harvesting the brand: "the magic"

[RenMan]

I was looking at the Disneyland guide from my last visit. Just like the ones that show up in Al's 4/12 update, the phrase "Guide to the Magic" appears on top.

That got me thinking about how the Disney Company gets as much financial mileage as it can out of Walt's legacy (without necessarily carrying forward the creative tradition that made the financial and cultural success possible). My little history question is this:

How long has the Walt Disney Company been touting the "magic" angle?

Somewhere along the line, they became self-aware (like the AI in all those sci-fi movies! ) and said "Hey! we're in the business of creating magic for people. Let's use that in the tagline for our new brochure." Anyone know when that started?

[dramaqueen]

I am pretty sure they have been in the business of creating magic since the begining. Disneyland was created to take people out of their realities. I know it is something drilled into CM's at orientation, so I have to think it was something Walt wanted from the beginning.

[RenMan]

I agree, but did Walt Disney put the term "the magic" on brochures or advertisements? That's the sort of thing I'm talking about.

[MickeyJCA]

That's funny. I was just thinking the other day that it's time for the Disney Company to put "Magical" and it's relatives to bed for good. It seems like everything related to Disney is "Magical". You'd think they'd be able to come up with something new.

I guess the first time I really noticed it was in the late 80's at Disneyland when the cash register displays and receipts all said "Have A Magical Day". I know the 35th Anniversary in 1990 was dubbed "35 Years Of Magic", and they've gone with some variation of that ever since. I don't know if it was in use before that.

There was a brief reprieve in 1995 for "45 Years Of Adventure", but then it was right back to magic after that.

I remember that, in the early 90's, one of my Church friends made the comment that Disney was using the term "Magical" a lot and she didn't think that fit very well into her belief system, so she was revisiting her loyalty to Disneyland.

[Eric Dean]

That got me thinking about how the Disney Company gets as much financial mileage as it can out of Walt's legacy (without necessarily carrying forward the creative tradition that made the financial and cultural success possible).

I expressed the same sentiment this way in another thread: "Today's Disney mines its reserves of historical goodwill and emotional capital to stoke the boilers. If it does not commit itself to the development of alternative energy sources (if I may stretch the metaphor), it will exhaust these fossil fuel stores and die a pitiful death."

As for Disney's chronic overuse of the word magic, I abandoned all hope for the future when those "Wishes. Dreams. Magic. VISA." signs appeared on all the DL cash registers.

[RenMan]

I just read your article. Very nicely articulated.

I especially liked this sentence: "After he recognized his error [Disney] focused his energies on creating demand rather than responding to it." That pretty much nails it.

[Disneylandrocks55]

I agree it gets used a ton! I just was looking at a map and saw the "guide to the magic" thing. "Guide to The Adventure" would be better. (to me anyways) Magic is getting old. I was at target and saw a toothbrush with a princess on it that said "The Magic of Disney Tooth Brush". It's EVERYWHERE! I do think they should use it everyonce and a while though, like on receipts mentioned earlier.

[RenMan]

I'm still curious when the phrase first appeared on a Disneyland map or pictorial souvenir guide.

[Disneylandrocks55]

I have a map from 4 years ago, it had the "guide to the magic" on it too. It's probably been there for years.