Last week, my wife and I took our kids to Disney World for the first time. I hadn’t been there since elementary school 25 years ago and obviously a lot has changed.
As a child, I was most concerned with the rides, characters and aesthetic environment of the Magic Kingdom and Epcot, which have since been joined by Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disney’s Animal Kingdom to form four main theme parks outside Orlando.
The look and feel of the parks are even better and more sophisticated today, but I was far more interested in the logistics. How on Earth do they keep this place humming, day after day, year after year? What is the secret to Disney World’s tremendous success and economic impact?
Consider the following statistics:
- One in 50 jobs in the state of Florida is somehow related to Disney World
- More than $6 billion in annual paychecks are tied to Disney World
- Disney World has 64,000 employees, making it the largest single-site employer in the country
- Disney Parks and Resorts revenue for the 2012 fiscal year was $12.9 billion
- Nearly 50 million people – more than a million per week – visited one of the Walt Disney World’s four theme parks in 2011
That the turnstiles keep turning at such remarkable rates is a testament to the power of storytelling. In a statement echoed often here at WordWrite, Disney Executive Vice President, Global Marketing, Sales and Travel Operations Leslie Ferraro said defining an organization’s story informs and influences how it positions its brand.
“First, you must understand your consumer and build your marketing plan on those insights,” Ferraro said. “And, in our cluttered media age, story is more important than ever. What is your story? Find it. Tell it in a compelling fashion while being true to your brand, focusing on the elements of most interest to your consumers.”
We’ve written often about our conviction that story trumps brand in both the business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) worlds. Ferraro – whose company is a clear model for B2C global success – agrees. She is emphatic in her belief of the power of story. Much like we at WordWrite like to define Story with a capital S – why your organization exists, why someone would want to work for you, partner with you, buy your products or services, or invest in you – Disney’s “Story” is the foundation behind the company’s ability to endure, adapt and thrive.
“At its heart, the Walt Disney Company is built on storytelling, and our parks are where guests come to immerse themselves in these stories,” she said.
At WordWrite, we use StoryCrafting to help our clients share their story with the audiences who most need to see, hear or experience them. Disney calls it “Imagineering,” a process led by Joe Rohde, senior vice president and creative executive. He discussed the importance of story at the keynote speech of the 2011 PRSA International Conference.
“Story is human nature at the very essence,” he said. “There are rules of order that say how we structure stories and how we conceptualize time. Both of these are so key to how our brains perceive the world, that in general, what is happening to us at any moment in our life is that we are telling ourselves a story – we’re translating everything that happens into story as it happens in front of us.”
Skeptics might argue that it’s easy for company leaders such as Ferraro and Rohde to be consistent in their public statements. But this is more than just lip service.
The Disney Institute allows professionals across the private, public and social sectors to have an opportunity to learn best practices, methodologies and business lessons that have sustained the global success of Disney. Those visiting the institute aren’t just from theme parks or entertainment fields. Visitors can earn continuing education credits from organizations such as the American College of Healthcare Executives and the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy.
We often tell clients that the audiences they are trying to reach want to know how you can help them solve their business problems. Our experience tells us the well-crafted business story is the best answer to this question.
I believe Walt Disney would agree.
To keep things in perspective as the opening of Disneyland neared, he reminded people of the company’s humble beginnings.
“I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse,” he said.
Yet Disney’s eight decades of prolific business success are an example of how staying faithful to this small original concept – rooted in the power of story – can turn wishing upon a star into billions and billions of dollars worth of dreams come true.
