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Disneyland's Marketing Strategy for 2020??? Because 2019 Was A Mess!
- Thread starter TP2000
- Start date
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
But they have Ray and Chewy pretending to fix a spaceship model.
So... How do they fix this marketing mess they created??? 
Like I said, the troubling delays behind opening the Resistance ride are a blessing in disguise for them. They have a golden opportunity to save face and relaunch Star Wars Land in 2020 once the Resistance ride works. And I have a strong hunch that is what's behind the sudden media silence on all things Star Wars Land while they tout Halloween and decorated food courts instead, with a big traditional Christmas push coming right after this November.
This is what I would do, just off the top of my head here on the patio watching the hummingbirds...
1. Spend the rest of 2019 creating a small army of Star Wars Characters to populate the land with, ASAP. Also add in at least two atmospheric musical acts playing weird instruments on a dining patio and a walkway, and just a lonely alien playing a weird saxophone in a back alley of the marketplace. There's probably not enough time to mount the rooftop stunt show, the roaming droids, and all the elaborate interactive stuff Mr. Chapek cut from the budget years ago, and something tells me his ego and clueless decision making skills won't allow him to admit that much defeat.
But they can certainly get some wandering aliens and a funky band by Christmas.
2. Smile big and pretend the opening of Star Wars Land in '19 was wonderful, and never mention reservations of any kind ever again. The operations people in Anaheim will hate this, but buy them off with unlimited Tylenol and a good bottle of something to keep at home to deal with the crowds coming their way. Buy off the front line CM's with a workplace barbecue once a month. Don't be cheap with your front line folks doing all the real work for you!
3. Keep the unused Virtual Queue land entry process thing in mothballs, but have it ready to go if epic crowds ever do show up. Never mention the process in marketing, but have a program and process in place to roll it out day-of to people who are already in the park. This will require extra signage and communication processes for inside the park once it's activated, a combination of old fashioned signs and info booths - but also App-based communication or even Tweets. But it has to be a thing that is hidden from view until you are actually inside the park. This is slightly devious, but it should only be cheerfully communicated to those in the park as a "helpful offering!" and "touring tip!" for peak days.
4. Market the hell out of the place as the biggest thing Disneyland and Disney World has seen since Space Mountain. Have an opening ceremony all over again for the Resistance ride. In January, host a Sunday night TV special variety show all about the land and its rides and experiences, just like they did with Disneyland's 60th. Get real celebrities to host the TV special, trot out Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford again (bribed back with a big paycheck and a substantial donation to the charity of their choice), get the LA Philharmonic on stage with John Williams to perform the Star Wars theme, and have whatever big rock band the kids like now to play other music. Show actual footage of the land and rides. Make this must-see TV. Then keep the buzz going with a massive TV commercial campaign coast to coast. Run the commercials on every popular sitcom and crime drama and football and basketball game of the winter. Do something big with the 2020 Super Bowl. Spend money! Don't just leave this up to the neckbeard bloggers on YouTube to do all the marketing with their measly 40,000 subscribers, because that didn't work.
5. Sit back and watch Anaheim's 20,000 parking spaces and 25,000 hotel rooms fill to capacity. Rinse and repeat through at least the mid 2020's.
6. Read annoying posts online from all of us who are mad that Disneyland is too crowded again and how are they ever going to manage the opening of Avengers Campus?!? But no matter how dire the online warnings get from us, don't even think about reservations!
Like I said, the troubling delays behind opening the Resistance ride are a blessing in disguise for them. They have a golden opportunity to save face and relaunch Star Wars Land in 2020 once the Resistance ride works. And I have a strong hunch that is what's behind the sudden media silence on all things Star Wars Land while they tout Halloween and decorated food courts instead, with a big traditional Christmas push coming right after this November.
This is what I would do, just off the top of my head here on the patio watching the hummingbirds...
1. Spend the rest of 2019 creating a small army of Star Wars Characters to populate the land with, ASAP. Also add in at least two atmospheric musical acts playing weird instruments on a dining patio and a walkway, and just a lonely alien playing a weird saxophone in a back alley of the marketplace. There's probably not enough time to mount the rooftop stunt show, the roaming droids, and all the elaborate interactive stuff Mr. Chapek cut from the budget years ago, and something tells me his ego and clueless decision making skills won't allow him to admit that much defeat.
But they can certainly get some wandering aliens and a funky band by Christmas.2. Smile big and pretend the opening of Star Wars Land in '19 was wonderful, and never mention reservations of any kind ever again. The operations people in Anaheim will hate this, but buy them off with unlimited Tylenol and a good bottle of something to keep at home to deal with the crowds coming their way. Buy off the front line CM's with a workplace barbecue once a month. Don't be cheap with your front line folks doing all the real work for you!
3. Keep the unused Virtual Queue land entry process thing in mothballs, but have it ready to go if epic crowds ever do show up. Never mention the process in marketing, but have a program and process in place to roll it out day-of to people who are already in the park. This will require extra signage and communication processes for inside the park once it's activated, a combination of old fashioned signs and info booths - but also App-based communication or even Tweets. But it has to be a thing that is hidden from view until you are actually inside the park. This is slightly devious, but it should only be cheerfully communicated to those in the park as a "helpful offering!" and "touring tip!" for peak days.
4. Market the hell out of the place as the biggest thing Disneyland and Disney World has seen since Space Mountain. Have an opening ceremony all over again for the Resistance ride. In January, host a Sunday night TV special variety show all about the land and its rides and experiences, just like they did with Disneyland's 60th. Get real celebrities to host the TV special, trot out Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford again (bribed back with a big paycheck and a substantial donation to the charity of their choice), get the LA Philharmonic on stage with John Williams to perform the Star Wars theme, and have whatever big rock band the kids like now to play other music. Show actual footage of the land and rides. Make this must-see TV. Then keep the buzz going with a massive TV commercial campaign coast to coast. Run the commercials on every popular sitcom and crime drama and football and basketball game of the winter. Do something big with the 2020 Super Bowl. Spend money! Don't just leave this up to the neckbeard bloggers on YouTube to do all the marketing with their measly 40,000 subscribers, because that didn't work.
5. Sit back and watch Anaheim's 20,000 parking spaces and 25,000 hotel rooms fill to capacity. Rinse and repeat through at least the mid 2020's.
6. Read annoying posts online from all of us who are mad that Disneyland is too crowded again and how are they ever going to manage the opening of Avengers Campus?!? But no matter how dire the online warnings get from us, don't even think about reservations!
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Rich T
Well-Known Member
Does Rey even need to use tools anymore? If rumors about the next film are true, can't she just gesture and fix the ship, raise the dead and mend black holes?
Rich T
Well-Known Member
While this would be a good way to see if their original vision would work in the first place, it still doesn't address a bigger problem: GE took a franchise that doesn't appeal to every DL guest and then--by not basing it on the original trilogy--eliminated 90% of what most SW-loving guests would actually like to see in a Star Wars Land.So... How do they fix this marketing mess they created???
Like I said, the troubling delays behind opening the Resistance ride are a blessing in disguise for them. They have a golden opportunity to save face and relaunch Star Wars Land in 2020 once the Resistance ride works. And I have a strong hunch that is what's behind the sudden media silence on all things Star Wars Land while they tout Halloween and decorated food courts instead, with a big traditional Christmas push coming right after this November.
This is what I would do, just off the top of my head here on the patio watching the hummingbirds...
1. Spend the rest of 2019 creating a small army of Star Wars Characters to populate the land with, ASAP. That hammerhead guy, the boys in the band from the Cantina (upset that DJ Rex stole their gig), scary guys, weird guys, a slithery reptile lady, etc. Also add in at least two atmospheric musical acts playing weird instruments on a dining patio and a walkway, and just a lonely alien playing a weird saxophone in a back alley of the marketplace. There's probably not enough time to mount the rooftop stunt show and all the elaborate interactive stuff Mr. Chapek cut from the budget years ago, and something tells me his ego and clueless decision making skills won't allow him to admit that much defeat.
2. Smile big and pretend the opening of Star Wars Land in '19 was epic and wonderful, and never ever mention reservations of any kind ever again. The operations people in Anaheim will hate this, but buy them off with unlimited Tylenol and a good bottle of something to keep at home to deal with the crowds coming their way. Buy off the front line CM's with a workplace barbecue once a month. Don't be cheap with your front line folks doing all the real work for you!
3. Keep the unused Virtual Queue land entry process thing in mothballs, but have it ready to go if epic crowds ever do show up. Never mention the process in marketing, but have a program and process in place to roll it out day-of to people who are already in the park. This will require extra signage and communication processes for inside the park once it's activated, a combination of old fashioned signs and info booths - but also App-based communication or even Tweets. But it has to be a thing that is hidden from view until you are actually inside the park. This is slightly devious, but it should only be cheerfully communicated to those in the park as a "helpful offering!" and "touring tip!" for peak days. My hunch is even with big crowds they will rarely need it, probably only for a handful of days per year around peak holidays. The rest of the year the process just remains silently hidden and unused.
4. Market the hell out of the place as the biggest thing Disneyland and Disney World has seen since Space Mountain. Have an opening ceremony all over again for the Resistance ride. In January, host a Sunday night TV special variety show all about the land and its rides and experiences, just like they did with Disneyland's 60th. Get real celebrities to host the TV special, trot out Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford again (bribed back with a big paycheck and a substantial donation to the charity of their choice), get the LA Philharmonic on stage with John Williams to perform the Star Wars theme, and have whatever big pop band the kids like now to play other music. Show actual footage of the land and rides. Make this must-see TV. Then keep the buzz going with a massive TV commercial campaign coast to coast. Run the commercials on every popular sitcom and crime drama and football and basketball game of the winter. Do something big with the 2020 Super Bowl. Spend money! Don't just leave this up to the neckbeard bloggers on YouTube to do all the marketing with their measly 40,000 subscribers, because that didn't work.
5. Sit back and watch Anaheim's 20,000 parking spaces and 25,000 hotel rooms fill to capacity. Rinse and repeat through at least the mid 2020's.
6. Read annoying posts online from all of us who are mad that Disneyland is too crowded again and how are they ever going to manage the opening of Avengers Campus?!? But no matter how dire the online warnings get from us, don't even think about reservations!
Star Wars is not Harry Potter, as much as Bob Iger would like to pretend otherwise. It's a different kind of story that does not lend itself to pleasant-looking theme park lands. There's a reason the Potter lands are NOT designed to make you feel like you're in the darkest times of the final books/films. GE is a deeply flawed approach to creating a fun theme park land out of SW.
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britain
Well-Known Member
So... How do they fix this marketing mess they created???
Like I said, the troubling delays behind opening the Resistance ride are a blessing in disguise for them. They have a golden opportunity to save face and relaunch Star Wars Land in 2020 once the Resistance ride works. And I have a strong hunch that is what's behind the sudden media silence on all things Star Wars Land while they tout Halloween and decorated food courts instead, with a big traditional Christmas push coming right after this November.
This is what I would do, just off the top of my head here on the patio watching the hummingbirds...
1. Spend the rest of 2019 creating a small army of Star Wars Characters to populate the land with, ASAP. Also add in at least two atmospheric musical acts playing weird instruments on a dining patio and a walkway, and just a lonely alien playing a weird saxophone in a back alley of the marketplace. There's probably not enough time to mount the rooftop stunt show and all the elaborate interactive stuff Mr. Chapek cut from the budget years ago, and something tells me his ego and clueless decision making skills won't allow him to admit that much defeat.
2. Smile big and pretend the opening of Star Wars Land in '19 was wonderful, and never ever mention reservations of any kind ever again. The operations people in Anaheim will hate this, but buy them off with unlimited Tylenol and a good bottle of something to keep at home to deal with the crowds coming their way. Buy off the front line CM's with a workplace barbecue once a month. Don't be cheap with your front line folks doing all the real work for you!
3. Keep the unused Virtual Queue land entry process thing in mothballs, but have it ready to go if epic crowds ever do show up. Never mention the process in marketing, but have a program and process in place to roll it out day-of to people who are already in the park. This will require extra signage and communication processes for inside the park once it's activated, a combination of old fashioned signs and info booths - but also App-based communication or even Tweets. But it has to be a thing that is hidden from view until you are actually inside the park. This is slightly devious, but it should only be cheerfully communicated to those in the park as a "helpful offering!" and "touring tip!" for peak days.
4. Market the hell out of the place as the biggest thing Disneyland and Disney World has seen since Space Mountain. Have an opening ceremony all over again for the Resistance ride. In January, host a Sunday night TV special variety show all about the land and its rides and experiences, just like they did with Disneyland's 60th. Get real celebrities to host the TV special, trot out Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford again (bribed back with a big paycheck and a substantial donation to the charity of their choice), get the LA Philharmonic on stage with John Williams to perform the Star Wars theme, and have whatever big rock band the kids like now to play other music. Show actual footage of the land and rides. Make this must-see TV. Then keep the buzz going with a massive TV commercial campaign coast to coast. Run the commercials on every popular sitcom and crime drama and football and basketball game of the winter. Do something big with the 2020 Super Bowl. Spend money! Don't just leave this up to the neckbeard bloggers on YouTube to do all the marketing with their measly 40,000 subscribers, because that didn't work.
5. Sit back and watch Anaheim's 20,000 parking spaces and 25,000 hotel rooms fill to capacity. Rinse and repeat through at least the mid 2020's.
6. Read annoying posts online from all of us who are mad that Disneyland is too crowded again and how are they ever going to manage the opening of Avengers Campus?!? But no matter how dire the online warnings get from us, don't even think about reservations!
Hey - a post with lots of great substance, and very little stage directions (sans the hummingbirds). Good to see.
You'll have to pardon my ignorance on some of this stuff, and whenever someone starts talking about "trilogies" my eyes kind of glaze over. Like any normal American, I love Star Wars stuff. But I don't follow it closely, and don't really know the characters beyond those that were in the first two movies.
What I do know is that when I was there in June I only saw two bored Stormtroopers and Chewbacca had the night off. That was dumb and disappointing. But reworking the land to some other timeline where you could have Han Solo and Luke and Leia and Darth Vader all there is something that will take major work and resources, akin to turning 2000's Condor Flats into 1961 Grizzly Peak Airfield.
Burbank bosses would need to see Star Wars Land fall flat on its face after the Resistance ride opens for that to even be considered. And something that big of a failure will likely also take Bob Chapek down so he can "spend more time with family", although I wouldn't be surprised if his tenure with Disney is already on thin ice after this summer's problems.
Something is going on already with the current media silence on Star Wars Land. It's almost as if they are attempting a memory reset here while they work on a new marketing plan.
Who knows what happens with the land in 2021 or 2023. But at least in 2020 they should be planning for a massive change in marketing tactic, with hopefully some creative and operational tweaks to the dead and lifeless land to help boost the new marketing message.
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brb1006
Well-Known Member
I'm so glad you brought up Jack Lindquist, you don't see modern Disney having a marketing genius like him anymore.
Since you mentioned about WDW's 50th, Chapek didn't really talk to much about it. But he just showed up the logo and that's about it for now. We might get more info in the coming months (possibly next year). So far, 50th Anniversary logo looks surprisingly weak. I was hoping they could at least bring back the original Walt Disney World logo with a special anniversary variant. Especially since the old logo was extra charming.
But they just used the Cinderella Castle and the modern WDW logo.
For comparison, here's WDW's previous anniversary logos
Walt Disney World's 20th Anniversary (which also marked the final anniversary where the old logo was still used)
20th Anniversary commercial
Walt Disney World's 25th Anniversary
And speaking of nighttime parades, when WDW turned twenty in 1991. Walt Disney World was finally given an electrical parade of their own called "Spectromagic". From what I heard, the people who worked on the parade described the parade as the anti-MSEP (Not in a bad way). Besides Tokyo Disneyland Electrical Parade Dreamlights that was exclusive to Tokyo Disneyland. Spectromagic was the only nighttime/electrical parade created at the US Disney Theme Parks that wasn't a clone like MSEP or Paint The Night.
1991 footage of Spectromagic at it's infancy
I', aware that I'm on the Disneyland sub-forum, but it's difficult to explain how special and unique Spectromagic was from an East Coast perspective. The parade debuted during an era when Walt Disney World was at it's prime and had more things to do at the resorts (as seen in WDW's 20th Anniversary commercial above) instead of being treated as "the red-headed step child" by TDA and TDO (especially in recent years). Another reason that made Spectromagic special was that it used a bit of modern Disney and mostly featured older and lesser-known Disney films and characters. Not to mention the beautiful and amazing soundtrack that was the perfect embodiment of WDW's nighttime atmosphere.
Instead of taking the MSEP approach when most of the parade is dedicated to just Disney films. Spectromagic found a creative way by placing various Disney characters in different roles such as the Silly Symphony section showing Roger Rabbit/Genie conducting an orchestra featuring Goofy, The Harp from Fun and Fancy Free, living musical instruments, and Chip N Dale. With the finale being a cavalcade of Disney characters. One reason for why WDW still doesn't have an electrical parade is the fact that the Main Street Electrical Parade was extended much longer than it was originally intended (running only for the Summer of 2010). As a result, every float for Spectromagic was left to rot in the hot Florida sun and later get destroyed.
Jim Hill actually created a three part podcast talking about the history and development of Spectromagic. Jim actually reveals that the parade actually had a story which can be heard in Part 3.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
For years, WDW fans were hoping that for WDW's 50th Anniversary we could finally get a brand new electrical parade (and not a clone) that was actually exclusive to the resort again. However, I'm just hoping that the new electrical parade might take some cues from Spectromagic or Dreamlights and won't go overboard with the amount of Pixar characters like PTN did. I also hope that the next electrical parade might give some love to Disney's other films (Bambi, The Aristocats, heck anything from the 1960s or the 1970s) instead of just being the same characters.
My apologize for rambling on, but I'm trying to remain cautious on what Chapek might announce for WDW's 50th in the future. Especially after knowing how Disneyland's 60th Anniversary celebration was handled.
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Travel Junkie
Well-Known Member
Q3 results:
Overall company revenue. Up year over year. Figures are in millions.
More importantly to our discussion. Broken down by segment. Operating income year over year up.
The sky is falling indeed.
Rich T
Well-Known Member
And that is the way most people view SW. That's why no one cares about Ba-tooie. Or Kylo. Or Ren. Or the resistance.
And, seriously, they don't have to worry about shattering their imaginary immersion by bringing in Luke, Darth, Han, Ewoks, etc. (the characters people actually want to see) because NO ONE in the real world of non-theme-park-forum-posters-like-us cares about consistency within GE any more than they wonder why humans are in Radiator Springs or why Mr. Toad and the Darling family are neighbors. This is Disneyland, not a Dr. Who convention. The land's backstory is meaningless to most guests.
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
So come on down to Galaxy Edge. Or don't. I don't care.
EPCOT-O.G.
Well-Known Member
Since this topic is marketing, has anyone yet posted on Bob Iger’s boasts back in February?
orlando-rising.com
“Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger sounds confident that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will be a major success when it opens in Disneyland and Walt Disney World later this year — enough so to joke that marketing expenses will be low.
“I’m thinking that maybe I should just tweet, ‘It’s opening,’ and that will be enough,” Iger said on the company’s earnings call Tuesday. “I think we’re going to end up with incredibly popular and in-demand product with these two new lands.””
It looks like the low key marketing efforts were intentional from the outset.
Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge ‘not going to take much marketing,’ says Disney CEO - Theme Park Tribune, theme park news
Theme Park Tribune offers news and reviews of major theme parks in Orlando, California, and beyond, including Disney, Universal, and SeaWorld parks.
orlando-rising.com
“Disney chairman and CEO Bob Iger sounds confident that Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge will be a major success when it opens in Disneyland and Walt Disney World later this year — enough so to joke that marketing expenses will be low.
“I’m thinking that maybe I should just tweet, ‘It’s opening,’ and that will be enough,” Iger said on the company’s earnings call Tuesday. “I think we’re going to end up with incredibly popular and in-demand product with these two new lands.””
It looks like the low key marketing efforts were intentional from the outset.
It will take years for Disney to realize the mistake. DCA took 8-9 years to begin construction of the newDCA and it’s still not done. A change over isn’t that hard, but it takes effort. It took another 10 plus years to change Tower of Terror. What happens is a slow bleeding out of anymore interest in the Sequel Trilogy. Then one day, the Burbank executives will decide enough with the underperforming Star Wars Land and merchandising and decide to go back to core values.Burbank bosses would need to see Star Wars Land fall flat on its face after the Resistance ride opens for that to even be considered. And something that big of a failure will likely also take Bob Chapek down so he can "spend more time with family", although I wouldn't be surprised if his tenure with Disney is already on thin ice after this summer's problems.
Something is going on already with the current media silence on Star Wars Land. It's almost as if they are attempting a memory reset here while they work on a new marketing plan.
Who knows what happens with the land in 2021 or 2023. But at least in 2020 they should be planning for a massive change in marketing tactic, with hopefully some creative and operational tweaks to the dead and lifeless land to help boost the new marketing message.
Travel Junkie
Well-Known Member
Large companies like governments usually move at a glacial pace. Bottom line though is that if you want Disney to change its way of doing things, hope the stock price goes down. That is what will get their attention.
True, but whatever physical changes they make to Star Wars Land, if they even make them, will be on a much smaller scale than what they did at DCA like turning the Sunshine Plaza into Carthay Circle. Even the analogy of Condor Flats to Grizzly Peak Airfield is a bit of a stretch compared to changes needed at Star Wars Land.
They don't need to turn arid Batuu into a swampy, watery new planet at huge expense. All they'd need to do is spruce the place up a bit, make it more of a happening trading town instead of a forgotten decaying backwater, and then get some drama students from Fullerton Junior College to dress up like Luke and Leia and Han Solo.
The bones are good with the current Star Wars Land. It's just the execution out in the walkways and plazas and shops and restaurants that has fallen flat. Once Mr. Chapek leaves to spend more time with his family they can just build a swanky supper club on the vacant lot, spruce the place up a bit, and add the roaming droids and a raucous Stormtrooper stunt show and the interactive characters that WDI had originally planned. Fixed!
But that's all stuff for 2021 or beyond. For 2020 they just need to relaunch and remarket this land with American consumers. That will be easy for them if they spend some money, return to network TV instead of neckbeard bloggers, add in some roaming characters and an alien band, and never utter the word "reservation" ever again.
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britain
Well-Known Member
But even if GE had the worst case scenario diagnosis, it would need, as @TP2000 said, a mild reworking à la Soarin' and Grizzly Peak. That's a far cry from the Buena Vista Street / Carsland investment that required 8-9 years of bad reputation to get TDA to change things.
Sorry to disappoint detractors, but GE is not the failure DCA 1.0 was.
britain
Well-Known Member
It's funny - it's like Batuu is Radiator Springs BEFORE Lightning McQueen got there. And Carsland is Radiator Springs AFTER, when the place got all spruced up and happy. Very minimal change would be needed. They just need it to be a bit more festive. I really think the land is terrific, they just were off target by imbibing a wee bit too much of the "Tattooine & Jakku are wastelands that nobody wants to be at" ethos.