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Lauren Young, our pal and the Personal Finance editor of BusinessWeek, was annoyed a few weeks ago by Access PR’s incessant need to show her how Goofy would be able to call anyone to wish them a Merry Christmas - and celebrate their Disney World present on the phone.
Lauren was really busy at the time and being a pretty high-threshold person, it took a number of calls for her to turn to her BPB source (me) and say, paraphrasing, WTF??
And since Disney makes so few mistakes – and are proud of that – I wanted to use this as an example so that fans of the Bad Pitch Blog do not forget why, two years ago, this blog was started.
First (I’ve deigned to leave out her name) a woman at Access really did not call and ask permission before Goofy started bugging Miss Young. And then after the calls came - no proof but I’m fairly sure the reporter just said “Yeah I get it, can you go now?” - arrived what I have to say is a pretty shameless push for goofiness...
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2007 9:41 AM
To:Young, Lauren [Access, please remember to use spaces after the colons; love, Richard]
Subject: DISNEY: Mickey Mouse Calls on Christmas Morning
Hi Lauren-
Did you enjoy your call from Goofy this morning? I hope it provided a creative example of the unique Christmas gift promotion that Disney is offering this year --- a call from Mickey Mouse on Christmas morning!
Full details in the release below. Exclusive images and a sample voice recording of Mickey's call are also available; please don't hesitate to contact me if you're interested in learning more.
Thanks!
Access Communications for Disney Parks and Resorts
The release is what really got me.
It reminded me of that episode of King of Queens when Doug and Carrie were forced, nearly by threat of breath-taking-out, to buy a vacation home at some sleazy place “up north.” And this from Disney?
The Mouse Makes House Calls: Vacationers that Purchase A 2008 Walt Disney World Vacation to Receive a Call From Mickey Mouse on Christmas Day
ORLANDO, Fla. (Nov. 26, 2007) – Walt Disney Parks and Resorts today announced that families in the U.S. and Canada that book between now and Dec. 23 will get a telephone call from Mickey Mouse personally announcing the good news on Christmas Day.
Parents can plan their trips start-to-finish online and choose to have Mickey Mouse call their house and give a magical surprise to their kids on Dec. 25. They can also select the greeting that Mickey gives their families – either “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays.” Starting on Cyber Monday, Disney launches the special “Mickey Call” holiday promotion website directing families to book their Disney vacation packages online, by calling Walt Disney World Resort at 407/939-7734 or through a travel agent.
“Many families purchase Walt Disney World vacations as Christmas gifts for their kids,” said Walt Disney World President Meg Crofton. “The call from Mickey is a creative, personalized way to bring magic into homes on Christmas morning and to get kids excited about their incredible gift.”
I left the rest out. Why bore you on New Years Week?
The bottom line is a short list I’m handing out to anyone who cares to read:
1 Don’t bug people--particularly when it's lame. I mean, when Showtime's "Dexter" send videos of people who were thought to have been the Bay Butcher, that was really cool--Goofy, nah.
2 If you call once, and ask permission for your goofy idea, maybe the person might say sure.
3 Yeah we’re all cute. But choose your time period! During Christmas, we have half a month to get a month’s work done? Be careful.
4 Disney should know that a lot of people in the City of New York are a little wary of its antics—half of midtown is a Disney theme park and then Netflix won’t stop talking about Johnny Depp’s work in THREE movies based on your theme park.
And while I'm at it, what does "Cyber Monday" have to do with this? It's a made-up term for online retailers to use--and Lauren's a Personal Finance lady.
Finally, the fact is, this press release was more of an ad for Disney than a release of news. “...by calling W.D. Resort at..” is crass, and I would think in 2007 and 08 the Disney family wants to be thought of as hip, not super-sales people.
With that, I leave you to your celebrations. We got a lot to do in 2008. Watch this space.
- Goofy Laermer
5 comments:
I think the timing and the person they pitched were way off (plus I can't believe they had goofy call the reporter...) but I think the release itself was fine. I am the mother of two young boys and I think they'd freak out if Mickey Mouse called them.
Am I missing something?
I think the kids should get a call from Mickey (or Minnie, I like her voice better) and incidentally, when you say "freak out" you mean it in a good way? Anyway, I believe the release was a particularly onerous sales pitch that a press person read and said Big whoop, not correspondence (the reservation number in it?). What annoyed a little more, as you did say, was that the dude inside the voice kept calling Miss Lauren - and that again demeans our profession. PS: Goofy's not a real person, in case you forgot! :)
Thanks for the note.
Yes, freak out in a good way. Good points. Thanks Richard, I always enjoy the blog.
I think whenever a release has to point out that their idea is "creative" and "unique" it's generally a sign that it's neither.
I love the blog -- but I'm missing something, too. The call idea seems hilarious to me, if not particularly appropriate for BusinessWeek.
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