Disney

Disney will give free admission to its parks to 1 million people who complete a day of volunteer work. It's an amazingly smart marketing tactic, and it has strategic implications that every business should consider.

Disney's announced acquisition of Marvel Comics delivers 5,000 cartoon characters that can provide fodder for movies, books, games, plush toys, and amusement park rides. I'm not sure what this says about the future of the entertainment industry, or that what it says is particularly encouraging.

According to the New York Times, the Walt Disney Company is operating a “secretive” lab in Austin, Texas, to perform neuromarketing studies. Specifically, the NYTimes describes a program to determine the effectiveness of online ads:

by: David Polinchock

I got to listen to Michael Eisner rehearse yesterday and enjoyed it a great deal. His first point is that the killer app is creative storytelling. Long relationship between storytelling and emerging technologies. Storytelling is an emotional experience and there's no better way to connect with consumers.

by: Dick Stroud

A short supply of kids but a plentiful supply of oldies means if you are Walt Disney you need to take some drastic action.
With Japan's birthrate in decline, Disney has accepted the stark
economics of the new market: the largest group of customers with the
money and the time to spend a day on Splash Mountain or Pooh's Hunny
Hunt is mostly retired.

To entice this burgeoning segment of
society on to the rides the company is offering a cut-price season

by: Eliane Alhadeff

Blended Learning involves the use of multiple learning environments - usually some combination of physical/face-to-face and online/virtual approaches.

In the strictest sense, blended learning is when an instructor combines two methods of delivery of instruction. However, this term most often applies to the use of technology on instruction.

by: John Sviokla

I often wonder what Walt Disney would be doing if he were alive today (e.g. WWDD). My guess is that he would be pioneering internet content, for more than any person in the history of entertainment, with the possible exception of a few Roman Emperors, he was willing to push the boundaries of new technology to create entirely new experiences.