I’ve been tracking Yeti Man for a few months. And he’s not too hard to find. No I’m not talking about the mythical Himalayan beast, I’m talking about the real Yeti-Man of Expedition Everest.

James McCown, also know as Yeti Man, is obsessed with Expedition Everest - the newest Disney roller coaster at Animal Kingdom. I’m sure by now Yeti Man has ridden Expedition Everest over 500 times. James is probably not what Disney would cook up to be a Disney fan. But you see James is a real guy, tattoos and all. Lucky for Disney the staff started noticing the big burly man with a blue wool toboggan hat and furry Yeti gloves. On his recent birthday weekend trip to Disney, James hoped to take his 500th ride on his actual birthday. But mishaps and long lines allowed him to only complete rides 472, 473 and 474. When he arrived on Sunday, his birthday, he was escorted to the front of the line by a Disney official who gave him a detailed tour of the ride’s many features. James special birthday expedition turned out to be #475.

I’ll quote Emanuel Rosen from his book ‘The anatomy of Buzz.’ “It sounds almost too obvious, but many new products fail because there is no obsessed person in place at the right time.”

Let me take this a step further, with another example. When TRUTH was getting started as a national movement for teen tobacco use prevention they had a wonderful summit in Seattle. They had teens from every state and well over one thousand attended. I worked with the South Carolina group that was asked to be a part of the TRUTH 100. They were an awesome group of cool kids, nerdy geeky kids; we even had a kid that always had a pocket protector stuffed in his shirt. All of these guys were obsessed about spreading the TRUTH. The potential for a real youth–led movement died after the summit. In their words they were abandoned because they didn’t look like the television commercials. I don’t think this is necessarily true but that’s what these guys felt was true.

I passed the story of Yeti Man along to some of my friends and colleagues and I got mixed reactions, like “cool, what does he look like?”, to “he’s a kook.” I personally love the obsessed fan, but my reason is probably why a lot of big brands fear them or embrace them from a distance. Typically an obsessed fan is just an average person - a customer. And they come warts and all.
Photo: St. Petersburg Times, Brian Cassela

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