Project Focus

(Milestone 1)

Problem

Drive-In movie theaters have steadily shut down over the years, with only 321 still operating in the U.S. today. There are 3 main problem areas contributing to the downfall of these theaters:

  1. Lack of awareness

  2. Antiquated practices and technology

  3. Lack of profitability

Although COVID-19 seems to have presented a unique entertainment environment that drive-in theaters could potentially fit into, lack of technological connection with the general public prevents them from growing into a widely popular pastime.

Customers

Target Customers

Our target audience for this project would be working professional millennials who would have both the capital to own/rent a vehicle and spend on entertainment, spare time in the evenings and on the weekends to attend drive-in movies, and the tendency to use their mobile device as a way to find events and things to do in their general area.

Additional Customer Groups

Whether you’re a classic drive-in fan feeling some nostalgia for the heyday of the twilit big screen, a movie buff that’s been stuck at home during quarantine, a casual moviegoer looking for a uniquely American experience, or a couple looking for a romantic date night off the beaten path, this app is the best way to locate, choose, and plan your trip to a drive-in theatre near you. This app provides a novel getaway for urbanites and a budget-conscious family activity for those who are looking for an evening activity they can bond over. While this app appeals to a broad and diverse group, it is particularly enticing for those who are looking for a fun activity that takes into account social distancing mandates.

Stakeholder Definition

The clear stakeholders for this drive-in app include the drive-in theater owners themselves, their employees, and their current fans. Additionally, we aim to capture new audiences, including psychographic segments like health-conscious movie-goers, "glampers" (short for "glam" campers), at-home entertainment streamers and Americans who miss the in-person, live entertainment experience. Our plan is to also tie groups such as music and theater performers and local businesses into the drive-in experience, giving them a new platform to connect with their audiences. You can find a general stakeholder breakdown below.

Stakeholder Goals, Worries, & Ideas

Goals

  • Drive-in owners & employees: Increase the awareness and popularity of drive-in entertainment, leading to new customer conversions, more business and industry growth extending past the COVID era.

  • Old & new drive-in audiences: Transition their at-home experiences to exciting and novel in-person events while still being mindful of the current health climate; connect them back with live entertainment and with each other.

  • Music, theater, & other performers: Discover new, safe venues where they can perform for fans without fear of worsening a health crisis; get back to doing what they love, connecting with live audiences, and keeping their livelihoods going.

Worries

  • Drive-in owners & employees: The current boom in drive-in business will fizzle out once COVID starts to ramp down, and they will have no tools or methods to keep awareness and excitement up around their venues. The industry will continue to decline.

  • Old & new drive-in audiences: The pandemic will continue for longer than anyone anticipated and they will be stuck at home with the same entertainment options. New strategies of bringing live entertainment back to life will not emerge, and they will continue to be health-conscious even after COVID starts becoming less severe. Lack of awareness makes it difficult to find and attend drive-in performances.

  • Music, theater, & other performers: Their appeal is dwindling, and even after the health crisis people will still be much more hesitant to show up to their traditional live events, or will have found personal alternatives to live entertainment.

Ideas

  • Drive-in owners & employees: Business is doing well during COVID, but we are still not that profitable and are making just enough to keep the doors open. How can we make our businesses profitable and financially healthy for the longer term?

  • Old & new drive-in audiences: I wonder if the drive-in near me is still operating and if so, what are they playing? What kinds of resources and experiences can I find there?

  • Music, theater, & other performers: This pandemic has made money tight. How can I tap into other industries and venues to keep making money doing what I love?

Involvement and Communication

Involvement

  • We will be gathering information about our stakeholders through online research, competitive analysis, and user interviews. We plan to do preliminary research to better understand our stakeholders, their existing experiences, and to refine our solution to address the root cause of their behavior and drive a more successful solution.

  • Consulting them early will help us maintain project focus as well as manage the scope, risks, and concerns from each of the parties. Our team would like to promote open and honest communication, an encourage asking any questions to always seek clarification. This also will create one uniform vision for what the project's "success" means to our team.

Understanding and Communicating Progress

  • During our research, we will better understand how to adapt our communications to each stakeholder. We would like to keep all of our project progress in our team website so that it is visible to everyone involved.

  • To manage scope and expectations for the design, we will keep a backlog of features that are covered with stakeholders to be ranked and prioritized into the project.

Communicating Design

  • In order to effectively communicate our design to non-designers, we would like our designs to emulate user journeys. Design concepts will tie back to an initial story, example, or idea discussed with that stakeholder so that they can relate to it contextually. Low fidelity concepts will be covered with stakeholders during the early discussion phase, which will guide iterations into the high fidelity design. Stakeholders involvement during this process will help to provide them with clarity during our more technical design stages.

General Direction for Solution

Modernize drive-in culture with a mobile application that connects customers with their audience, creates additional revenue streams, provides an improved marketing platform, spreads awareness, and resolves non-reliant hardware issues.

Goals

  1. Create a single solution for drive-in owners to manage important information about their business and host relevant content

  2. Expand the industry to invigorate it by introducing new revenue streams.

  3. Streamline the customer experience by providing a modern, in-app ticketing purchase process, notification system, and purchase management features.

  4. Revamp the hardware by utilizing phone audio with possible extension to modern Bluetooth speakers to create a more accessible and enjoyable viewing experience

  5. Enable greater sense of community and promote awareness by integrating with modern social media platforms