Author: Jacob Williams

As Thinkwell approaches its 20th anniversary, it was time, in many regards, to take stock. Like so many companies in our industry, we’ve grown and contracted over the years with the ebb and flow of projects and built ourselves organically into the company we are today. As we look towards our next twenty years, one thing that became clear was that no matter how good our intentions were, we need to ensure that our values are baked into our structures, policies, practices, and culture. As there was increasing awareness of and discourse around systemic racism and violence towards Black people, in particular, this work took on extra urgency.

Diversity and Inclusion work is a long arc which never ends: because we will always need to do the work of ensuring our work environments, processes, and creative products do not perpetuate inequity or harm. Because of this, it was crucial that we spend the time and effort putting in place a team and framework that will allow this work to be iterative, measurable, and enduring. This summer, we solicited interest from staff across every team in our LA Studio, and assembled our Diversity and Inclusion (D&I) Council. The members are drawn from every discipline and range from newcomers to the industry to seasoned veterans who represent a wide variety of traditionally underrepresented groups. 

Importantly, the Council is not charged with ‘fixing it’ – that’s a mistake all too many companies and institutions make when beginning this process. Rather, they identify, empower, and assess:

• Through a combination of tools, including surveys, workshops, and interviews, identify areas both internally to Thinkwell and externally where inequity and racism lurk and must be addressed and define projects to address these. As an example, the Diversity and Inclusion Council reviewed and workshopped our revised Vision, Mission, and Values statements.
• Assemble and empower D&I Project teams, drawing on the expertise and enthusiasm of other Thinkwellians, to take on projects specific to improving D&I. For example, many Thinkwellians faced educational barriers and a lack of support for their chosen careers when they were younger; a project team will develop a toolkit Thinkwellians can use in their communities to help engage traditionally underrepresented youth in the career opportunities Themed Entertainment represents.
• Through studio- and company-wide surveys, the D&I council will assess where the internal Thinkwell culture sits with regards to these issues. In addition, the D&I Council will review and synthesize evaluation to assess the outcomes of the D&I projects, and report out on where we are succeeding and where we still have work to do.

This structure has two important features baked in: first, it does not put the burden of developing, implementing, and evolving solutions strictly on the Diversity & Inclusion Council, through the involvement of other Thinkwellians in those project teams. Secondly, by placing an emphasis on assessment, it allows us to both build on quantifiable success and report to the industry at large the impact and importance of our efforts. Ultimately, while our work is inward, we want to share our efforts widely, so that we can see real change take hold in the industry we’ve collectively dedicated our careers to and love so dearly.

To find out more about our work, please feel free to contact Nkenge Cameron, head of our D&I Council, or Cynthia Sharpe, executive advocate for the council.

 

Back in 2001, when we sat around discussing what the company should be called, we knew we didn’t want any one person’s name on the door. We’d seen other companies that had done that and the limiting factor became every client wanted to have that person in their meeting, working on their project. Over time, some of those companies changed their names to try to eliminate that critical limiting factor. Thinkwell is bigger than one person, better than an ego, and is both an organism and an organization. We felt–and still feel–the company should be a place where everyone is proud to work–through good times and bad.

Which leads us to 2020. 

At the beginning of the year, staff raised concerns about workplace culture issues that led to us contemplating how best to address these matters and improve the working environment at Thinkwell–and that was before March when everything went COVID-sideways. Unfortunately, the pandemic’s effects made it necessary to engage in a round of layoffs in order to remain a viable business, which also had a significant impact on the company’s culture and created a sense of uncertainty, as it would in any workplace. Add that to the stress, day-to-day unpredictability of working from home, and not having the camaraderie of being with and seeing fellow employees around the proverbial watercooler for support.

Of course, we’d been working online and long-distance with our clients and our studios & offices in Beijing, Abu Dhabi, and Montréal, so the distributed workforce was, in many ways, a broadening of what we had been successfully for many years.

At the same time, as a groundswell of movement rose into voices of protest and concern across the nation and worldwide, we needed to address our own diversity and inclusion position and policies at Thinkwell. We couldn’t just sit idly by or, worse, acknowledge the situation like so many others without putting real work behind it. 

With all these things in flux, all these things rising together virtually at the same time, we had to hit “pause” and say, “What do we want Thinkwell to look like and be for our employees today, tomorrow, and in the future?” When can a business see such change from external forces create a cliff’s edge of opportunity? This is an inflection point: the world will not be the same after this, and we can either plunge into the chasm by continuing on the old, dated path or forge a new direction in order to soar.

The direction we chose became known in-house as the Thinkwell 3.0 initiatives (Thinkwell 2.0 being the time of the great financial crisis in 2008). We still believe deeply in the power of connecting people with stories, brands, and ideas, but Thinkwell 3.0 aims to make how we get there better, smarter, nimbler, and more equitable:

• We put a group of leaders from across the company together to lead the way to recommend how to address our problematic cultural issues rather than dictate them from the top down. Immediately after the layoffs took effect, these leaders convened roundtables of employees from across all teams in the L.A. Studio to envision what they wanted the Thinkwell of the future to be. These discussions went beyond questions of policy, they got to the heart of how we hire, nurture, create, and collaborate.
• We asked our staff to develop and lead our own Diversity & Inclusion Council, made up of 20 employees across identities, teams, and seniority, in order to bring diverse perspectives to the table.
• Thinkwell surveyed employees across our offices to understand how they were feeling and holding up to balancing work and life while continuing to create great, world-class projects for our clients worldwide–often while juggling other stay-at-home partners, assisting kids with remote learning, and other demands. This way we understood where our people and teams were emotionally; how their own personal balancing acts of work and home are going; and that they are well-supported structurally, technologically, and personally.
• We’re piloting a new program in our LA Office. Studio Teams, with experienced Thinkwellians as Studio Guides, provide groups of five employees from across disciplines with a resource group for goal setting, career insight, and industry guidance, as well as offering the benefit of building closer relationships with Thinkwellians across teams and disciplines.

Where does all this take Thinkwell? As we head into 2021 we will eagerly watch to see how these efforts that have been put into place will manifest themselves in improving our organization. 2021 is, by the way, Thinkwell’s 20th anniversary, and we believe that with the help of our employees doing great and often difficult efforts we are all working together to create a stronger, better, more vital place to work–even as we do it all in our pajama bottoms from home. Our distributed workforce of multidisciplinary talented experts has proven in the last seven months that we are adaptable, that we are strong, that we are productive, and that we remain innovative. 

Our teams have facilitated and participated in dozens of online charrettes, produced schematic design and design development packages, continued in-field production and installation supervision and art direction, produced turnkey media packages, developed bespoke interactives, created land-use and masterplans for major developments, and continue to design some of the best immersive guest experiences in the industry. And, to our pleasant surprise, we’ve seen an increase in productivity, efficiency, and margins in the process as Thinkwellians work in a flexible model of WFH and some office/studio time, as needed. 

Ultimately, whether we are in the office all together or working as a distributed workforce–or someday perhaps a hybrid of both–we hope Thinkwellians will be and remain proud to be a part of a company that cares about them and about our futures together.

Full disclosure: My TikTok channel is blowing up, having recently crested 100,000 subscribers to the dismay of my teenage sons. This is particularly noteworthy for two reasons: first, I am no spring chicken, and two, my content focuses on recreating the antics of The Three Stooges, a comedy team that was long dead decades before most of the TikTok audience was born. More about that later. 

With Facebook originating 16 years ago, it’s hard to comprehend the astronomical growth, reach and influence of social media around the world. Facebook alone has 2.5 billion monthly active users as of December 2019. That’s not accounting for the meteoric rise of Tik Tok, or longevity of the polarized Twitter-sphere of users.  There are many takeaways for our location-based industry from this boom in online content and content creation.  Even with our venues temporarily shuttered, there is a willing and expanding audience within reach. We may not be able to capture footfalls or move the turnstiles just yet, but social media provides a way to capture the hearts and minds of a new audience, to engage them in your mission, give them a glimpse behind the curtains, let them chat with your designers and operators, or let them collaborate on the next big thing.

One of the largest assets social media has is influencers and content creators. Younger generations are flocking to new forms of entertainment – many of which older generations simply don’t track as easily. It’s complex, ever shifting with the latest trend.  Ultimately, we must embrace the fact that social media is a powerful entertainment medium on par with broadcast television, movies, and video games. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and other platforms have become the primary source of entertainment content for my own teenagers. I have seen them both struck dumb when bumping into a social media influencer on the street and they are more excited at the prospect of driving by the FaZe House (a $30M Hollywood Hills mansion that is home to the wildly successful esports organization) than they are revisiting a theme park. It seems likely, then, that the next big intellectual property is probably talking shape right now, in the ether of social media.

Pre-pandemic, we were happily embracing what had become known as the “Experience Economy,” where consumers were investing in travel and experiences over material goods. Social media played into this notion brilliantly and began to alter the behavior of people in real world locations. Slumping brick and mortar stores began drawing crowds to their shops with events featuring big name ”influencers.” News of these events was spread through social media channels, so the sudden appearance of lines of young people winding around the block of a retail shop was a mysterious surprise to the uninitiated. The desire to share selfies online elevated the common photo opp to a whole new venue, the genre known as “Instagram Museum,”  where stand alone attractions like the Museum of Ice Cream, Color Factory, and 29 Rooms had, until the Lost COVID Year of 2020, become a hot ticket drawing big crowds and generous admission prices. Still, for the most part, social media content was a one-way pipeline, on which creators would post and in some cases track their comments for feedback or inspiration. 

Then, quarantine happened, and with everyone in lockdown the “Experience Economy” shifted again to what we might call the “Creator Economy:”  While real world venues and attractions shuttered, content creation exploded (along with the sales of light rings, backdrops, smartphone tripods, and condenser mics). More content creators began to join the revolution, further expanding an audience base of willing and idle eyes. 

Soon, mainstream celebrities quickly joined the party.  TikTok began as a platform by and for young females, primarily, but scroll through the app today, and your “foryou” feed might include contributions from Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Anthony Hopkins, Gordon Ramsey, Cindi Lauper and others – singers, comedians, advocates – all delivering spontaneous, thirty second bon mots. More recently, 93 year old Sir David Attenborough set a Guinness World Record for reaching one million followers on Instagram, and my team of no-name impersonators has drawn a crowd of 100,000 by paying tribute to The Three Stooges, the comedy team whose last member died in 1975. Apparently, there is an audience for everyone.

Interestingly, the spontaneous, impromptu, and handmade quality of these smartphone videos actually breaks down the perceived wall of celebrity. For the first time ever, it feels as if these are our friends and acquaintances. Will Smith is cracking jokes with us. Neil DeGrasse Tyson is explaining the mysteries of the universe to me. Anthony Hopkins thumbs a piano as he asks how we’re doing during lockdown. You can cook for Gordon Ramsey, and he might just repost your vid with his live critique! 

TikTok offers “duet” and “react” capabilities that let one user augment or react to the work of another. Everyone wants to play in the sandbox, and this form of plagiarism is encouraged since each repost extends the reach of the original, bringing more “likes,” more “shares,” and more subscribers.  A recent post of a man skateboarding with a bottle of Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice to the accompaniment of Fleetwood Mac’s hit song Dream went inexplicably viral. So much so, that Mick Fleetwood himself replicated the original, skateboard and all. The duet is now the basis for a network broadcast commercial and Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 Rumours album is once again at the top of the charts, taking the meta pop culture references full circle.

It is vital to consider this new “Creator Economy” as we begin to reopen our doors to the public. This global audience is eager to contribute, collaborate, and make connections with content creators, and even though venues remain closed, it is easier than ever to engage and expand your audience through minimal thirty second clips (shot on smartphones!) that are fun, conversational, intimate, and collaborative. You might tour the facility when the lights are down, share operational facts and figures with simple pop-up graphics, share maintenance efforts, and reveal industry secrets. Prompt comments and use the feedback as your own, always available focus group to determine the path ahead, and be sure to include them as part of your team. 

Meanwhile, consider ways that you can encourage content creation at your venue, so that when they can visit in the real world, they will have the resources to create content  right there and share it with the virtual world. Ask for comments and suggestions. You’ll get plenty of both. Everyone is bursting to get out of the house, and building your social media presence now can help ensure they beat a path to yours.

Halloween is traditionally a large celebration with our Thinkwellians. This year looks a bit different as we socially distance and work from home, but that won’t stop our teams from celebrating in new ways. Back in April, we introduced the first Thinkwell Holidays at Home packet for Easter. The intention was simple: get kids dreaming, creating, and crafting with activities that both celebrated the season and leaned on our experience design disciplines to introduce the next generation to the creative process of art design, problem-solving and more. 

Now, we’re thrilled to introduce our second round of the Holidays at Home packet with our Frightful Fall Fun Family Activity Packet. Great for all ages, this booklet explores creating your own monster to hang on your door, building a Pepper’s Ghost box effect, and dodging mummies in a new spin on the classic game, “Battleship” (but we’ll keep those details under wraps for now…).  Additionally, families can create their own comic book with Thinkwell Media‘s mascot, Jetpack Jenny! Here, kids create a story and script just like writers and creative directors do. We hope that these fun family activities will keep the festive fall spirit alive as you celebrate Halloween from home this year. 

Be sure to tag our social media accounts, or use the hashtag #ThinkwellAtHome so we can see your monster designs, and Pepper’s Ghost effects!

To download the packet, click HERE

For Chrome users: On the top right, click the printer to print, or the download button to directly download the PDF to your computer!

For Safari: Hover at the bottom center of the page and click ‘download’.

Thinkwell was thrilled to be able to participate in the recent DC FanDome virtual event held by Warner Bros. and DC in September and is thankful for their partnership in producing a panel utilized during this ground-breaking event. The global fan-focused virtual experience celebrated the brands and heroes of DC in a 24-hour experience filled with panels, surprise previews, celebrity interviews, exclusive merchandise, and hours of engaging content for fans.  Thinkwell led the Theme Parks and Attractions panel, with a focus on key attraction development at Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi for FanDome.

Panelists revealed stories and secrets relating to the immersive Metropolis and Gotham lands at Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi and talked about the creative development of the robotic arm dark ride Batman: Knight Flight, the 4D 360-degree Superman 360: Battle for Metropolis, the trackless 3D media-based dark ride Justice League: Warworld Attacks, and the flying theater attraction Green Lantern: Galactic Odyssey. They also discussed story development for the world-class attractions, creating unique and diverse guest experiences around each of the DC Super Heroes and Super-Villains, talked about the original musical scores created for the park’s lands and attractions, and discussed hidden “fan service” within the park.

Over the course of nearly two decades of Thinkwell’s operation, our awareness of issues of diversity, equity, inclusion, and access has evolved and grown. Our challenge is to ensure Thinkwell, as an organization and as a leader in the themed entertainment industry, reflects and embraces this understanding. One of the most important organizational changes we’ve made recently is the establishment of a Diversity & Inclusion Council. This is not a box to tick off, but one element in a commitment to this important, unending work. The Thinkwellians on the Council have come forward to help ensure their colleagues and the industry at large can hold honest conversations about the issues we all are facing and hopefully make our world—and industry—a better place.

Our Diversity & Inclusion Council is comprised of 20 employees across identities, teams, and seniority, in order to bring diverse perspectives to the table. The mission of the group is to track and manage three core areas: 

Assessment: Continually assessing the current state of Thinkwell, progress in achieving inclusion and impact of projects spearheaded by the D&I Council

Identification of Opportunities: Exploring the major needs or areas for improvement, forming internal teams to develop plans and methodologies to address these needs, and providing feedback to those internal teams.

Education and Support: Curate content for Thinkwellians to review and discuss in small groups internally, codify and disseminate best practices in our processes and work products, develop outreach tools for Thinkwellians to use in the industry, and share our thought leadership with the themed entertainment industry.

Change is not easy, but it is our responsibility to not only do this work, but share our process and outcomes so that others may benefit. By championing this work with empathy, humility, honesty, and understanding, we believe we can help advance the industry we’ve dedicated our careers to, ensuring the workplace we’ve built and the industry we serve is one that is safe, fair, and welcoming for all.

Did you know Thinkwell owns patents?

Over the years, Thinkwell have developed a variety of ideas, inventions, unique technologies, and other intellectual properties. But did you know Thinkwell holds multiple patents for some of these innovations?

Our first patent, granted to Thinkwell Group in 2013, is for a gesture-based interactive dark ride system. Rather than using a gun or other tethered object held in the hand and triggered, like those found in dozens of rides ranging from Men in Black: Alien Attack at Universal Studios Florida, this patent was awarded for the innovative idea of using human gestures–no device needed–to trigger interactivity offboard the ride vehicle.

2017 delivered three unique patents to Thinkwell:

The first was for a robotic arm ride system mounted to a turntable–delivering the same scene-by-scene thrills of a Kuka-type dark ride but with the economical footprint found with a turntable to move guests from scene to scene while providing dynamic motion in sync with the action.

Two other patents that year related to Thinkwell’s development of the golf entertainment venue, DRĪV. In developing the exciting interactive group golf experience, the project development team innovated a new golf ball hitting mat and ball launch assist ramp (the latter element to improve range for beginners). The second patent was for an LED screen on the back of the driving range that provides visual feedback relating to interactive golfing. 

In 2019, Thinkwell Studio Montréal received a patent for the automatic projection calibration system they invented, allowing for Sureast and simple automated calibration of multiple projectors in applications ranging from multi-projector media presentations to massive mapped projection environments and spectaculars. 

Living Mural™, an innovation conceived and created by Thinkwell is patent pending. Found in the lobby of Warner Bros. Studio Tour London: The Making of Harry Potter, this invention combines multiple planes of LED, traditional printed mediums, and projection: rear 4-color LED mesh, printed translucent murals, and front mapped projected elements. These combine together to create the magical illusion of static murals of any size coming to life.

Thinkwell often has to conceive and create new ideas to solve problems where no solution existed prior, and Thinkwell’s many patents are proof that our innovative teams truly push the envelope every day.