History of "One Disney" information

[Patricia Melton]

I'm trying to find some good information on "One Disney" so I can evaluate its impact on the parks.
Can anyone help me find articles on this philosophy, who was behind it, and when it was implemented?

I'm talking about the "One Disney" mindset that is cited by many in forums when talking about TDO's decision to eliminated resort, park, and attraction specific merchandise in favor of generic stuff that can be sold anywhere. Seemingly, this was done to save money on merchandise by printing a large quantity of generic stuff that could be sold at Disney stores as well as in the parks.

Meanwhile, over at Universal's Wizarding World of Harry Potter, for instance, there is unique merchandise on sale that's flying off the shelves because people can only buy it at that one place on Earth. At WDW, generic pink Minnie sweatshirts and "One Disney" merchandise collects dust on shelves.

Have you ever seen a good, in-depth article exploring the thinking behind "One Disney" and its consequences?

I have some time on my hands and really want to become expert on this aspect of TDO so I can better understand some of the more bizarre choices TDO execs seem to make that can only be ascribed to the cult of "One Disney".

 

[maryszhi]

not really but i get what your getting at. for some reason, ive seen things go from disneyland and disney world to disney parks: labels on merchandise, shopping bags,resort mugs, website title, etc. I am glad your doing the research. Let me know how it turns out

 

[HenryMystic]

Jim Hill Media may or may not have one. That's where I would start.

 

[Patricia Melton]

not really but i get what your getting at. for some reason, ive seen things go from disneyland and disney world to disney parks: labels on merchandise, shopping bags,resort mugs, website title, etc. I am glad your doing the research. Let me know how it turns out

Thanks Mary.

I'm going to research this until I find some good answers and then I will do a write up on what I find. I like solving mysteries like this. And I'd like to see the info all in one place so in the future newbies to the forums can maybe refer back to an article on it and understand what people are talking about.

I even had to think for about 20 minutes to see what "TDO" meant. I assume it means "The Disney Organization" but I could be wrong. With so much shorthand and acronyms it's hard to keep it all straight. For me at least. Maybe younger folks have it easier!

 

[maryszhi]

if you want any quotes or perspectives i would be more than happy to assist you

 

[menamechris]

I even had to think for about 20 minutes to see what "TDO" meant. I assume it means "The Disney Organization" but I could be wrong. With so much shorthand and acronyms it's hard to keep it all straight. For me at least. Maybe younger folks have it easier!

TDO = Team Disney Orlando. TDA = Team Disney Anaheim

 

[Patricia Melton]

if you want any quotes or perspectives i would be more than happy to assist you

I'm going to take you up on that. First we need to get the research done. I'm going to sleep now but tomorrow when I wake up I am going to do some searches on the Google about One Disney and see what I can find. I'm going to ask my son to help me because he is good with computers. I can never think of the right words to put into the search engine to find what I want. Easier to just call my son up and he sends me an email with these links to Google and when I click on them it's a lot of what I want.

 

[maryszhi]

if u need help or any questions feel free to pm me

 

[John]

wish you well on your quest. I would enjoy seeing some insight on this....not sure how much you will be able to find out. We all can pretty much guess why it happened but what you are trying to find out ....who. For me it is simply another.....bad idea to raise the bottom line. On my last few trips I havnt bought much of anything....besides a few pins and even those are not as well done as they once were. IMO Vynilmation is an abomination as far as something you want to take home as a memorable souviner from your time at the parks.
They were designed for one thing in mind...to get kids to "collect" them and drive sales. Instead of provideing a quality product to save for years. To me they are no different then Beanie Babies and other collectables of this nature. They come and they go.

This subject is actually something near and dear to me. The specific merch. was always one of those things that made visiting WDW special. Back in the day.....not only were there park specific merch but area specific merch such as Frontierland, Tommorrowland etc. I think these kinds of decisions come straight from the top of the chain of command. Mr Iger would had have to sign off on this.

 

[powlessfamily4]

I would be very interested in reading your results also. I would think park/resort specific merchandise would increase sales and balance the added expense of purchasing in smaller bulk. I am mush more inclined to purchase a T-shirt or coffee mug for a specific place. Most of the merchandise can be found anywhere on Disney property and it lessens the appeal. The same goes for the refillable mugs. I can honestly say I would probably buy more merchandise is it were more unique.

 

[Patricia Melton]

Here is what I am going to try to find today:

* Looking at what kind of merchandise was for sale in the past
* Looking at around what year the "One Disney" merchandise started dominating the parks
* Finding out who was in charge of merchandise in the parks when the "switch" occured
* Seeing where those people are now in the year 2012

From what I've heard, the "One Disney" has failed because the merchandise is collecting dust on the shelves.

I'm curious to see if the people behind it are still in their positions and are still with Disney.

Because if the sales of the junky "One Disney" stuff aren't higher than the sales of the former merchandise, then I wonder if any savings Disney receives from the bulk purchases is negated.

 

[wolf359]

I'd also be interested to see some actual, factual sales numbers. The internet is quick to proclaim broadly sweeping failure in whatever decisions or events it deems unworthy. While I have no love for the generic merchandise I'd at least like to know if the reality and the perception of dropping sales match.

 

[lazyboy97o]

One Disney is similar to but different than its predecessor, the DisneyParks project. One Disney is more about eliminating redundancies in the operations of the Disneyland Resort and the Walt Disney World Resort. The problem is that in too many cases actual differences between the Resorts are not acknowledged. DisneyParks is the earlier effort that had a very public presence, including the DisneyParks branding for the parks as a whole, brand wide advertising and yes, even the infamous DisneyParks merchandise. There is still dual branded Disneyland / Walt Disney World merchandise, and merchandise developed for one with the other's name slapped on, but I recall that existing beforehand.

 

[asianway]

I'm trying to find some good information on "One Disney" so I can evaluate its impact on the parks.
Can anyone help me find articles on this philosophy, who was behind it, and when it was implemented?

I'm talking about the "One Disney" mindset that is cited by many in forums when talking about TDO's decision to eliminated resort, park, and attraction specific merchandise in favor of generic stuff that can be sold anywhere. Seemingly, this was done to save money on merchandise by printing a large quantity of generic stuff that could be sold at Disney stores as well as in the parks.

Meanwhile, over at Universal's Wizarding World of Harry Potter, for instance, there is unique merchandise on sale that's flying off the shelves because people can only buy it at that one place on Earth. At WDW, generic pink Minnie sweatshirts and "One Disney" merchandise collects dust on shelves.

Have you ever seen a good, in-depth article exploring the thinking behind "One Disney" and its consequences?

I have some time on my hands and really want to become expert on this aspect of TDO so I can better understand some of the more bizarre choices TDO execs seem to make that can only be ascribed to the cult of "One Disney".

Just quoting this so you cant delete it later. Interesting how in 20 days you went from posts like this to attacking the "malcontents" on the board.

 

[flynnibus]

If one is serious.. all one needs to do is search the blogs that track the company.

Al Lutz
Jim Hill
Mouseplanet

A 3 second google search brings up this hit to see when it was announced
http://www.mouseplanet.com/8732/Walt_Disney_World_Resort_Update

Use the site: filter with google and "one disney" and read all you want. You'll be spending a lot of time to 'study' what is a very simple concept. Consolidate operations across the theme parks to improve efficencies. The complaint from the worker bees is that such moves elminated 'local knowledge' and resulted in decisions made by people that don't understand the local needs/product. Add to that the homogenization of merchandise and materials - again in the efforts of optimizations.

"One Disney" was preceded by the "Disney Parks" push of Jay R. where the parks were marketed (and merchandised) generically - directly weakening the individual identities of each park.. and in turn their merchandise.

 

[Patricia Melton]

If one is serious.. all one needs to do is search the blogs that track the company.

Al Lutz
Jim Hill
Mouseplanet

A 3 second google search brings up this hit to see when it was announced
http://www.mouseplanet.com/8732/Walt_Disney_World_Resort_Update

Use the site: filter with google and "one disney" and read all you want. You'll be spending a lot of time to 'study' what is a very simple concept. Consolidate operations across the theme parks to improve efficencies. The complaint from the worker bees is that such moves elminated 'local knowledge' and resulted in decisions made by people that don't understand the local needs/product. Add to that the homogenization of merchandise and materials - again in the efforts of optimizations.

"One Disney" was preceded by the "Disney Parks" push of Jay R. where the parks were marketed (and merchandised) generically - directly weakening the individual identities of each park.. and in turn their merchandise.

I have not been able to find any good information on how effective "One Disney" has been though.

I can't find any info on the parks' sales receipts pre and post "One Disney".

I'd love to see any sort of data on if the "One Disney" merchandise moves faster off the shelves than the original, better themed merchandise.

I know that the guy behind the Disney stores was put in charge of making "One Disney" the merchandise motto in all the parks and having the parks sell things that are all available in Disney stores, but I don't see anything anywhere that talks about whether this was actually effective or whether it's in fact hurt the company.

 

[luv]

I didn't even know there was such a thing. For a while, I saw a bunch of the "One Park" thing, which was just so dumb. There isn't one park. There are four. It was on printed stuff as well as merchandise. But they quit that in favor of the equally annoying, but less idiotic, "Disney Parks."

I think they are now getting into "branding" (and we all know how Walt felt about that) as well as trying to save some money.

I quit buying stuff that has Disney Parks on it immediately, even before people started talking about it. But I did buy one of those cartoony Dooney purses that have both WDW and DL written on them. They were just too cute. I had to make an exception.

Looking forward to your hearing what you find out about One Disney.

 

[Brewmaster]

I have not been able to find any good information on how effective "One Disney" has been though.

I can't find any info on the parks' sales receipts pre and post "One Disney".

I'd love to see any sort of data on if the "One Disney" merchandise moves faster off the shelves than the original, better themed merchandise.

I seriously doubt you will be able to find any factual report that has that level of detail on resort merchandise sales. IMO the more substantive issue was the homogenization of merchandise across the WDW Resort, when every store is carrying (more or less) the same merch it lessens each location's unique identity. I noticed this happening as far back as 2003, possibly earlier.

 

[lazyboy97o]

I have not been able to find any good information on how effective "One Disney" has been though.

I can't find any info on the parks' sales receipts pre and post "One Disney".

I'd love to see any sort of data on if the "One Disney" merchandise moves faster off the shelves than the original, better themed merchandise.

You are not going to find these numbers and, again, there is no "One Disney" merchandise. The singular branding predates One Disney.

I know that the guy behind the Disney stores was put in charge of making "One Disney" the merchandise motto in all the parks and having the parks sell things that are all available in Disney stores, but I don't see anything anywhere that talks about whether this was actually effective or whether it's in fact hurt the company.

Who are you speaking about? Paul Pressler? Because that years before DisneyParks® (the initiative that had merchandise) and One Disney. Jay Rasulo began the DisneyParks® branding while the Disney Store was owned by The Children's Place.

 

[menamechris]

I have not been able to find any good information on how effective "One Disney" has been though.

I can't find any info on the parks' sales receipts pre and post "One Disney".

I'd love to see any sort of data on if the "One Disney" merchandise moves faster off the shelves than the original, better themed merchandise.

I know that the guy behind the Disney stores was put in charge of making "One Disney" the merchandise motto in all the parks and having the parks sell things that are all available in Disney stores, but I don't see anything anywhere that talks about whether this was actually effective or whether it's in fact hurt the company.

What you are looking for is proprietary. Disney doesn't even release their exact attendance figures. Why would they let someone audit their sales figures?