you were so careful to mention the full names of the sponsors, their current names are:

AT&T Corporation (it has not been American Telephone and Telegraph for eons)

FedEx Corporation (it also has not been Federal Express for many years)

Exxon Mobil Corp (space between the two). Its subsidiary, ExxonMobil Chemical Company, has no space, but the corporation itself uses two names with a space.

XxJack SkellingtonxX
05-18-2003, 08:14 PM
So what does this mean for the Indy ride? Is it going to look worse or what?

mousketeer
05-18-2003, 09:40 PM
Originally posted by Lani
Exxon Mobil Corp (space between the two). Its subsidiary, ExxonMobil Chemical Company, has no space, but the corporation itself uses two names with a space.

From what the website says, it appears that the corporation is Exxon Mobil and one of its subsidiaries, the sponsor of the Universe of Energy, is ExxonMobil.

http://www.wdwmagic.com/epcotnews/p1120019_small.jpg

As per AT&T, I was just using formalities for no reason at all:rolleyes: But, I was not aware of the Federal Express change. I still call it the old name, and I believe our local branch still has a Federal Express marquee.

Moderator's Note: Img tags removed to preserve copyright because based on my search, I see no evidence that you own the copyright on this image.- Adrienne K

Rustin
05-19-2003, 12:45 AM
well now that the little battle of symantecs and gramatical discrepencies is out of the way... ;)

... I can't beleive we are going to see much of a change on these attractions. The sponsorship agreements were cirtainly not paying for upgrades.

Does anyone know any kind of specifics. like what the $$ from these agreements is spent on. Is there allocations made for regular maintanance, or are these companies just paying enough to get their logo on the wall?

Just some curious questions from a mostly ignorant mind...

Morrigoon
05-19-2003, 08:55 AM
Actually, one part of the AT&T stuff is still there, if you know how to read it. When you come out of the bamboo canyon part of the Indy queue, you enter the bat cave. On the wall to the right of the bat cave entrance is a bit of PAINTED marabic (as opposed to most places where it appears to have been chiseled. Translated it says something to the nature of "True rewards await those who choose wisely." I hope they paint over it and put something cool in its place... I'd love to have new Marabic stuff to translate. And new cards, AT&T hasn't supplied cards since the first year.

whiles
05-19-2003, 09:32 AM
All,
Ccorporate sponsorship comes and goes at all Disney Parks. As ususal Disney was the first company to partner up with Corporations for rides. The Indy Jones - ATT sponsorship was a bad match anyways. Heck at one time ATT sponsored the "People Mover" and Fed-EX and Space Mountain were a so-so combination.

In all these sponsorships amount to "Naming Rights" for the ride, a chance to expose hundreds of thousands of park visitors to the companies product. Just like buying the naming rights to a ballpark. Does Pac Bell park make me want to sign up because they sponsor the park? hardly.

The main thought process is name exposure and the target is not us adults? The point is to associate fun with there company name and especially there logo so kids can relate having fun with the product or service they offer.

As these companies move out there will be more to take there place as companies are always looking towards attracting future consumers which of course starts with children.

thanks
whiles :cool:

Mukta
05-19-2003, 09:52 AM
I went on Thursday and noticed that the AT&T signs were gone from the exit, but I didn't know why. I hope that another corporation picks up the sponsorship and does some good with the ride. I love IJ, but Thursday's ride was a big disappointment. The music isn't working, the queue is in bad shape, the rats dropping didn't work and our car stalled in the ball-room and the voice didn't work. How much does Disney reply on Corporate sponsorship?

Bill Catherall
05-19-2003, 09:53 AM
I think AT&T isn't renewing their sponsership because the tie-in just isn't there anymore. AT&T used to have a "True Rewards" program. Sponsering Indy made a cute little tie-in. Now that they no longer have a True Rewards program why should they renew? All the "True Reward" signs are outdated advertising. I'm sure they'd rather spend their advertising dollars on something more relevant.

Lani
05-19-2003, 10:52 AM
Originally posted by Bill Catherall
I'm sure they'd rather spend their advertising dollars on something more relevant. You mean like Innoventions?? :D

Rustin
05-19-2003, 10:56 AM
to be honest, the AT&T side of things doesn't interest me at all. I want to know if Indy is going fall into further disrepair if there isn't another corp. sponsor.

R

sgtdilbert
05-19-2003, 01:50 PM
If I were a betting man (and I am am), I'd bet that the corporate sponsor's dollars go into a general fund at Disney and are *not* specifically allocated to the specific attractions.

I'd liken this to just allowing corporate sponsors the ability to advertise to a captive audience, and that's it.

Take one look at the Tiki Room's roof and I find it hard to believe that any of the money Dole pays is going to restore that Disneyland artifact.

So, to hope that another sponsor adopts a ride probably isn't going to do a whole bunch to help out the ride itself. It will probably just place more advertising, and maybe get a quick cleanup of the ride if some executive is visiting (just like they did for Dole's executives).

Disney follows the money; we all know that. Heck, how long was American Express at all of their parks, and so they decide to come out with the Disney Visa card and overnight there isn't an American Express logo anywhere, and they used to be everywhere!

s.

Morrigoon
05-19-2003, 07:19 PM
I think JeepŠ should sponsor Indy.

Germboy
05-20-2003, 10:46 PM
you are right, sgtdilbert. Bank of America used to be everywhere at the park--then I think they went to Union Bank. It's sort of sad, because B of A financed much of the construction of the park in the 50's. They were Walt's saviors, when no one else would fork up the bucks.

Carnation's another one that is being squeezed out. Sunkist is gone altogether, I think.

On a personal note, I always referred to ATIS as the "Monsanto Ride". Many of us did. Nowadays, I bet most high school kids have never heard of Monsanto. Much of the benefit of commercials comes from hearing the name (or 800 number) repeated over and over and over again. Even if you don't know what a company does, you might remember the name...

mousketeer
05-21-2003, 09:15 AM
Originally posted by Germboy
you are right, sgtdilbert. Bank of America used to be everywhere at the park--then I think they went to Union Bank. It's sort of sad, because B of A financed much of the construction of the park in the 50's. They were Walt's saviors, when no one else would fork up the bucks.

Carnation's another one that is being squeezed out. Sunkist is gone altogether, I think.

On a personal note, I always referred to ATIS as the "Monsanto Ride". Many of us did. Nowadays, I bet most high school kids have never heard of Monsanto. Much of the benefit of commercials comes from hearing the name (or 800 number) repeated over and over and over again. Even if you don't know what a company does, you might remember the name...

Look at EPCOT. Former sponsors include AT&T, General Electric, Metropolitan Life (MetLife), United Technologies, Kraft, Norshow, American Express, China Exposition Pavilion Co. . These pavilions (minus The Land) are now sponsor-less, and really show. The Living Seas is is pretty bad shape.

Lani
05-21-2003, 02:47 PM
Originally posted by mousketeer
From what the website says, it appears that the corporation is Exxon Mobil and one of its subsidiaries, the sponsor of the Universe of Energy, is ExxonMobil.Thanks for the clarifying photo, mouseketeer. My apologies for behaving so brusquely -- I didn't mean to post a hit-and-run message here without adding any two cents of value. What I meant to add originally (and which I forgot because I had a brain f... uh... my brain tooted) was:
But then again, what does ExxonMobil expect guests to do after visiting the Universe of Energy pavilion? Buy some stock? They should have thought of having a resident broker.GM has that showroom with new vehicles, right? They might consider a shop where you can buy auto-related things? Dunno... If I were them I'd consider taking up the sponsorship for TestTrack if GM ever lets it go.

DisneyFan25863
05-22-2003, 05:45 PM
Strange, the DL website still lists AT&T as the sponser for Indy....