DLR Podcast: "Everybody's dream at any Disney Park is not having to wait in line"

[PragmaticIdealist]

There may be a way to market the business segment globally, but "Disney Parks" is not that way. The term is insulting.

[Mac Daddy]

I just don't get it.




I mean....what is the ADVANTAGE to lumping all the parks in one category and calling them all "Disney Parks"? Even if these people are money grubbing whor...rible people, what is the financial GAIN for lumping them all together?

I stated this earlier in another thread, but when I went to WDW, I wanted something that told the folks back home where I've been. "Wow. Epcot! So when were you there?"...That kind of thing.

With "Disney Parks" you get "Wow. Disney parks." End of conversation.

It just makes no sense. With different parks, you have different marketing opportunities. PLUS, many people identify more strongly with ONE of these parks more than the others. (And yes, we all know that Disneyland is at the very top of that group.)

So what GENIUS decided it would be a GOOD idea to lump them all into one category? My masters degree is in MUSIC, for crying out loud, and even I can tell there is more money to be made from marketing the parks individually.

Did I mention that I don't get it?

[PragmaticIdealist]

There are cost advantages to reminder advertising that does not specify an individual resort destination.

Evidently, Disney has seen some backlash because all of the advertising I've come across within the last month or so has only used "Disney Parks" as part of the "DisneyParks.com" U.R.L.

[Mac Daddy]

[Druggas]

I agree with you. This whole "portfolio" of the "brand Disney Parks" just smacks of heartless Marketing-speak and lack of true creativeness and innovation in promotion, IMHO.

It also seems a bit lazy. Like, "Well...if we just create a generic Disney Parks brand and hype the heck out of that...we won't have to produce so many regional Marketing ideas and plans."

Cookie-cutter product and marketing. Blah.

Lazy. And stupid, IMHO. It all makes the Parks look less attractive and "personable" to me. Big thumbs down. IMHO.

Agree with this entire post.

[JiminyCricketFan]

The comments show that Disney management really does not understand why people like Disneyland and Walt Disney World. Imagine if the NFL discovered that one teams fans wanted to see that team because they believe they would win. And then the NFL discovered that all other teams fans wanted each team to win and be successful. Would taking away team branded merchandize or team specific advertisement really work? Imagine of instead of shirts that say Go Chargers or Go Patriots, each shirt said, GO NFL TEAM!

Walt Disney was right when he said that there would never be another Disneyland. Remember that before his death he committed to built WDW. I am sure that he would have made WDW totally unique to Disneyland. He understood, that each park should be an original. People don't care about copies. If Disney management had any brains they would see that they are not gaining any money my "blending" every Disney park together into a mix-master. If anything they are LOSING money, because their "Disney Parks" campaign reduces the desire of Disney fans on the East coast to go to the West coast. And vice versa! They would double the money if they could create a reason to visit BOTH coasts to catch the full Disney magic. They way to do that is to make each resort special and unique.

[TP2000]

Poor Mr. Alisandro. He likely doesn't even know that in his big, fancy podcast interview he'd been preparing for all day he came off sounding like a second-rate politician lying to the voters, or a third-rate marketing guy lying to the customers. And with the little factual errors he had in his interview, and over-rehearsed emotions, it's clearly obvious he doesn't know his "product" very well. He should get out of his TDA office more often and go work at, oh, I don't know.... Disneyland?

Why do they let these people speak to the public? They just come off sounding insincere and a bit slimy around the edges.

Mr. Alisandro just left me feeling hollow and kind of sad that these types of people are running Disneyland's latest promotion. I now have the urge to bathe, or maybe have a good stiff drink. Perhaps I'll need to do both to get rid of the icky Marketing Psycho-Babble slime Mr. Alisandro flung at me.

[MasterGracey]

Poor Mr. Alisandro. He likely doesn't even know that in his big, fancy podcast interview he'd been preparing for all day he came off sounding like a second-rate politician lying to the voters, or a third-rate marketing guy lying to the customers. And with the little factual errors he had in his interview, and over-rehearsed emotions, it's clearly obvious he doesn't know his "product" very well. He should get out of his TDA office more often and go work at, oh, I don't know.... Disneyland?

Why do they let these people speak to the public? They just come off sounding insincere and a bit slimy around the edges.

Mr. Alisandro just left me feeling hollow and kind of sad that these types of people are running Disneyland's latest promotion. I now have the urge to bathe, or maybe have a good stiff drink. Perhaps I'll need to do both to get rid of the icky Marketing Psycho-Babble slime Mr. Alisandro flung at me.

I agree. Although, I'm not even sure if he truly believed in the garbage he was saying, he just had to do it, because its his job.

Unfortunately, however, its also become his job to cook up and/or work with bad campaigns and ideas like "DisneyParks" or the "Year of a Million Dreams."


...And I noticed his several factual errors in the interview as well - including the way his comments on the Dream FASTPASS incorrectly imply that you skip the line completely, whenever, whereever you want.

Nowhere did he say that the Dream FASTPASS is only valid at FASTPASS-equipped Attractions, and only if they're offering FASTPASS for that specific day, and you can only use your Dream FASTPASS once at any particular attraction.

It's not unlimited and unregulated, which completely contradicts Mr. Alisandro's implications.



And I also agree that the suits up in TDA, including Mr. Alisandro, really ought to go interact with the guests and Cast Members and see what's truly going on inside the parks. Watching from their cozy cushioned lounge chairs in their swank offices is hardly healthy for such an organization.

[Loomis]

I won't pretend to be able to jump on the 'Death to the YOAMD' campaign, because I honestly haven't been following the marketing all that much. As I won't be in the US for the duration of the campaign, it doesn't really make much of an impact on me.

However, a few comments if I may... (and who's going to stop me? Nobody! Bwhahahaha!)

There does need to be some separation in the way Disney parks are marketed. All too often will you refer to a park in Paris or Hong Kong, and non-Disnoids will comment that they've seen one, they've seen them all. As regulars to this forum, we are constantly aware of the Disneyland v WDW debate, and people wondering what is different and so on. Take me as an example. Let's pretend I wasn't an obsessive fan, and I had returned from Disneyland in California last year. Not knowing what the unique appeal of WDW was, what possible incentive would there be for me to visit? Indeed, aside from really enjoying myself, why would I go to any Disney park again? Somebody needs to market all the different things that are available to me. (Because, let face it - it's all about me )

As it stands, there are so many things worth exploring before I plan my WDW trip (hotel options, amounts of days I need and so forth), that to be told its the same is tantamount to saying "Pick one, it really doesn't matter".

HOWEVER, does that sound-bite necessarily say they are the same? Or is it saying that their marketing is going to appeal to the same audience? You can still brand something Coke and have a million varieties within that (Cherry, Diet, Classic etc). I'll keep an open mind, but generally, this type of marketing assumes more about the audience than it does in demonstrating any knowledge of the parks. Marketing people always seem to think they know their audience far better than their audience does.

[MasterGracey]

I won't pretend to be able to jump on the 'Death to the YOAMD' campaign, because I honestly haven't been following the marketing all that much. As I won't be in the US for the duration of the campaign, it doesn't really make much of an impact on me.

However, a few comments if I may... (and who's going to stop me? Nobody! Bwhahahaha!)

There does need to be some separation in the way Disney parks are marketed. All too often will you refer to a park in Paris or Hong Kong, and non-Disnoids will comment that they've seen one, they've seen them all. As regulars to this forum, we are constantly aware of the Disneyland v WDW debate, and people wondering what is different and so on. Take me as an example. Let's pretend I wasn't an obsessive fan, and I had returned from Disneyland in California last year. Not knowing what the unique appeal of WDW was, what possible incentive would there be for me to visit? Indeed, aside from really enjoying myself, why would I go to any Disney park again? Somebody needs to market all the different things that are available to me. (Because, let face it - it's all about me )

As it stands, there are so many things worth exploring before I plan my WDW trip (hotel options, amounts of days I need and so forth), that to be told its the same is tantamount to saying "Pick one, it really doesn't matter".

HOWEVER, does that sound-bite necessarily say they are the same? Or is it saying that their marketing is going to appeal to the same audience? You can still brand something Coke and have a million varieties within that (Cherry, Diet, Classic etc). I'll keep an open mind, but generally, this type of marketing assumes more about the audience than it does in demonstrating any knowledge of the parks. Marketing people always seem to think they know their audience far better than their audience does.

Good post..

As for your Coke comparison - sure Coca Cola may market regular, diet, or Coke Zero as tasting the same, but certainly there are different comsumer bases for each product. Each one suits different dietary needs - but people don't want to risk flavor for health - so its in Coke's best interest to tell us it tastes the same.
And in the end, I've seen commercials soley focusing on Vanilla Coke, Cherry Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, and Coca-Cola Classic.

I don't think I've seen a commercial where Coke says "Coca Cola brand drinks - Enjoy."

It's always "Coca Cola - Enjoy" or "Cherry Coke - Enjoy" or something like that.


In the interview, Mr. Alisandro says:

As we tail off to the end of the 50th anniversary, we're really changing the way we market not only Disneyland, but market Disney Parks in general. Once the 50th anniversary marketing trails off, you're going to start to see a whole new level of marketing for the portfolio of Disney Parks. So, in the past Walt Disney World and Disneyland marketed seperately... we really didn't talk to each other and we really did seperate marketing campaigns.
In fact, in the Los Angeles area, you might've seen an ad for Walt Disney World and two minutes later seen an ad for Disneyland. So going forward, we're going to market this brand "DisneyParks."
We did a lot of research and understand that what people say about Disneyland is very true about what they say about Disney World. Really, the heart and soul of why they visit are the same. So we figured we could capitalize on that. So given that, we're going to market together. We're going to be launching - we're calling it a new "organizing principle" but it's all around the line "Where Dreams Come True" 'cause we've learned that that is the one, single reason why people come to DisneyParks. Not only here, but around the world.
And to launch that new campaing we're going to be doing a year long celebration that we're calling "The Year of a Million Dreams" It's really gonna see the notion where DisneyParks is the place where "Dreams Come True"

I think it's certainly implied that through the research people don't acknowledge, or know about the difference in the Resorts. So what does Disney do? They capitalize on it.

Instead on continuing to market both, or highlight the differences and the reasons why you should visit BOTH U.S. Resorts, they slap a big new brand name - "DisneyParks" on it - and essentially tell everybody - "yeah, they're all the same. They're all Disney Parks. They all have same tag line. And they're all part of the Year of a Million Dreams. Nothing is different, so pick one and forget about the rest."

I mean, at least, that's what I get from this whole thing anyway...

[Insighter]

TDA is listening. Speak with your passes and with your $.

[MasterGracey]

TDA is listening. Speak with your passes and with your $.

....hmm.

Welcome to MiceChat, Insighter.....