If you haven’t seen it yet, check out this fantastic viral video from Disney Parks & Resorts. Parks VP for Global PR Duncan Wardle told me the promotion paid for itself in about 18 1/2 hours measured by the bookings it generated. Since then, it’s been shared by millions.
Personalization, wow! factor and easy shareability were the keys. Be sure to watch till the end and listen for Goofy. This is cool stuff.
Nice. We’ve seen some of this with the political parody videos… but this one’s done pretty well. I can think of a few Disney fans I can send this to…
Great execution… this same thing had been done in 2007 by Geneva’s newspaper La Tribune to launch its new design.
Unfortuantely it’s been shut down since then, but it was also very well done.
Danbec
Was reading your newsletter this morning, Paul, and was especially intrigued
and impressed by the Disney video. So I quickly decided to send one to my
daughter. In so doing, I discovered a few weaknesses
in their model:
1) They don’t let someone trying to send such a message (in this case,
me) see the customized video before it gets sent.
2) I sent a message accompanying the video that she should pay
particular attention to the end and Goofy.
3) When she received the video, Goofy merely said “If our special guest
doesn’t arrive, can I do it?” Suffice it to say, Goofy’s quip underwhelmed
her. And me.
Given that the Goofy voice is arguably the coolest part, why not alert
senders-BEFORE the video gets sent and the message gets written-whether the
voice will be there? I felt like an idiot afterwards. (For me, feeling like
an idiot is my default state, but still….) Presumably, the system
instantly knows if that particular name is in its voice database. But to
sidestep all of this, why not simply let the sender see the produced video
BEFORE the note is written and the file sent? No surprises that way. I had
initially thought that it was a text-to-voice system programmed to pronounce
a name in Goofy’s voice. Clearly, it’s not.
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Personalized viral promotions that use in-video text placements are not a new concept. However, Disney measures success by ticket sales and not Webbys. My point? It’s ok to repackage other people’s ideas…especially if they work ($$).
@Evan You and you’re daughter are tough customers! As a interactive marketer who builds, among other things, viral promotions, I think that your feedback is very valuable and illustrates that consumers are now more digitally savvy than marketers. You’re setting the bar high for our industry.