Merch! For Disney, This is the … Eisner Way?

 by Ray Keating

News/Analysis

DisneyBizJournal.com

October 27, 2020

 

Disney cranking up the merchandise machine with Christmas less than two months away? Indeed, no other company does it quite like the House of Mouse. With a nod to The Mandalorian, Disney and merchandise: This is the way. And it’s an opportunity to give a nod to former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

 

Consider two recent announcements from Disney.

 

On Mando Monday, October 26, the world was treated to a look at a host of Mandalorian products and digital content, with Pedro Pascal, Carl Weathers and Giancarlo Esposito.

What caught my attention? An 11-inch plush of the The Child that features sound and movement; The Child Animatronic Edition with Carrier that offers more than 25 sounds and movement combinations; and The Mandalorian edition of Monopoly. Yeah, I’m a sucker for The Child.

 

The day before, on October 25, Disney highlighted Christmas merch available at the Disney parks and at shopDisney.com. Disney noted that it has “some festive new collections featuring apparel, accessories and even homeware, coming your way.”

 

Seven – that’s right, seven! – collections were highlighted: 1) Disney Parks ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas Collection, 2) Disney Parks Silver and Gold Collection, 3) Disney Parks x BaubleBar Holiday Collection, 4) Aulani, A Disney Resort & Spa 2020 Holidays Collection, 5) Disneyland Paris 2020 Holidays Collection, 6) Tokyo Disney Resort 2020 Holidays Collection, and 7) Shanghai Disney Resort 2020 Holidays Collection.

 

No, Disney doesn’t kid around on the merch front. It all started with Walt and Roy, specifically when $300 was forked over to Disney in 1930 to put Mickey Mouse on stationery.  But Michael Eisner excelled at articulating and advancing it all in rather dramatic ways, and the company has never looked back.

 

For Eisner, merch was simply part of the synergy at Disney. As quoted Inside the Disney Marketing Machine by Lorraine Santoli, Eisner once said, “The term synergy may be the object of ridicule throughout the world, but not at Disney. This concept of cross-promotion and transformation of popular products into new media is an engine that helps drive our company. Synergy, for us, goes with creativity—which rhymes with selectivity—which means keeping one’s eye on the ball.”

 

And in another quote, Eisner explained, “We insisted that each division help the other fellow. For the Disney Company, ‘help the other fellow’ meant the movie division would create a film…that could become a theme park ride or attraction…that could become a consumer product…that could become a television show…that could become a film sequel…that could become a cable show…that could become an international attraction…that could become a musical on Broadway…it goes on and on. But to accomplish that, everybody had to cooperate with each other, with no place for jealousy, and no competition between divisions. That’s an unlikely reality in corporate America. But at Disney, we worked things differently.”

 

This is the way – and it definitely includes Disney merch.

 

__________

 

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.

 

Pre-order The Disney Planner 2021: The TO DO List Solution today!

 

Please support the efforts of DisneyBizJournal.com to bring news, analysis and commentary on Disney to readers such as yourself. Make a contribution right here via PayPal. Thanks!

 

Also, get the paperback or Kindle edition of Ray Keating’s new book Behind Enemy Lines: Conservative Communiques from Left-Wing New York.

 

6 Big Reasons to Love “The Mandalorian”

by Ray Keating

DisneyBizJournal.com

December 30, 2019

The Disney+ streaming service launched to great success, with the Star Wars show “The Mandalorian” playing a part in that triumph.

Here are 6 big reasons to love “The Mandalorian.”

1. Under the guidance of creator and showrunner Jon Favreau, “The Mandalorian” quite simply ranks as interesting, entertaining storytelling. In fact, “The Mandalorian” is one of the best TV Westerns ever made – though it happens to take place in space in a galaxy far, far away. Viewers are treated to the lone gunman – the Mandalorian (Pedro Pascal), or “Mando,” is a bounty hunter – who is drawn into taking on powerful forces in order to protect the innocent – in this case, “The Child” who has lovingly become known as “Baby Yoda” among fans. Along the way, we are treated to gunfights, busting broncos, and tips of the hat to particular Westerns, including The Magnificent Seven.

2. “The Mandalorian” ably combines many of the best aspects of Star Wars, namely, adventure, humor, danger, mystery, joy, hope, mysticism, excellent special effects (Disney reportedly spent a staggering $100 million on the first season of this television series!), and characters worthy of being cared about by the audience.

3. “The Mandalorian” stands out as the example of the opportunities available for great storytelling in the Star Wars universe beyond the Skywalker saga and its immediate orbit.  In the right creative hands, Star Wars offers a great deal of potential. 

4. Beyond Pedro Pascal as the Mandalorian, we are treated to an assortment of fine performances, including, most notably, Carl Weathers as Greef Karga, Gina Carano as Cara Dune, Werner Herzog as The Client, and Nick Nolte as Kuiil.

5. What would Star Wars be without a good droid? In this case, we have IG-11, who not only is distrusted by the Mandalorian, but journeys on an arc of redemption.

6. “The Child,” a.k.a., “Baby Yoda,” was a risky choice to lie at the center of the series. It could have gone badly wrong, especially if the look was wrong. Fortunately, Favreau and Company nailed it, and now “Baby Yoda” is a mega-hit among Star Wars aliens.

We now officially know that another season of “The Mandalorian” is coming in the fall of 2020. For good measure, two more live-action Star Wars Disney+ series are on the way – a Rogue One prequel and an Obi-Wan Kenobi series starring Ewan McGregor. If they pack half the punch of “The Mandalorian,” the future of Star Wars via Disney+ looks bright.

Ray Keating is the editor, publisher and economist for DisneyBizJournal.com, and author of The Disney Planner 2020: The TO DO List Solutionand the Pastor Stephen Grant novels. He can be contacted at  raykeating@keatingreports.com.