Disney Dream Home Could Bring 30,000 Leads to Lifeware Dealers

Now that thousands of guests have streamed through the Innoventions Dream Home at Disneyland in Anaheim, the sponsors of the house – Microsoft, Lifeware, HP and Taylor Morrison Homes -- are crunching some numbers.

Based on preliminary results, up to 3 million guests are expected to pass through the attraction each year.

During peak hours, some 50,000 device commands are logged into the Lifeware home automation system that runs the house.

In only a month, Taylor Morrison sold about five homes as a result of its presence in the Dream Home. Lifeware dealers closed four jobs. (And that's before the lead-generation programs have really been solidified.)

But the most important number to Lifeware: Zero.

That's how many reboots the system has required since its last update.

"We have not rebooted a controller in a month," says founder and CEO Seale Moorer. "Lifeware runs 13 hours a day, with 3,000 different fingers tapping those touchpanels. This is an unbelievably reliable solution."

And if Lifeware can tolerate thousands of touchscreen taps every day, certainly it can run a "regular" house, Moorer says: "Go to Disney, stay there for 13 hours. If your house is more hectic than this, I pity you."

Lifeware to Launch Dealer Program at CEDIA

So what will become of all those potential customers that visit the Dream Home?

"The real bang," says Moorer, "is to turn that attraction into something meaningful for my dealers and my company."

Based on consensus among the sponsors, Lifeware will be the arbiter of the leads.

The company won't just forward contact information to dealers. Instead, Moorer explains, Lifeware will serve "almost as a lead concierge service to talk to customers and qualify them," before passing the lead to a certified integrator.

Not just any Lifeware dealer can become a "Certified Lifeware Dream Home Integrator," as they will be called.

"They have to be able to deliver a Disney-quality experience," says Lifeware chief strategy officer Steve Cashman.

Among the requirements to become a Dream Home integrator, Lifeware dealers must:

• Provide references that "pass Disney's and our requirements," Cashman says
• Have a showroom running (at the very least) a Lifepoint touchscreen and LMS media server
• Complete Dream Home education "so they know what the customer has seen" in the Disney attraction
• React to leads within 48 hours ("We're not going to tolerate a dealer who won't talk to a Disney guest and give them what they want," Cashman says.")

Lifeware aims to have at least two certified Dream Home dealers in each of the top 100 metro areas. Some 50 to 100 Lifeware dealers today "will probably commit to the program," Cashman says.

Just how many leads might flow their way? Evidence from Lifeware homes at CES suggests that 1 to 3 percent of visitors will be serious prospects for technology shown in the Dream Home.

Extrapolated for Disney, "some 30,000 people might be interested in some form of that [Dream Home] experience," Cashman says.

No Party for the Rest of Us

That sounds like good news for Lifeware dealers, but what about the rest of us?

"We've spent a lot of money on concerts in the past," says Cashman. "This is a larger budget, but more meaningful to our dealers."

So, there will be no Lifeware bash at CEDIA Expo 2008 (check out all the other CEDIA parties, though). Nor will the company erect automated homes in the parking lot this year.


Check out more news from Lifeware at CEDIA 2008