Disney benches Super Bowl ad

Looks like no "I'm going to Disney World' this year.

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Disney benches Super Bowl ad
Susan Strother Clarke

January 26, 2005

Since 1987, Disney has been at the Super Bowl, thrusting a camera in front of a winning player and asking what his plans were after the big game.

But not this year.

The Mouse won't be in Jacksonville, so TV audiences won't hear Donovan McNabb, Tom Brady or anyone associated with the Eagles-Patriot matchup say, "I'm going to Disney World!"

Disney's been doing these ads practically forever -- or at least since Ronald Reagan was president and Donald Trump was still on his first marriage.

I wondered if the change had anything to do with last year's trashy bare-all by Janet Jackson during Super Bowl halftime. Or did Disney think Fox was demanding too high a price for the privilege of talking to sweaty players post-game? (Thirty-second spots during the game are selling for $2.4 million.)

But the official word from spokesman Craig Dezern is that Disney is focusing on the two big ad campaigns it already has under way.

One, the "Happiest Celebration on Earth," includes global spots for all Disney parks pegged to the 50th anniversary of Disneyland. The other, "Magic Your Way," is about new prices for vacations in Orlando.

Both campaigns happened to start earlier this month.

"We're not saying we won't do this again," Dezern said, leaving the locker-room door open for future Super Bowl ads.

Still, bad timing aside, I'm puzzled why Disney wouldn't toss just one more spot into its mix.

The Super Bowl ads run for just a few days and are followed by a parade in the parks with the appointed sports hero, which is a huge crowd pleaser.

And it's not as if the company's suffering. Disney has bragged lately about the rebound of its parks business and its success in other areas, such as the wildly popular Desperate Housewives on the ABC network.

Eli Portnoy, a brand expert and president of The Portnoy Group, said that, for all the measurement tools out there, marketing is still tough to gauge.

The absence of the popular spots after this year's game could go unnoticed by TV viewers, or it could disappoint millions and officially fall into the blunder archives -- not as bad as New Coke, mind you, but not good.

"I would say anytime a company gives up a marquee brand position, there is a loss. Whether that's offset by the fact it would have cost a fortune" is difficult to know, Portnoy said. "It is just something the public expects."

Disney has done 35 "What's Next" spots, featuring everyone from Santa Claus to Stanley Cup winners, since the inception of the campaign 18 years ago with New York Giants quarterback Phil Simms.

Last year's Super Bowl spot featured Brady of the Patriots. A second ad was done later in the year after the World Series with the Boston Red Sox.

The first commercial runs shortly after the game, which is a bit of a production miracle considering the painfully long process usually associated with advertising.

The ads were the brainchild of Big Mike's wife, Jane Eisner. She had the idea at a luncheon with aviator ________ Rutan, who joked that he would top his latest flying feat by taking his family to Disneyland.

In the end, maybe it's a good thing there won't be ads this Super Bowl. Now, if anyone asks the players after the game what their plans are, they can say -- with complete candor -- what I've always wanted to hear:

"I'm taking a shower!"

Susan Strother Clarke can be reached at 407-420-5414 or sclarke@orlandosentinel.com.

'I'm going to Disney World' takes vacation
By Michael McCarthy, USA TODAY
Who will announce "I'm going to Disney World!" at the conclusion of Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl XXXIX?
Nobody.

After 19 years, the Magic Kingdom this year is canceling its Super Bowl promotional series in which a star of the game proclaims he's headed next for the Florida theme park. (List: See entire list of who's gone to Disney World in ad campaign)

The loss of the promotion by family-friendly Disney (DIS) comes as the NFL is trying to clean up the Super Bowl's image — and restore it to a "G" rating — after Janet Jackson's breast-baring fiasco last year. The league, which had no comment, is wielding an iron fist over the costumes, songs and dances during the game.

A Disney official said Wednesday that the decision to bench the venerable "What's Next?" ads is limited to the 2005 Super Bowl, on Feb. 6. He left open the possibility of a comeback in 2006 when, as it happens, Disney's ABC network will televise the big game.

Craig Dezern, a spokesman for Walt Disney World in Orlando, said the move has "no connection at all" with the indecency uproar. He said the timing just didn't jibe with two new theme park marketing efforts now underway: the "Happiest Celebration on Earth" promoting the 50th anniversary of Disneyland, which begins on May 5, and a "Magic Your Way" plan offering more flexible prices and vacation plans for consumers.

"I wouldn't read anything into the future of the program. This is about where we need to put our focus right now," Dezern said.

Allen Adamson, managing director of image consultants Landor, suspects image-conscious Disney might be taking a pass this year to "avoid the risk of doing something live they can't control." But Ross Sutherland, executive creative director of Young & Rubicam, said the ads have become so routine that consumers are tuning them out. "I don't think anyone will miss it. I won't," Sutherland said.

The campaign kicked off in 1987 with Super Bowl MVP Phil Simms of the New York Giants. The phrase "I'm going to Disney World!" quickly "crossed over" to became part of pop culture. Disney expanded the campaign well beyond the Super Bowl, with 35 ads.

The Boston Red Sox trio of Pedro Martinez, David Ortiz and Curt Schilling appeared in the most recent spot after their World Series victory last fall.

The who's who of other top athletes who have touted Disney theme parks during their moment of triumph includes John Elway, Joe Montana and Doug Williams from the NFL; Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson from the NBA; Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire from Major League Baseball; Patrick Roy from the NHL; and ice skater Nancy Kerrigan during the Olympics. The list also includes Santa Claus and Miss America Gretchen Carlson.