I often refer to Disney as a critical, albeit underrated, innovator. Among the many strategic things they have done for decades is creating a market around very focused brand values.
As a global brand that reinvented from scratch and "premiumized" the entertainment park experience, one of the amazing practices they pretty much invented was to ban specific terms from any form of communication while switching them for others that would focus their values:
Names play a significant role in forming public opinion about The Walt Disney Company and the organizations affiliated with it. Consistent use of nomenclature is essential to maintain the proprietary rights to the names that The Walt Disney Company has registered or otherwise owns. Improper use will affect the legal protection of the nomenclature and undermine the public recognition that comes with proper use. (...) Any person associated with communications within the Disney companies should take responsibility for respecting the guidelines in this handbook.
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If we go even further, consider your core product and the innovation it aims to deliver to the market. Do you have a specific term that you have created (mashed-up, borrowed, stolen) that embodies your core added value? How could your innovation use an existing name if it is a breakthrough? Think about cloud computing, SaaS, circular economy, or... neuralink. A new reality deserves new semantics.
- If you want to read more about the Disney guide, you can jump to the amazing Cabel Sasser's blog.
- For further articles on Disney as a rock-star innovation company:
Disney is now thinking as a tech platform
Launched 2 years ago, Disney+ 152 million subscribers are now creeping up on Netflix’s 223 subscribers. And while it would an endless debate to compare both streaming services’ features, catalog content, brand value, or pricing, let’s say that from now on, the future of Netflix is anything but guara…
Philippe MEDA
Disneyland is not clean by mistake – Innovation Copilots
As I’m heading to give another 3 days MBA class on business models in Paris
tomorrow, I’m preparing to exchange on many strategic topics. While there are
quite a few very effective tools to help managers get a solid grip on no
non-sense strategy, the one thing that
Philippe MEDA
When Disney theorized business synergy
There’s an organizational chart from the sixties that has been floating around for a long time. It describes how Disney was thinking about its business more than fifty years ago, and it’s striking. Where you might see a consulted mess, it’s anything but. The chart is a methodological nest that
Philippe MEDA
The lessons from Disney’s flywheel effect
In the fifties, Walt Disney famously laid out his business strategy. It was not about values, excellence, marketing, or any other vague descriptor. It was about a methodic interconnection of businesses, feeding each other and creating ongoing reasons to engage with the Disney brand. Today, we would…
Philippe MEDA
