Nothing really new here, but this is Jason Garcia's take on this issue in today's Orlando Sentinel.
By Jason Garcia, Orlando Sentinel
One of Walt Disney World’s monorail trains has undergone a radical makeover.
The familiar, single-striped paint job has been replaced by the image of a motorcycle set against a blue background on the front cab — with a shimmering trail of light that extends the length of the train.
The flashy ad display, which debuted earlier this month, is part of the Walt Disney Co.’s early marketing campaign for
Tron: Legacy, the big-budget sequel to the 1982 cult classic that will serve as the company’s winter-holiday movie release later this year.
It’s also the first time Disney World has wrapped any of its monorail trains — one of the resort’s most widely recognized symbols — with advertising that promotes something beyond the theme parks.
And it has proved astonishingly polarizing.
Though many Disney fans have been gushing over the sleek look, many others are criticizing the company in online fan forums for turning one of Disney World’s most universally recognized symbols into a 200-foot advertisement.
Some fans have even taken their displeasure to Disney’s company-run theme-park blog.
“Never thought I’d see the day that Disney would bus-wrap their monorails to advertise for a movie,” one commenter wrote. “What’s next, billboards on Cinderella Castle?” added another.
The backlash underscores the balancing act that faces Disney as it searches for new and more ways to use its theme parks to promote its movies, television shows and time shares without antagonizing its uniquely passionate — and vocal — fan base.
‘Moving billboards’
Disney has, of course, always used its theme parks to build awareness and affinity for its films and other products. But fans say the in-park advertising has grown more extensive over time.
“You get the feeling that over the years, the hard sell has been creeping in further and further. And finally it’s come to monorails as moving billboards,” said Michael Crawford, publisher of Progress City USA, a blog devoted to Disney news and history.
Disney says it is careful not to be heavy-handed with its advertising. The company noted that the
Tron-wrapped monorail travels only to its Epcot theme park, which, like the movie, has a technology-heavy theme.
The train is never used on the resort’s Magic Kingdom track.
“Our parks are where our stories come to life and, if there’s a natural fit to bring in a new story, then we consider it,” Disney World spokesman Bryan Malenius said.
Disney World has something of a checkered history when it comes to mixing park icons with marketing.
In 1996, for instance, Disney transformed Cinderella Castle into a giant pink birthday cake to trumpet the theme park’s 25th-anniversary celebration, in a move that to this day is still scorned by many fans.
Three years later, initially to promote its millennium celebration, Disney added a giant magic wand, held aloft by Mickey Mouse’s arm, to the side of Spaceship Earth, the 180-foot-tall geodesic sphere synonymous with Epcot.
When Disney finally announced plans to remove it eight years later, the decision so elated some fans that it prompted a front-page
Sentinel story with the headline “Critics sure to find Epcot’s decision ‘wand-erful.’ ”
Still, marketing experts say the advertising appeal of such assets is obvious. The monorail trains are seen daily by tens of thousands of people, and the cost to display ads on them is negligible.
As long as there is some kind of “relevant link,” such advertising makes sense, said Gretchen Hofmann, a former marketing executive at Universal Orlando.
“If this were an ad for McDonald’s or paper towels, then they just went off a cliff. But it’s not, and they know better — and if they ever forget, their guests will let them know,” Hofmann said.
Lisa Cotter, a former Disney marketing executive, said the company risks angering some fans whenever it tinkers with a well-known symbol in its theme parks.
But the moves are often worthwhile, she said. Even the oft-ridiculed birthday-cake castle overlay had its advantages, she said.
“It was a look that garnered a great deal of publicity, created a signature shot and, let’s face it, made for some fun, memorable family photos, distinct from previous — and future — Disney theme-park vacations,” Cotter said.
The same is true of the monorail makeover, she added.
“When you think about it objectively, it’s a great brand fit — the technology of both — and, of course, using a huge, popular asset like the monorail will help build massive awareness and buzz for the film,” Cotter said.
Some Disney fans unfazed
To be sure, not all Disney fans have been upset by the advertising. John Frost, publisher of The Disney Blog, pointed out that Disney’s first iconic theme-park structure — Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland in Anaheim, Calif. — was built with a mind toward promoting an animated film in development at the time.
“Walt saw the value of a product tie-in, and built this giant advertisement for a movie that was still five years away from opening in theaters,” Frost wrote in a recent post on his site. “At least
Tron: Legacy opens in December.”
Jason Garcia can be reached at 407-420- 5414 or jrgarcia@orlandosentinel.com.
