Talking Animals – The Jungle Book

Over Easter, my family and I went on a very lovely Holiday to LA and so naturally, we made a trip to Disneyland. On our last day, we caught wind of the fact that instead of there being a showing of, quite frankly one of the best 3D shows out there, ‘It’s Tough To Be A Bug’ there was a preview of ‘The Jungle Book’. So, as calm and collected as possible (who am I kidding, we practically ran for front row seats) we went to see the preview.

Now, if I am completely honest, I was a little disappointed. I mean, yes, it was good and I did have to factor in that I had only seen a snippet of the whole film, but I found the whole singing/dancing/talking real life animals aspect very bazaar. It just seemed a bit too far fetched to have real life, occasionally growling animals then have a full on conversation with a ‘man cub’.

This said, when I finally went to see the film in its entirety, I was mesmerised. I felt like four year old me all over again, watching  Mowgli swing through trees and get himself in all sorts of trouble. I was so involved with the plot that I may as well have been in the jungle, even in 2D.

Yes, there were still talking animals, but having watched the film the whole way through, twice, it was hard to imagine how else Disney could have done it. If they were to stick to animation, it would have just been a re-make of the 1967 film. Through using realistic animals, Shere Khan was even more menacing and powerful and Baloo more cuddly than he ever looked in the animated version. In other words, Disney have been able to bring a childhood favourite very much to life.

 

 

Theories into practice – “The Death of the Author”

“The Death of the Author” is a paper originally written by literary theorist, Roland Barthes, who looks into texts and their meaning in a way that I think is truly magical and in all honesty, makes quite a bit of sense. Barthes explains that in the past, literature was always described within the context of the author; their life, their experiences, their thoughts, their feelings, all wrapped up into one, single document, also known as a novel. But what happens if we take away the author altogether, and solely focus on the meaning of the words themselves? We make the words the centre of the text, not the person who committed them to paper, and in doing so, the text takes on infinite meanings that can only be collected and examined by one person – the reader.

Barthes says that, “the true locus of writing is reading”, and I think that this concept is one of the main reasons why so many people love the Disney stories so dearly. Disney is not the author of these stories, but the writer (or the person who commits the words to paper). Each princess, hero, villain and sidekick means something different to every audience member and because of this, we see the stories in so many different ways. Yes, the plot is the same, but the meaning is interpreted in the way that the individual wishes it to be, and this is perhaps why so many of us come back to these (ultimately children’s) stories time and time again.

Although people have looked into Walt Disney’s life and compared this to much of his work, I think that Walt’s fascination with the imagination is the sole meaning behind each and every plot. Without imagination, the stories are just words on a page or a drawing in a book and Disney’s own use of his imagination has sparked something is audience’s everywhere to do the same. He may have come up with the pictures and the words, but the meanings and interpretations are all down to us, and the possibilities are endless. After all, “the unity of a text is not in its origin, it is in its destination.”

 

 

Star Wars – Why so popular?

With the recent release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, it seems that the world has been taken over by Jedi Knights and lightsaber’s. Since the first film release in 1977, audience’s have been gripped by this sci-fi story, however, there must be something that keeps audience’s coming back time and time again to the fictional faraway Galaxy.

Just looking at the box office numbers from each of the Star Wars films is proof enough that the films are a huge success, but when you consider the fact that Star Wars is so much more than just a film series, it is hard to imagine the immense success of the franchise. Shortly after the release of the first film, Marvel started to publish comics about the faraway Galaxy, transporting audience’s even further into this imaginary epic. Since then, we have seen an incredible amount of merchandise, from t-shirts to video games and even the opening of Star Wars themed attractions at some of the Disney parks, which not only give audience’s the chance to watch the stories, but be in them.

But why is it still so popular? Why didn’t Star Wars just fizzle out? I suppose that one answer to that is technology. As more films were created and released, CGI became even more advanced and allowed for a more realistic look to the films. Audience’s are no longer looking at a made up world, but they are in that world where the action takes place. It therefore comes as very little surprise that people are still as gripped and excited by Star Wars as they were in 1977 and why it is still such a huge success.

Personal Branding – How It Works

As a company that it notorious for being difficult to get into and work for, Disney clearly look to hire the best of the best, in order to maintain their highly regarded brand reputation. It therefore seems only right that those looking to work for the company should be able to brand themselves to the same high standards, in order to show off their skills and capabilities.

Disney would not have been able to create it’s reputation through weak brand management, media plans and campaigns. It takes a lot of time, consideration of content and in depth analysis of results in order to ensure that your brand is staying at the top of its game and is reaching those that it aims to reach. In the same way, a candidate needs to show themselves as being the best of the best through ensuring that their social media is accessible and able to reach those that it needs to.

One way of ensuring this is through well thought out social media profiles and ensuring that each one displays consistency and is in keeping with personal beliefs, as well as those of the company that you wish to work for.

LinkedIn is a great way of keeping up to date with what goes on within companies and even their latest job openings and opportunities. For example, Disney  constantly update their followers on job openings and the kinds of people that they are looking for for the role. Facebook and Twitter are also used by companies to post this kind of information, along with articles on what is going on within the company and industry as a whole.

For me, I aim to ensure that my social media profiles are consistent and that I am following relevant people and groups in ensuring that I have as much access to information and updates from companies and industry experts.

 

Social Media – The Pros And Cons For Campaigns

As a company with such a diverse and mass audience, it is difficult to comprehend the magnitude of the time and effort that must go into the upkeep of momentum and analysis of a lot of Disney’s campaigns, especially online. Following their recent advertising for the Epcot Food and Wine Festival, it is clear that Disney’s campaign goals were to increase audience awareness of the event and encourage as many visitors to the park as possible, however, in order to achieve this, there must have been a very detailed and well thought out media plan and strategy, outlining their specific key messages, strategies and tactics.

Being one of the world’s leading conglomerates must require an immense amount of research and planning before any campaign can be published; they have to keep up with every trend, know exactly how to target any given audience and be responsive to competitors and consumers alike. However, with the use of social media, monitoring and responding to audience’s has, arguably, been made easier. For example, through the creation of the hashtag #epcotfoodandwine, Disney created themselves a tool that not only increased awareness, but also ensures consumer engagement through Twitter (and Facebook). Audience’s were able to post about their experiences within the community of the hashtag, which ensured that all Tweets using #epcotfoodandwine were easily accessible and in one place, making it simpler for Disney to monitor content and form conversations with their audience members.

This said, with so much online content, it must take extensive searching and a lot of time to filter through the relevant Tweets and comments and respond to those that are of the greatest relevance or threat to the product or service that is being advertised. As well as this, Disney are required to maintain their reputation and relationship with audience members in order to be in-keeping with the company’s brand identity of being magical, friendly, approachable and encompassing of anyone and everyone, which must be difficult considering the number of comments that they must have to filter through each day.

In conclusion, a company with the reputation and popularity of Disney is required to have an extensive and precise media strategy and plan before any campaign can be released. With so much going on at any one time, Disney have to be on the ball when it comes to monitoring their social media, and they must have detailed plans for not only their current campaigns but also  those that are coming up in order to ensure that audience’s can easily transition from one to the other without being confused or overwhelmed.

A taste of the world – #epcotfoodandwine

The Epcot Food and Wine Festival 2015 gives park goers the opportunity to “taste your way around the world” and try all sorts of cuisine that can be found in some of the world’s most weird and wonderful places, in just one theme park.

As a park that aims to set itself apart from other attractions, such as Magic Kingdom, through it’s use of replicating real life (rather than just bringing imagination to life), Epcot seems to be the perfect place to host the Food and Wine Festival. Due to the nature of the event, Disney have been able to attract older audience’s and provide a more adult friendly event that is still suitable for people of all ages. As a result, it seems only natural for Disney to turn to social media as one of their main marketing tactics and as a way of attracting a mass, global audience.

Using Twitter: Disney’s use of Twitter (click on the link and press play on the top left of the screen)

Their use of the Twitter hashtag has also been taken over to Facebook, with Disney creating a Food and Wine Festival Facebook page where audience’s are able to post photos of the food and wine that they taste. As well as this, the company have uploaded images from the event themselves and attached links to related articles and also directly communicated with audience’s through asking questions.

All of these elements have helped to create a buzz for the festival through the use of informing and also allowing audience’s to be actively involved in the festival, even after they return. This style of marketing helps to bring audience’s and company’s together through their ability to converse and interact with one another. In other words, it gives Disney and its products a personality and a voice and this helps to really bring the magic to life.

Downtown Disney is no more – Welcome to the new Disney Springs

As a company that is centred round the power of storytelling, Disney helps to create ‘the magic’ through the idea that Disney is more than just a holiday destination or a fun day out. In fact, Disney is an experience that nothing else can match up to or be compared to – it is a magical land where anyone, from any walk of life will have the most magical of experiences. However, to continue to set themselves apart, Disney are constantly trying to up their game through creating new lands, new rides and new experiences for people of all ages to enjoy.

Most recently, Disney announced changes to Downtown Disney, and like any other Disney product or service, there is a story behind it. Now changed to Disney Springs, the new ‘town’ aims to reminisce over the history of Florida, from small settling’s to the large communities that we see today, with more shops and restaurants for both holiday makers and locals to enjoy. Where Downtown Disney often struggled to entice locals, the revamp into Disney Springs now aims to bring in more people, through the increased space and retail options available.

Although the changeover to Disney Springs has been big Disney news, I would not have said that they really ‘went to town’ with their promotions and advertising. In general, Disney use social media quite well, as a way of building relationships with their audience through keeping them updated on the most recent Disney news, however, with a change as big as Disney Springs, I expected there to be a lot more in terms of online and social media promotion for the new and existing stores, restaurants and most importantly, the history behind the change.

In terms of social media, Disney have created Twitter and Facebook accounts which update their followers on what is going on at Disney Springs. They include photos of new products and services and even some rather artistically taken photographs of the new ‘town’ itself. On their Instagram page, Disney have released behind the scenes photos of the opening of Disney Springs, as well as promotional images of what is going on within the ‘town’. All in all, Disney have really tried to make Disney Springs seem like one big community, through their use of relationship management and engagement with their audience. This has been done through exclusive videos and images, and the information provided on the Disney blogs about upcoming events and the new attractions on site.

All in all, Disney have created a new community for their audience to be a part of, providing a sense of inclusion and exclusivity to the Disney brand. As a universal language that connotes fun and magic, Disney has helped to ensure that audience’s feel like they are part of the fun, even when they are not there, through their release of content on their social media profiles. This relationship between the audience and the brand is perhaps the reason that people continue to come back for more.

From Mortimer to Mickey – The Evolution of Disney

Having been recognised as one of the worlds leading media conglomerates, it probably comes as no surprise that Disney is still considered one of the most influential companies and brands, especially to children. A recent study found that when asked to identify certain brands, children aged just 3-5 could recognise Disney, even with their somewhat limited knowledge of the world. Attracting audiences from such an early age is perhaps an indication as to how Disney has managed to maintain its popularity and power within every generation, and why their parks are some of the most visited theme parks in the world.

From the TEA AECOM 2014 Theme Index, Global Attractions Attendance Report

It is strange to think that there was once a time when Mickey Mouse didn’t exist; a time when Walter Elias Disney was just doodling in notepads for fun, never thinking that they would amount to anything near to the scale they have today.

From early adulthood, Walt Disney was drawing small animations for publications and newspapers which later led to his decision to start his own small animation business, Laugh-O-Gram. In a matter of years, the company had to disperse due to debt; an event that led Walt and his brother Roy to move to Hollywood, where the character Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was born. A few years later, the Disney brothers’ rights to Oswald were lost.

This is when Mickey Mouse was born. Having originally been named Mortimer Mouse (until Lillian Disney (Walt’s wife) suggested Mickey as a preferred name), the cartoon didn’t get off to a great start, with the first two Mickey animations failing to make it to distribution. However, when sound made its way into film, Walt created Steamboat Willie, an instantly popular, all singing, all dancing cartoon which Walt himself voiced.

Since then, Disney have always been seen to be ahead of the game. They created the first full length animation film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which saw incredible popularity even during the time of the Depression. Disney were also one of the first to use television to distribute their products to their audience, airing shows such as The Mickey Mouse Club and Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Colour which was aired on Saturday nights.

On July 17 1955, Disneyland was first opened and quickly built its reputation for family fun, which it still holds today. Although never able to see the park open, Disney began to plan and create ideas for what is now known as Walt Disney World, Florida.

In more recent years, Disney have stayed ahead of the game. Disney’s Interactive President, Jimmy Pitaro, told The Wrap that Disney are constantly trying to stay ahead, creating new games and interactive experiences for audiences all over the world to enjoy. “We like to say we need to change the tires as the car is driving down the highway”, he said, “there’s a lot of truth to that. Like I said, we’re a business and we’re very focused on profitability and driving value for our shareholders. At the same time we need to be making investments today in these new technologies.”

It seems that new technologies have changed the ways in which much of our society interact, communicate and organise; a factor that Disney have seemed to adapted well to. We now live in a world where The Muppets have Facebook pages, where Mickey Mouse can help to teach our children how to read and write, and where we can get into a theme park, make purchases and reserve dinner reservations just by wearing a wristband.

With all of this new technology, the mind boggles as to where it will take us next. The industry itself is changing, with new jobs being created every day to help companies respond and adapt to the constant changes and new inventions. It is predicted that the next generation of workers will be hired for roles that are not yet created; something that is going to impact upon people of my age who are nearing the end of their education and deciding on a future career.

Perhaps Disney’s ability to stay up to date is why it is still so popular so many years on; it is continually evolving with technology and has opened our eyes to so many more possibilities. And to think, ‘it all started with a mouse’.