Five Marketing Lessons from a Day in Disneyland – #4: We’re in this Together
Gregg Blanchard /
Disney is more like a destination ski resort than I thought.
As such, a day in the park a few weeks ago taught me some very interesting lessons about why they are so successful as a business.
Here’s one of those lessons.
Citizens Unite
If Disney is a land and Disney employees are the citizens, you will never see a more unified population in the world.
Like you, Disneyland has a brand. Their is “the happiest place on earth”. The difference is that every (and I do mean EVERY) employee acts in line with that brand. When I bought a chicken sandwich for lunch, the girl behind the counter was beaming. Even the drumline in the evening parade managed to wear grins while they played a complex beat.
As we waited for our shuttle on the final day, a valet attendant at a nearby hotel made it seem as if his life calling, the pinnacle of happiness, were found in parking cars for grumpy rich folks from Arizona. Every employee I met fit the brand and it was clear this wasn’t an accident.
Lifties Unite
I chatted with Joe Myers the other day about this, but specifically how everyone at a resort is in marketing. An HR director who doesn’t respond to an applicant, a liftie ignoring guests to flirt with another liftie, the power-hungry patrolman. Everyone.
When I was in high school I worked at a grocery store that had a very specific rule: if a customer asked us where something was, we dropped what we were doing and walked them to the item. No pointing, no directions, just a nice friendly chat while we found the Carmex or children’s Tylenol or whatever.
It didn’t cover everything, but that one rule was powerful. I had customer tell me over and over how that one attribute of the store’s employees was why they shopped there.
Not All, One
I’ve thought a lot about that as I walked around Disneyland and especially as I took a few turns when I returned home.
I have no idea how hard it would be to implement something like this at a resort, but I know that it works and it makes a difference. Maybe the resort needs one, simple rule for everyone because I think Joe is spot on when he said that one employee, any employee, can undermine a lot of great marketing.
I’ve seen it happen and I’m sure you have too.