Disneyland has brought a new experiential technology to their Parks and it’s called MagicBand. The MagicBand system is pretty neat and looks like a simple, futuristic rubber wristband, which can also be customized as it’s available in various colors.
Inside each of the MagicBands is an intelligent RFID chip and a radio system which is similarly design to what you might find in a cordless phone for your house.
What is RFID Technology?
RFID is basically a system which can transmit the identity of an object or person wirelessly using radio waves. It is a transportable piece of equipment which can be hidden away neatly in anything from a festival wristband to a dog tag or most commonly a smartphone. it automatically communicates the data to an RDIF Reader where the information is then interpreted and managed.
RFID shouldn’t be confused for Near Field Communications or NFC technologies as there are great differences between the two.
How does it work?
The wristband has a battery that can last around two years. The band will connect you to a powerful system that spans the entire park. Tap the MagicBand at the gate and swipe onto the rides you’ve already booked, if you’ve registered on the web, the MagicBand is the only thing you need.
Disney has been busy thinking. They’ve engineered all the undesirables away from the experience of going to DisneyLand, which is actually pretty great. The MagicBand is linked to your credit card, so you don’t need to carry cash. No long lines and no hassles, the MagicBand really makes the experience better when you don’t have to keep pulling out your wallet and you can just enjoy your time.
Not only do you have more time to spend with your family and friends, but ride management and restaurants already know you and your family by name as the RFID Technology is constantly communicating with the employees of the park so they will be awaiting your arrival, knowing who you are.
The NFL has been testing out a new MotionWorks RFID System designed by Zebra Technologies to help track athlete’s performance. This season the player’s speed, distance, and direction traveled will be in real-time for XBOX users This tracking technology will be integrated into each players shoulder pads, and XBOX players will be able to consume all that data as it happens. Essentially the experience will look like a video-game presentation of real-world plays.
Now pulling all this data can be quite extensive, think about it, Speed, Position and Distance data being sent to twenty two football players, being animated on a field and aggregating that over time, however all this information is to be aggregated onto NFL.com and the XBox NFL app should have all that information ready to go for each clip that is published.
“The only thing that keeps us from having it instantaneous is the human element to cutting the highlight,” Todd Stevens says, the Executive Producer at Microsoft.
“Replays like a one-yard touchdown run, you don’t really need Next Gen Stats. But some of these plays, like a long pass play, are truly spectacular. We wanted to give them a bit of special sauce.” said Stevens.
This technology could prove to be especially important for fantasy football enthusiasts. Imagine being able to introduce your own sports ticker, selecting pop-up notifications for games, your favorite fantasy teams from NFL, CBS, Yahoo and ESPN. Notifications will pop-up alerting you of any changes in the games you had been tracking. Using Microsoft’s XBox Snapshot you can quickly slide this information in and out of view so you can watch your game and receive information on the games you were tracking simultaneously.
If you have questions about RFID Technology, Experiential Marketing or just want to stop by and chat about your ideas contact BeCore today!