The Latest from Church of the Customer Blog

Posted: 07 Apr 2009 11:09 AM PDT

Many movie theaters say they're in the exhibition business, which is one reason why many movie theaters are not entertaining.

But the Alamo Draft House movie theater in Austin, Texas continues to inspire with its innovations of fun, which it calls signature events.

Two examples within one week:

1. Renegade karaoke.
The Alamo rented a bus to drive around Austin filled with customers who, with the assistance of a mobile sound system, sang karaoke amidst surprised onlookers at Starbucks, a police station, a fitness class, and a busy intersection. The theater brought along a video camera to record the fun and compile a 4-minute highlight reel which will, naturally, be shown as entertainment before movie showings. One of the most fun parts of the video: a Starbucks employee who tells the singers with all seriousness, "The police are on the way."

2. A secret world premiere of the new Star Trek film.
It was billed as a big-screen showing of the 1982 Star Trek classic, "The Wrath of Khan," with an opportunity to see 10 minutes of the new "Star Trek" film. But 10 minutes into the showing of Khan, that film mysteriously "broke." Out walks Leonard "Mr. Spock" Nimoy. He suggests the theater show the entirety of the new Star Trek film. It was all a ruse to host an unexpected world premiere among hard-core fanatics of the franchise. How fun is that?

Fun is contagious.

Fun spreads.

Fun inspires loyalty.

Fun opens wallets.

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