Spirited News & Observations II -- NGE/Baxter

[WDW1974]

Why do I get this feeling that Steve Jobs would have castrated Bob, Tom and Jay by now?

Why would he?

Disney stock is at all all-time high. Too many people, especially at the highest levels, don't look beyond what the market closed at. Jobs, who absolutely had differences with Bob from time to time, was still a big advocate of Iger's leadership. Of course, I never worshipped at the Cult of Jobs so I don't believe that his opinion is as valuable as some others do.

 

[Genie of the Lamp]

Seems that the next project Apple's working on involves a watch called the IWatch. It seems like this product will be incorporated into NG/MM+:
http://disneyatwork.com/2013/03/no-waiting-at-disney-with-iwatch/

Edit: Also, HKDL raised their ticket prices today. I'm assuming they made this move in anticipation with Mystic Manor/Mystic Point opening next month but correct me if I'm wrong. Any idea when will see our annual yearly domestic park increases take place?

 

[WDW1974]

I'm sure George A. Kalogridis would break into tears if he knew of this.

Edit: Speaking of George, what should our confidence level be in terms of him being present at the Monstrous Summer Press event and scoring an interview with a fanboi? On second thought after him being seen today, maybe will start seeing him in public more often.

I don't think George would like me dead, no. I do think he'd like me muzzled though. Of course, I can play nice too ...

As to his appearance today, since that was a community event where Disney was giving money to charity it only shows he is alive and in Central Florida. Nothing more. When is he giving his first interview to Sue Vongel... I mean Lou Mongello?

 

[WDW1974]

Thank you for the startling perspective.
...
It's all just a big scam. I wonder how much longer all of these companies can pretend Social Media is as important as they make it seem. Cause it's not.

First, you are welcome.

Second, it's not that social media is a scam because it isn't, but is it greatly overvalued? You betcha!

Social media is a vital part of today's media landscape (don't take my constant bashing to believe it doesn't have its place -- it does!) ... The issue is how important social media really is and how different companies, in this case TWDC, use and exploit it largely as a propaganda tool.

It can be of tremendous value to a company. But I'd argue that Disney can get more true feedback (stuff that is akin to FREE CONSULTING) from reading sites like this one, which therefore make them much more important and valuable, than what they gain from basically having paid BRAND advocates out there in the form of socil media whores (from O-Town Lifestylers, to fanboi foamers to Mommy Bloggers!)

These BRAND advocates are not drumming up siginificant business for Disney beyond the same folks who would largely be visiting anyway, and there are no metrics that exist that prove otherwise. THAT is the great lie of social media with TWDC.

And everyone from the folks who work in Burbank to the Celebration Place Social Media Cabal to folks like Shel Holtz and Mark Ragan exist to largely justify their existence.

 

[WDW1974]

It's amazing what one can convince themselves of. Like a person who religiously plays the lottery, because someday- just once- they're going to hit it big. Nevermind all the money lost in the persuit of a (possibly small) payout.

It's equally amazing the power of influence. If NBC has a social media club, Target has a social media club (you'd be surprised!), Universal, hell- even local parks like Kennywood and Cedar Point... then why shouldn't Disney? To them, it's marketing without having to pay the full price of 'actual' marketing.

It's easy to pay off ...err, offer someone a free hotel room, free access to an event, and perhaps a free meal if you know they are going to rant and rave about how awesome their trip was. Nevermind that 4 people will read that rant and rave- that's 4 more people that will be thinking about how this person had an awesome trip. Disney comes out looking golden. Bloggers are a helluva lot cheaper than 'real' marketing techs.

Also, it's easier to mail out a gift card than it is to say "We're sorry for screwing up and sharing your information with who-knows-how-many-people". Even when all the person wants is a little acknowledgement that it DID indeed happen. Sometimes that's worth more than a gift card. Just sayin'.

Just as an FYI, but Disney spends millions of dollars a year on bloggers and webmasters and podcasters (and some on real media) to visit Disney locales around the globe and promote them. This isn't an insignificant sum of $$$.

As to the gift card versus an apology, Disney isn't EVER going to put in writing (unless compelled in a legal action) that they allowed your personal information to be compromised. If they send someone a $500 gift card on a blank sheet of paper that says nothing, then it can't be viewed as anything other than a gift from whomever?

But I'm going to go support Disney by watching their great Wednesday night lineup on ABC.

I'll see you all a little later ...

 

[jt04]

Just as an FYI, but Disney spends millions of dollars a year on bloggers and webmasters and podcasters (and some on real media) to visit Disney locales around the globe and promote them. This isn't an insignificant sum of $$$.

As to the gift card versus an apology, Disney isn't EVER going to put in writing (unless compelled in a legal action) that they allowed your personal information to be compromised. If they send someone a $500 gift card on a blank sheet of paper that says nothing, then it can't be viewed as anything other than a gift from whomever?

But I'm going to go support Disney by watching their great Wednesday night lineup on ABC.

I'll see you all a little later ...

$500!!!! If they are handing out gift cards, how much do you think the mouse should send me?

 

[WDW1974]

So your taking disney's bad moves as why the whole concept is bad??

This phrase puts it best , 'we need to be where our customers are..'

When you find people spend more time reading Facebook then they spend time reading a newspaper... You better have presence in the right spots if you want to reach your audience

Wait ... first I gotta agree and argue with good old Flynn!

He is quite right (and you know he loves hearing it!) that the concept of social media is not bad. And he's quite right about being where your customers are.

I would just argue they aren't on insiginificant fan blogs. I'd also say he is greatly overstating (it's OK everyone from Zuckerberg to Wall Street has) the true value of Facebook. Many folks are already fleeing it because they realize how many issues ... bad issues ... come from putting your life out online with no rights and no expectations that any/every thing out there can't/won't be used against you in everything from a divorce to a job search to a court of law.

And, naturally, if you overvalue new media, then it usually means that you undervalue traditional (i.e. REAL) media.

But I want to go laugh some ... so off to the TV!

 

[WDW1974]

OK, something to be angry about ... my local ABC affiliate has preempted the season finale of The Neighbors for a commercial (paid 30 minutes for a local spot) on the Florida Derby. Effing amazing.

 

[dhall]

People are on to social media and many are so cynical that even when a company appears to do something good, people are trained to question it.

http://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-livi...deed-sparks-reddit-controversy-190812248.html

Reddit is particularly cynical, since it has become one of the biggest sites and has (as a site) fallen for more than a few blatant publicity ploys. Some redditors now take most everything with a grain of salt.

 

[WDW1974]

You interchange and conflict yourself no less than 5 times in that message. 'Social Media' is not the same as a handful of people with no reach. You take Disney's stupid moves and interchange them at will with social media marketing universally.

Again... 'we must be where our customers are' - obviously a blogger with a few dozen followers does not meet that criteria.

I would argue that Disney's current social media outreach targets many insiginifcant folks that it panders to and lavishes with what they think are exclusive invites (trust me, I've been at some incredibly exclusive events and never needed a lanyard around my neck!), hotel rooms, cruises, meals, booze, swag and very limited access to some execs, Imagineers and celebs.

What's worse is that Disney in no way vets these individuals, whatsoever. So, whatever baggage they have becomes Disney's ... folks at TDO as well as TDB seem to be very slow on that uptake. But like all good fanbois, they're bound to get the point ... in the end.

 

[flynnibus]

Wait ... first I gotta agree and argue with good old Flynn!

He is quite right (and you know he loves hearing it!) that the concept of social media is not bad. And he's quite right about being where your customers are.

When you embrace my posts.. your whole day feels better

I would just argue they aren't on insiginificant fan blogs. I'd also say he is greatly overstating (it's OK everyone from Zuckerberg to Wall Street has) the true value of Facebook

Don't get me wrong.. I'm not a fan of Facebook FUNCTIONALLY as a basis for engagement.. I also think it's concept of search still blows.. but I was using it more of an example of 'being where your customers are'. You at least need to have that marker.. that can ensure you are found, and at least point the people to your true form of engagement (voice, web, B&M, whatever). Where facebook excels vs other formats is notification.. the idea of inserting your message into 'feed' that the customers are voluntarily consuming very frequently. But you still need compelling content..

I have liked Universal on Facebook.. but honestly their regular postings are boring and uninspiring. Where I have another sites I have liked, that can get me to click on half or more of their news items. Items that otherwise I may have never seen. Just like before.. the tool alone doesn't make the package.

And, naturally, if you overvalue new media, then it usually means that you undervalue traditional (i.e. REAL) media.

They certainly come with different expectations.. from speed to accuracy to 'weight' per story. It needs to be looked at as another tool.. and simply 'having it' doesn't make it work for you.

I just hate when people throw wide nets and TP2000 is having trouble differentiating Disney's social media methods and practices with the genre as a whole.

 

[the.dreamfinder]

Why would he?

Disney stock is at all all-time high. Too many people, especially at the highest levels, don't look beyond what the market closed at. Jobs, who absolutely had differences with Bob from time to time, was still a big advocate of Iger's leadership. Of course, I never worshipped at the Cult of Jobs so I don't believe that his opinion is as valuable as some others do.

I guess you don't rememeber MobileMe. Similar level of unacceptable bugs and flaws at launch for a product that cost 99 dollars a year. Most of the team was fired. MobileMe likely did not cost 1.5 billion and counting back in 2009. MM+ does and apple ended up doubling down on cloud services afterward. Would BoD do the same if MM+ fails?

 

[WDW1974]

Seems that the next project Apple's working on involves a watch called the IWatch. It seems like this product will be incorporated into NG/MM+:
http://disneyatwork.com/2013/03/no-waiting-at-disney-with-iwatch/

Edit: Also, HKDL raised their ticket prices today. I'm assuming they made this move in anticipation with Mystic Manor/Mystic Point opening next month but correct me if I'm wrong. Any idea when will see our annual yearly domestic park increases take place?

I would guess the next increase would be around June 1st. That's their traditional time.

As to HKDL, their prices are so low to begin with when compared to prices at every other Disney resort. When I was living in Hong Kong, I bought an AP in 2010 and it was less than the cost of a one-day, one park ticket at WDW. Considering that was before they added a new parade and THREE new mini-lands (with another Marvel-based on the way), including two state of the art unique E-Tix, they have every right to increase prices a bit.

 

[WDW1974]

$500!!!! If they are handing out gift cards, how much do you think the mouse should send me?

JT ... first you have to actually sign up with their website and make a reservation to actually visit WDW. Then, you need to hope that they'll have a breach of privacy with your info ... and, then, you'll have to hope that they've mined your data enough to figure out whether you are worth $500 or $50.

 

[flynnibus]

I would argue that Disney's current social media outreach targets many insiginifcant folks that it panders to ...

I wouldn't disagree. But I also don't have anything to really base on why I think they've taken that path.. Was it ignorance of the players? Was it.. the big fish weren't catchable so take what you can? Was it.. we can take this person and MAKE them into something even tho they aren't today? Was it.. carpet bombing? Maybe a bit of all of them?

Personally I find a lot of it misguided... most of these folks would be showing up anyways! Why do I need a Mommy from Minnesota if a Mommy in FL who can come on her own has the same visibility on the web? I think just welcoming them and giving them some name recognition would probably have had these people wetting their pants and lapping the attention up.

I think the Park's Blog has been very successful in terms of their machine to launch teasers and news. But I wonder how much they've expanded the audience, or just ensured all the daily disney fiends hit their site too. I'd love to hear what type of uniques they get on the site. All I know is the few times I've looked at their youtube videos.. I was shocked by how low the view counts were.

The blog is not a customer service tool or customer feedback.. and that's fine IMO. You don't need one thing to fit everything.. I think they could do a lot better with getting guest relations online and engaged.. but again, that doesn't need to be via the blog.

I know you've criticized them in the past for that.. and what I'm saying is its ok to have a marketing presence without necessarily having your customer service or liaison in the same place or format.

 

[WDW1974]

When you embrace my posts.. your whole day feels better

That should almost go without saying!

Don't get me wrong.. I'm not a fan of Facebook FUNCTIONALLY as a basis for engagement.. I also think it's concept of search still blows.. but I was using it more of an example of 'being where your customers are'. You at least need to have that marker.. that can ensure you are found, and at least point the people to your true form of engagement (voice, web, B&M, whatever). Where facebook excels vs other formats is notification.. the idea of inserting your message into 'feed' that the customers are voluntarily consuming very frequently. But you still need compelling content..

I have liked Universal on Facebook.. but honestly their regular postings are boring and uninspiring. Where I have another sites I have liked, that can get me to click on half or more of their news items. Items that otherwise I may have never seen. Just like before.. the tool alone doesn't make the package.

And I don't disagree with any of the above. ... But Disney's whole way of reaching an audience through social media honestly appears as though it is being done with no common sense and by simply taking what their overpriced consultants are telling them and running with it. Knowing how Disney operates with other consultants (both inside P&R and other divisions) I am not surprised. But I am reasonably sure that even among the most mentally ill of OCD Pixie Dust addicts out there with too much money and/or credit and/or time on their hands that NO ONE is going to plan $5,000 MAGICal WDW vacations after reading about and seeing photos and videos of Tangled toilets or LImited Time Foamheads. Disney is banking that these OCD Lifestylers are going to draw others to WDW. There is no DATA to support that whatsoever.

They certainly come with different expectations.. from speed to accuracy to 'weight' per story. It needs to be looked at as another tool.. and simply 'having it' doesn't make it work for you.

I just hate when people throw wide nets and TP2000 is having trouble differentiating Disney's social media methods and practices with the genre as a whole.

I've gone down this road with you on both tech and social media and while I see your point, I think you need to simply point out the differences and back off ... because while there may be confusion, the underlying points are generally solid.

But Modern Family time ...

 

[JenniferS]

Is that what all this Spirit stuff is? You? Or is there more spirit stuff? And if you are The Spirit, are you The ("the") Spirit or The ("thee") Spirit? Never sure how that would be pronounced.

I don't suppose anyone would like to explain all this "Spirit" stuff, but I tried to figure it out and I can't, so I'm going to ask just this once.

If its a big secret, just say so, so I can give up.

Please. Thank you.

Thuh vs Thee - follow the same rule as A vs An.
Thee apple pie was more popular than thuh peach cobbler.

 

[flynnibus]

I see the above post garnered a 'like' by Lee. That's very rare. Like a George Kalogridis spotting at WDW. I hear it's because he can only type with one finger.

You get a community George sighting via the DPB
http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/bl...s-1-5-million-to-support-central-florida-kids

 

[djlaosc]

OK, something to be angry about ... my local ABC affiliate has preempted the season finale of The Neighbors for a commercial (paid 30 minutes for a local spot) on the Florida Derby. Effing amazing.

Wonder if that will have any effect on its renewal prospects (CBS just renewed 14 shows today, which I am happy about, as I watch 9 of them).

 

[ThemeParks4Life]

OK, something to be angry about ... my local ABC affiliate has preempted the season finale of The Neighbors for a commercial (paid 30 minutes for a local spot) on the Florida Derby. Effing amazing.

Here on WFTV it was The Middle, the only show I care about on Wednesdays