I was just finishing a meeting at the Crowne Plaza hotel in Columbus when pulling out of the hotel breezeway, I was brought to a screaming stop by Mr. Incredible.

Actually in the world of Customer Experiences, there is not many that measure up to The Arnold Classic.  Each year 150,000 atheletes and visitors converge on the Columbus, Ohio Convention Center for this yearly event.

What started as a body building expo for steroid and testerone overdosed Herculian types has now morphed into competition for fencing, archery, karate, and a dozen other sports.

Now the interesting thing to note is that a big event like this got that way because they listened to the customer and have adapted and refined their message over time.

At one point the Schwarzenegger Classic changed it’s name.  Why?  Well you just try spelling, little alone Google “Schwarzenegger”.  The Arnold Classic is so much easier.

Quickly they figured out that people wanted more than just watching body builders.

Get your message down.  Find out what others find hard about buying your product.  Refine your messaging.

Back to the opening comment.  The Arnold Classic has a ton of body builder fans, that to call them die hard, is an understatement.  There was one of these overdeveloped fans in some spandex black body hugging shorts . . .and that is it.  The rest of his over developed, muscled and bulging body had been air brushed so (right down to the black mask over the eyes) he looked like a real live Mr. Incredible.  Of course he just happened to have a couple of kids that were dressed, well, er, as Incredibles.  And his wife, too was in her red atire.  Although, unlike the Mrs. Incredible in the movie, this one had a body just like a boy.  You know, “oh boy, oh boy, oh boy.”