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His Vision Broadened On-Demand Offerings
Most people in the cable industry know Page Thompson as one of the chief architects of Comcast's video-on-demand marketing strategy. What they may not know is that nearly a decade before engineering the growth of VOD services at the nation's largest cable operator, he embarked on a two-year quest to launch a rock 'n' roll theme park. And, he said, the experience isn't much different from what he has done with VOD at Comcast.
Mr. Thompson, now 42, left his marketing job at Pepsi in 1994 to create a theme park that would house games such as "Peter Gabriel's Mind Blender," envisioned as a simulator-type ride. "We [wanted] to create a 40,000-square-foot theme park to interact with rock 'n' roll music for people in their 30s and 40s who didn't want to go out to clubs and could introduce the kids to music, combined with high-tech music rides and music theme bands," he said.
But timing, as they say, is everything, and restaurants like the Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood, which also have entertainment-related themes, were in trouble then, making it difficult to raise the money needed to finance the grand vision that Mr. Thompson and his partner shared.
The experience demonstrated to him the power of an idea, since it all started...