Walt Disney Knew How To Get The Word Out
By Stephen Schochet

You need to get the word out about your products but your economic
resources are limited. That was often the dilemma that faced Walt
Disney. From the early days of Mickey Mouse Walt was often burdened
with heavy debt and had to find many creative ways to let the public
in on what he was doing. His innovative marketing ideas could be used
by businesses seeking publicity ideas today.

1) Capitalize on current events: In 1930 Walt felt that Mickey Mouse
who was constantly surrounded by barnyard animals should get a dog.
He vividly described to his artists a funny mutt that his family kept
on their farm when he grew up in Marceline Missouri, to the point of
getting down on all fours, sniffing around and making barking noises.
Animator Norman Ferguson transformed Walt's great acting performance
into a cartoon canine named Rover . . . for five months. Then Disney
read that an amateur astronomer named Clyde Tombaugh had discovered a
ninth planet in our solar system called Pluto and Walt cashed in on
the resulting publicity by giving Mickey's pet a new name.

2) Get your employees behind your product: Snow White And The Seven
Dwarfs (1937) took three long years to complete and Walt suffered
through many doubts about the film's marketing direction. He worried
when the press called it "Disney's Folly" , then realized it was good
to have people talk about it. He rejected a salesman's idea that he
should eliminate the dwarfs from the advertising, pushing the love
story between Snow White and the Prince instead. But throughout the
stressful production his cartoonists stayed loyal and enthusiastic,
often using their free time to run around Los Angeles to tack up
advertising posters. Snow White was a world wide success but perhaps
the artists got a little too excited. After the money rolled in Walt
threw his animators a party in gratitude. He later regretted it when
his some of the more bohemian members of his staff chose the occasion
to let their hair down, and the family event turned into a wild orgy.
Any rift that the outrageous behavior caused with the boss was
forgotten by 1953 when many of his employees came to Walt's aid to
financially back Disneyland.

3) Embrace new technology: In 1927 Walt made two Mickey Mouse
cartoons that were rejected by distributors. Then sound was ushered
into the movie business with Warner Bros. The Jazz Singer. Fearful
silent film stars began consulting astrologists to predict the
future, but most movie moguls shrugged off actors talking as a fad.
Movies without dialogue sold throughout the world, who wanted to rock
the boat? The unknown Walt Disney seized the opportunity, and with
great difficulty added synchronized sound to the third of his Mickey
Mouse cartoons, Steamboat Willie (1928) which resulted in the rodent
becoming a national craze. Later history repeated itself in the early
50's when most of the moguls rejected the idea of television. Walt
embraced the new medium as a way to keep the public informed about
what his studio was doing.

4) Publicity is better than advertising: Today the Walt Disney
Company is an aggressive marketing behemoth that spends up to fifty
million advertising movies. Recent campaigns have included displaying
the title of films on grocery divider sticks at supermarket checkout
stands. But their founder had a different philosophy. As a young man
Walt had left his job working for an advertising firm to start his
own entertainment company and never wavered from his preference. When
he entered television he always frowned on commercials, preferring
instead to get publicity with fun, behind the scenes looks at new
projects. He eventually left his first network ABC, accusing them of
ruining the very popular Mickey Mouse Club (1955-1959) with too many
interruptions.

5) What's In A Name?: Originally the studio started in 1923 was
called the Disney Brothers. The younger, temperamental and risk-
taking Walt was in charge of the creative direction, while the older
and more cautious Roy, a former bank teller, kept the books. For
forty-three years their partnership was a combination of love,
ferocious arguments and give and take. In 1926 Walt convinced Roy
that they should change the name of their enterprise to Walt Disney,
it would make their products more identifiable. A bemused Roy went
along with it, sensing his sibling's greater need for fame. The name
Walt Disney remained associated with family entertainment even after
both brothers passed on.

In 1994 Warner Bros. had high hopes for a feature cartoon called
Thumbelina. But preview audiences found it boring, a reaction that
bewildered disappointed studio executives. A week later they showed
it again with a small change: The exact same film said Walt Disney
Presents in the opening credits. The test scores went way up and
several people in the audience inquired where they could buy
Thumbelina merchandise.

Want to hear more stories? Stephen Schochet is the author and
narrator of the audiobooks "Fascinating Walt Disney" and "Tales Of
Hollywood". The Saint Louis Post Dispatch says," these two elaborate
productions are exceptionally entertaining." Hear RealAudio samples
at http://www.hollywoodstories.com.

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