Tag: Disney

Disney’s Daring Marketing

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Strong marketing and an effective organizational strategy provide the ability to adapt your business model at the drop of a hat. Over the past few months and amidst a pandemic, the Walt Disney Company has rewritten its playbook and realigned its plan of action.

What lessons can we take from its approach?

Focusing on Profit Points

Disney’s park closures around the world from mid-March through mid-July were followed by a soft opening keeping current crowd numbers at an all-time low. Considering the current loss of revenue at the parks, Disney took steps to recognize and maximize profit potential in other areas. 

Disney Plus has been a big source of revenue for the Walt Disney Company, especially throughout the past few months. Identifying this, Disney dropped a few new releases along with old favorites on the streaming platform early and amidst the thick of quarantine. 

Onward, which first came to theaters on March 6, was released on Disney Plus as soon as April 1. The latest Star Wars film, The Rise of Skywalker, joined the line up on May 4. Disney Plus’ latest big addition, the live-action version of Mulan, whose release has been delayed since mid-March, is dropping on Disney Plus this September — for an added fee, of course. 

Additionally, for Disney Park fans, a virtual viewing of the “Magic Happens” parade was made available for families to gather and watch from their living rooms.

While Disney is losing profits in other areas, the company has been able to alter its business model and focus on the places that it can maximize success during this time.  

How can you identify profit maximization areas and navigate the inevitable ebb and flow of your own organizational pursuits?

Strategizing Without Sacrificing

With many stores closed or adjusting their operations, online shopping has been booming. Retailers are capitalizing on strategies involving sales and specials. Yet, Disney isn’t known for having “bargain prices.” It isn’t part of the company’s brand. 

How has Disney capitalized during this time to attract consumers to buy its products? 

Rather than discounts, shopDisney has added value and appeal to its product offerings with free shipping, personalized recommendations and creating product pairings. Each of these additions adds incentives for consumers to purchase from Disney without sacrificing Disney’s brand. 

Whatever your business’s product or service, how can you adapt and add value while maintaining your brand’s reputation?

Respectful and Responsible

In the past, Disney has focused its marketing on attracting large crowds. How many people can be incentivized to come to the parks? What events, conferences and competitions can be hosted to pull as many people as possible to Disney property? 

Fast forwarding to the present, wait times for popular rides like Flight of Passage, Space Mountain and the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train that previously reached three hours aren’t exceeding lines longer than 20 minutes. Amidst the current pandemic, Disney’s focus is on social responsibility rather than filling its parks to the brim. 

Through this example, Disney portrays that good business tactics mean being responsible and upholding ethics rather than solely focusing on bringing in revenue. 

Enjoying the “Magic” at Home

Whether from the comfort of home or on its property, Disney has continued its central theme of enjoying the magic and experiencing joy through beloved characters, products and offerings. 

Here are a few ways the company continued to care for its “Disney people” from afar.

  1.  The Disney Parks blog made several recipes, including its crowd favorite churro recipe, available for cooking connoisseurs to try at home.
  2. Through its hashtag, #DisneyMagicMoments, Disney opened the gates for its fans to “see, hear and feel the magic of Disney, wherever they may be.”
  3. Movie theater closures haven’t stopped Disney from creating animation amazement. Disney has warmed the hearts of its fans and guests from afar using clips of beloved characters like this one. 

How can you create your own “magic” for your clients or audience during these uncommon circumstances?

Ready to read more about marketing magic? Check out the marketing section of our blog. 

By Clairemont intern Anna Beth Adcock, a senior at NC State.

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Plan a Magical Event: Lessons from Disney

Clairemont InternBlog, Public Relations, Restaurant PR + Hospitality PR, , , , Leave a Comment on Plan a Magical Event: Lessons from Disney

Growing up in Orlando, I was raised in the shadow of the Magic Kingdom. Everywhere we went, there were signs of Disney’s influence. The company had a huge, white-gloved hand in all major city events, including the naming of our semi-beloved basketball team. Looking back, it seemed impossible to think there was a time that Disney wasn’t a cultural phenomenon or undisputed king of American theme parks.

But there was. Disney has made mistakes, including one of the most arguably terrible PR catastrophes. The 2019 summer marked the 64th anniversary of the opening of the original Disneyland in California – the day that became known internally as “Black Sunday.” You already know how this story ends, because … Disney. Instead, let’s take a look at some of the missteps Disney made that day and learn how you can avoid these faux pas to ensure success in your events.

Unfinished Ambiance

Believe it or not, this magical kingdom wasn’t fully prepared for its worldly debut. Even as the first guests poured into the park, crews of workers were still painting walls and finishing the gardens. The park was an active construction site as guests walked through the front gates.

Avoid being unprepared for party guests by building in ample time for your team to finalize preparations. Create a detailed run of show that includes pre-event prep time, a checklist with responsible parties and deliverables, a contingency plan for each item and a crisis plan for unexpected challenges. This list will help you circumvent those last-minute stressful situations.

Overcrowding

Opening day was supposed to only be for a select few friends and family – approximately 15,000 total. Disney welcomed almost double that number thanks to counterfeit tickets and lack of security detail along the perimeters.

Thankfully today, sites like Eventbright, Eventzilla and Evite exist to assist with invites and RSVPs to make it easy to organize and track attendees. For more private affairs, make sure to have a list of guests’ names at the door at the time of entry, and plan to have security stationed at any other possible entry points to avoid crashers.

Shortage of Supplies

The influx of guests brought with it another issue – a shortage of food and drinks. Even the public water fountains weren’t fully up-and-running, leaving guests wandering around both parched and hungry.

Keep an updated list of RSVPs and round up the number to anticipate a few extras. No one likes to come up empty when they go to get a drink – or bite. So skillfully stock your stations with food and beverages by calculating amounts needed using these tips. Not only will this keep your guests around, but it will also keep them happy!

As you know, in the end, Disney lived to tell the tale – and continues to do so. In fact, we can all share our Disney story, because despite the unfinished ambiance, overcrowding and shortage of supplies, Disney endured. If you haven’t arrived at your “happiest place on earth” yet, that’s ok. You might just be at your opening day. Take note of the challenges that arise and properly address them for a permanent fix. Then, continue on your mission to create magic for your clients – and others!

Want to read about a successful opening? Check out the celebration the Clairemont team planned and executed for our client, Vita Vite, when it opened its North Hills location.

Will Hornbeck is a rising senior at Wake Forest University. He thinks the best ride at Disney is the Carousel of Progress.

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Encouraging Creativity

Dana PhelpsBlog, Counselors Academy, Raleigh PR Agency, , , , , Leave a Comment on Encouraging Creativity

This article originally appeared in the April 2016 issue of PRSA’s Tactics. You can read it online here.

Changing It Up to Encourage Creativity

Dana Phelps Hughens

“The definition of insanity is repeating the same behaviors and expecting a different outcome.” – Albert Einstein

For the past several months, this column has been focused on the changes our industry is facing. This month we are changing it up to highlight ways to do things differently in order to achieve greater results.

Last year, I shared a photograph of four women that was taken in the early 1900s with our team at Clairemont Communications. Each team member was asked to write a story about the photo, and the stories were shared on our blog as part of a contest. The author of the story that had the most votes won a prize.

This was Clairemont’s first Creative Challenge. Part professional development and part team building, this exercise tapped into our imaginations with a creative writing exercise far different than that of say, writing a client news release. However, the brainstorming and story mapping were a similar process to many things we do for our clients. Additionally, social media influence was put to the test as team members solicited their professional and personal networks for votes – another task related to we do for clients daily.

Earlier this year we challenged ourselves to step out of our comfort zones when we decided to take a non-traditional approach to thanking our clients by producing what we called our gratitude video. In addition to our team singing the words to Andy Grammer’s “Good to Be Alive,” our clients danced along with us to celebrate our accomplishments together. Check it out on our Facebook page!

Not only do our clients embrace our creative and sometimes wacky ways, they rely on us for fresh ideas for pitches, promotional campaigns and special events. Otherwise, it would prove difficult to produce results month after month and year after year.

We recently met with a prospect seeking to change agencies after an engagement that had spanned nearly two decades. He didn’t seem particularly dissatisfied with the existing PR firm and yet not fully satisfied either. Upon further discussion, it was revealed that the only real issue with the incumbent was that it had been around long enough to learn all the things that didn’t work.

Wow. I never want to be that agency leader who says, “We already tried that” or “Just do it the same way, and it will be good enough.” We all know it is easy to get stuck in a rut. We’ve all been there, and help is on the way.

This year we are opening the Counselors Academy conference with “Think Differently: The Biggest Barrier to Innovation Is Our Own Expertise,” an interactive keynote with Duncan Wardle, vice president of Disney’s Creative Inc.

Duncan works with his team across all Disney corporate divisions as creative ideation consultants. They design engaging, collaborative ideation forums that capture unlikely connections and lead to new thinking and revolutionary ideas. During his Counselors Academy session, he will explore the myths around creativity and innovation, provide tangible innovation tools and help us get out of our own “Rivers of Expertise” to think differently.

To be part of this session and exchange ideas on creativity with other PR agency leaders, join us May 1 to 3, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. More information can be found at caprsa.com and on Facebook in The Official Counselors Academy Facebook Group.

Dana Phelps Hughens is CEO of Clairemont Communications based in Raleigh, N.C. She serves as an assembly delegate for the North Carolina chapter of PRSA and on the board of Counselors Academy. Dana is known as @blah2voila on Instagram and Twitter.

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