It was a brilliant brand building idea and the TV pilot was a success. He decided to test it out by creating a one-hour Christmas special (“One Hour in Wonderland”) as a promotion (!) for the upcoming Alice in Wonderland film. So, while many of the other movie studios were fighting television, Disney instead embraced it. He was quickly convinced that this was a way for him to fund his projects. In 1948, Disney spent a week in New York to watch and learn about this new thing called television. ![]() Again, Disney’s curiosity, guided by his (brand) values led him down a new path. This was a project far too big for Disney to be able to finance himself. Then, when the idea of Disneyland started to form, the need for financing soon followed. Photo by Gene Lester/Archive Photos/Getty Images. :-) So, despite the significant uncertainties that he was facing, his curiosity led him to come up with Disneyland!ĭisney riding one of his minature trains in his back yard. Today we would have called his backyard a prototype. This was an 800 meter track, which surrounded his house, including a 23 meter long tunnel under his wife’s flower bed! He called it the Carolwood Pacific Railroad and often invited friends over to ride on the train (which had a 1:8 model steam engine).įrom earlier he had felt that there were few places where parents and kids could do fun things together, and as the story goes, it was here that the idea of Disneyland was born. This curiosity made him, among other things, build a railway for miniature trains, in his back yard! In this situation, instead of focusing all his energy on protecting his movie production business, Walt Disney instead unleased his curiosity, firmly guided by his core values (which we will come back to in a minute). On top of this, the world was changing rapidly, with among other things a new looming threat to the movie industry by something called television. This, in combination with his company having an increasing debt, created a troubled and stressful working situation. Let’s look at some examples, starting with one of Walt’s reflections on curiosity: “We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” Walt DisneyĪs an example of this, in 1941, Disney was experiencing an exhausting conflict with the animator’s union. Walt, on the other hand, did the opposite, he unleashed it, to find new ways of doing things. This is interesting because, when things get rough, we often tend to go the other way, to curb our curiosity, and through this our creativity. The starting point for finding new ways, or coming up with fresh ideas, is creativity, and creativity is fuelled by curiosity. Let his brands core VALUES (or brand purpose) guide his curiosity in the right direction, so that the solutions he came up with, delivered on the core of the brand. Unleashed his CURIOSITY, as an approach to coming up with new ideas in uncertain times, and just as importantly, 2. The 2 key learnings I want to highlight are that Walt Disney, in my interpretation: 1. The key sources for this text are the Walt Disney Family Museum and Neal Gabler’s great book “Walt Disney: the triumph of the American imagination”. My focus here is how I interpret Walt Disney’s approach to turning uncertainty into opportunity. ![]() ![]() And, that many of his great ideas were born during times of significant uncertainty, for him and in the world around him. I have always been fascinated by Walt Disney! Not just his amazing storytelling skills, and almost fanatical attention to detail, but just as important, his approach to coming up with new ideas. ![]() It’s about releasing our CURIOSITY and combining this with our brands core VALUES, and through this looking at things in new, yet relevant ways.īut first things first. But what about now? This article looks at Walt Disney’s way of thinking, that may help guide our focus as brand builders, in uncertain times. Brought forward by changes around us, in technology or society. What changes are the solutions and ways of delivering on these needs. Still, as a brand builder over many years, my impression is that fundamental needs typically stay the same. It is difficult to foresee what may change, and what will stay the same. By Nils Goller, SVP at Orkla Marketing & Innovation.
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