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Disneyland's Marketing Strategy for 2020??? Because 2019 Was A Mess!
- Thread starter TP2000
- Start date
Model3 McQueen
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
Who knows.. working on MMRR would be a good start, as would bringing new ideas and concepts to the table. Everything they banked on (you know, the cheap upgrades) was "supposed" to carry DL for a couple of years. SWGE is one big misstep in a pool of other missteps under Chapek.
Monorail_Orange
Well-Known Member
DLR Locomotive #5, named "Ward Kimball" broke an axle as it was driving over the trestle above one of the entrances to GE near BTM last month or so. There's a thread about it. In the grand scheme of things, it's not particularly a big deal, a replacement will be fabricated and fitted, and the locomotive will be back in service relatively soon.
shambolicdefending
Well-Known Member
Until RotR has its first major 101 about 4-8 hours into operation?
shambolicdefending
Well-Known Member
One thing Disney does extremely well (or so I've been told) is consumer research. They'll know why SW:GE flopped. Just like they knew why DCA 1.0 did.
But, like DCA, it will probably take a long time to fully fix it.
Model3 McQueen
Well-Known Member
- In the Parks
- No
They almost did fix DCA, until it took a complete 180 and Chapek demanded more Marvel / Pixar, bringing the park backwards (again) instead of forward.
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
If they did consumer research well they would not be in the situation they are now.
FigmentFreak
Well-Known Member
Entertainment update, the live musicians on deck that should play as the ship goes down have been cut from the budget.
Phroobar
Well-Known Member
They have a Titanic ride? Does @George Lucas on a Bench know?
DrAlice
Well-Known Member
I agree that they at least have the ability to do market research well. They wouldn't be the juggernaut that they are without it. But I also agree with the other sentiments here. That's where my question came from. Yes, they have market research, but are the current TDA execs capable of admitting what the market research is telling them ("you done messed up A-A-ron!"), or will they keep to their spreadsheets and continue to cut corners, telling themselves that it's "good enough" and the customers are "too dumb to notice"?
I'm worried that ROTR is not going to be the savior of a ride that everyone is hoping for. If that happens, what does that mean for future projects/large investments at the resort? Will they see that cutting corners is what hurt the project? Or will they just see "we gambled bazillions of dollars and lost, let's not do that again"?
Time will tell, I suppose.
Sirwalterraleigh
Premium Member
Thanks Darkbeer. While I understand you can't say much, I have also heard from the commercial real estate crowd that occupancy in the Anaheim market was down unexpectedly in Anaheim this summer. It's something that a lot of local business folks are talking about, and it took everyone by surprise after all the Star Wars hype.
Similarly, when I was staying in La Jolla in August, I heard from a banker friend who still works out of Wells Fargo's La Jolla office that the San Diego market was having a very good summer for tourism spending and hotel occupancy even as airbnb continues to take a bigger part of that pie for San Diego County.
No wonder the "mood and tone" for Anaheim's Resort District is not good. This is obviously something that just doesn't impact Disney's bottom line, but a lot of big companies and small mom and pop businesses in the Resort District.
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Say what you will about Eisner, but at least WDW and DL used to go all out with their park anniversaries (Mainly in the 80's and 90's when they used to create anniversary parades) during the Eisner era.
This year's D23 gave a tease of Walt Disney World's 50th Anniversary and even revealed the logo for 2021.
WDW's 50th deserves to go all out and not just another anniversary celebrated by just cupcakes and pins. I seriously hope they don't screw this up.
Some truly fabulous old videos of Disneyland's past campaigns there! I should mention that what we saw there was more a product of Jack Lindquist and his epic ability to celebrate Disneyland and tap into the cultural zeitgeist of the day, than anything Eisner did. But at least Eisner allowed Lindquist to have free reign in Anaheim in the 1980's and 90's, before Lindquist retired in '95 and they standardized their marketing nationwide into bland corporate "Disney" in the 21st century.
Jack Lindquist was a marketing genius. I can only imagine how disgusted he must be up in heaven right now as he sees what Disney's current crop of marketers did with Star Wars Land and its opening year.
That said.... that's the WDW 50th logo and info they released at D23 Expo? I missed that last month, but YIKES. That has Mr. Chapek written all over it; gooey cupcakes, sparkly plastic crap made in China, upcharge "cocktails" swimming in corn syrup and cheap vodka, and some banners and balloons placed about instead of actual entertainment and events. Let me guess, Mr. Chapek is also going to insist that all the CM's say some cutesy phrase like "50 Smiles!" every two minutes instead of creating a new night parade for Magic Kingdom?
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George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
Perhaps it was difficult to really advertise the Star Wars land to begin with, but it seems like they didn't even try. I saw a couple ads on YouTube that were pretty awful. As soon as people started not showing up, they should have begun an aggressive ad campaign, retooled the land etc. They did nothing. They advertised everything else, especially the Main Street parade. It's very telling that they opted for nostalgia over the new land.
Bingo! I think the Great Marketing Mess of 2019 was a two-pronged problem.
1. They went super cheap per Bob Iger's specific orders and kept the traditional marketing to a minimum. Even if you added up all the views on the top 20 YouTube Lifestyle Blogger channels covering Star Wars Lands opening, you would only have about 500,000 viewers for those blogs. But 17 Million viewers tune in each week for Big Bang Theory, and 20 Million viewers tune in for Sunday Night Football. A savvy and fun nationwide TV campaign should have accompanied the opening of Star Wars Land, not just trinkets and a ticket for neckbeard bloggers.
2. What marketing they did have in 2019 was a total mess. Reservations Required! Reservations All Gone! Must Stay at Disneyland Hotel Or You're Steerage Trash! Okay, just kidding, the place is empty! Come see this! Ahora! Please?!
No wonder Kirk put his foot down with Julie and the kids over a Disneyland trip this summer. Kirk's not stupid.
George Lucas on a Bench
Well-Known Member
What exactly do you put in ads for GE? Obviously, the Falcon wasn't enough.
Come see the stunning rocks! Revel in the broken robot parts! Experience the immersive experience of eating in a cargo container!
Come see the stunning rocks! Revel in the broken robot parts! Experience the immersive experience of eating in a cargo container!
Rich T
Well-Known Member
Exactly. The place looks like a dump. Hey, kids, let's pretend we're smugglers! Wheeeee!*
*Fun sold separately.