The official tagline for Walt Disney World is “The Happiest Place on Earth” and there is no doubt that indescribable magic is part of the core MO of the Disney experience. Each person who sets foot in Disney World has the chance to revel in a wonderful activation, meticulously and seamlessly orchestrated, leaving people with a lasting image of happiness at the hands of Disney.
A recent family holiday to Disneyland Florida made me marvel. I stepped back and looked at the Disney experience as a marketer and was fascinated by what I saw. While Walt Disney World and any of its theme parks globally are able to invest and re-invest billions of dollars each year into running the park, and ensuring an amazing consumer experience and the brand there’s a series of lessons brands can take from Disney, no matter the size of their budget.
Simplification is the key
Simplicity is a wonderful thing when it comes to consumer engagement, however a truly simple experience can be incredibly hard to execute. Disney has worked to optimise and have mastered two simple ways for consumers to enjoy their experience. Two ways stick out, and both are data and technology plaforms.
The 'My Disney Experience' platform makes the consumer’s experience seamless and easy to engage, and is activated even before consumers leave their home. This app and web based platform allows consumers to plan what their Disney World experience will entail, what the key attractions are, the top rides and provide them with a detailed itinerary for their own personalised experience.
MagicBands are the second key component of simplicity when consumers visit Disney. A wearable wristband that every visitor is issued with, it comes pre-installed with their customer profile, and is completely integrated with My Disney Experience platform.
At the flick of your wrist, you can unlock the door of your Disney Resort Hotel Room, enter theme parks, pay for food and merchandise purchases and unlock experiences throughout the park.
Disney has utilised technology to create a simple experience for consumers, allowing them to worry less about ‘real life’ when they visit a Disney theme park and focus more on the in-the-moment magic and what’s going on around them. Brands can learn that simple activations that allow consumers to live in the moment will offer a great consumer experience and higher levels of engagement and brand advocacy in the future.
Stay true to your mission
The magic of Disney flows through every single employee, all who have been well schooled on the Disney mission statement. From bus attendants, to wait staff, to ride operators, every single Disney employee strives to make the dreams of all visitors come true.
For many brands, end-to-end ownership of the customer experience and journey is a distant dream. However, when brands and marketers do have the ability to activate and engage consumers, it’s important to consider the key mission statement and the end result. What image of the brand do you want consumers to walk away with?
For marketers, it’s important to keep this in mind, and build every element of your activation or experience with this key point front and centre. If you’re Disney-esque in your approach, there’s no doubt your own customers and fans will be impressed and be raving about their experience for a long time to come.
Make your brand the centre of the universe
There’s no doubt that brand is the core foundation of the Disney experience. While each theme park has its own unique persona, range of rides, attractions and activities, the brilliance and magical nature of the Disney brand carries itself throughout.
However, the science of the brand goes further than that. Everything from the design and location to the layout of Disney World has been carefully developed to create a deep connection with consumers and make them want to never leave.
For marketers, this connection will be the future of retail and brand, and sentiment will continue to drive consumer behaviour. In the case of Disney, this architecture bonds consumers and builds attachment, encouraging them to purchase more products within the parks as mementos of their Disney experience.
Don’t forget data
The days where we could measure success by just brand awareness is gone. As marketers, we are constantly striving to back up our activity with strong data. The team at Disney have managed to achieve this through the use of their MagicBands, whilst also using these to provide optimal experience to consumers.
The advantages to the MagicBands for marketers go beyond ensuring consumers enjoy themselves. There is plethora of data that can be collected from these including where you chose to stay, what you eat, what rides you enjoyed most (through repetition), the journey through your theme parks, your own specific purchasing behaviour and many more elements.
When brands build their own activations, it’s important to consider what your customer has already taught you, but what else you can learn as a result of this.
Constantly evolve and invest in your customer experience
Part of the absolute strength of the Disney brand is the constant evolution of the brand and the customer experience. The team at Disney have developed their experience in leaps and bounds over the years, ensuring consumers have state-of-the-art technology (in the use of wearable payment gateways), new attractions to come back for and that their brand stays fresh and relevant.
Marketers need to continue to invest in their customers and the overarching experience in their brands in order to engage next generations of consumers and allow them to retain a strong audience and power over the market.
Kumar Manix
Founder and creative from brand activation agency The Spaceship