Chris Brogan Drank the Disney Kool-Aid
Posted by Todd Buckton on Wed, Jan 26, 2011
Disney Dream on a test voyage by Herrera
If you don’t know who Chris Brogan is you’ve been living under a social media rock for some time. Author, speaker, journalist, blogger, Chris is intelligent, giving, prolific and highly admired. In the Ad Age Power Blog 100, his blog is ranked #2. He published a blog this week about his experience as a guest of Disney for the launch of their new cruise ship “Disney Dream”.
2 caveats: I am a huge Chris Brogan fan. His is the first RSS feed I read daily. I’m sure he came up with a half dozen ideas for new ventures before he got out of bed this morning. He is extremely optimistic about people taking hold of their futures and using social media to do it. He has certainly given me many tips to use as I spend more time and energy on content marketing.
Second caveat: I am a huge Disney fan. In the world of experiential where I work and play, no one - no one - does it better. These guys have got the whole concept of “captive audience” down. Walk into a park, a retail operation, a cruise ship, they just don’t leave any stone unturned. And they keep getting better and better at it, while leaving their competition behind.
So when a journalist is invited to an all-expenses paid trip to celebrate the launch of a new oceanic experience, you can bet that Disney has the details down for this as well...
One of my favorite authors is Carl Hiassen. He was born and raised in Florida and has written about what has happened to his beautiful state over the years. A columnist for the Miami Herald, he writes about the sometimes seedy underside of Florida politics and all the strange doings that occur. To keep his sanity he also writes novels, all set in Florida, where the good guys and the downtrodden always win and the criminals, carpetbaggers and swindlers meet deliciously untimely ends. If you don't know about Carl Hiassen, you ought to.
Hiassen also wrote a non-fiction book called “Team Rodent: How Disney Devours the World”. As you can imagine it takes the Disney mystique, its effect on Florida, and shines a cold, hard light on how the experience comes to be flawless, regardless of the effect on the local environment.
He has a chapter in "Team Rodent" about press junkets where he writes: “Many major market papers and broadcast stations forbid their reporters from taking freebies, and in a perfect world that would be the rule for all journalists. The reason is obvious. We’re the first ones to crucify a politician for accepting undisclosed favors from cronies or special interests. For us to do the same would be hypocritical...it’s damn hard to stay neutral about somebody when you’re sipping their merlot and sucking down their jumbo shrimp. Incorruptible or not, reporters shouldn’t put themselves in a situation that raises the question. That’s the theory anyway.”
But we all know it happens. The travel features editor from Expedia.com or the Chicago Tribune comes back from one of these free junkets and waxes effusive about how wonderful the Disney experience is. And why not? Living in the lap of luxury with no bill at the end.
So what does this have to do with Chris Brogan? I expect Chris Brogan the individual to accept an invitation like this, enjoy it and write over 1200 enthusiastic words about the experience. I would as well, given the chance. But in this instance, Chris Brogan the Individual is also Chris Brogan the Brand. He is not an anonymous travel writer working for Fodor’s. And in this case, what the Individual does might adversely affect the Brand. Something I don’t want to see happen. It’s an interesting place to be and one that I’m sure Chris Brogan, the individual and the brand, thinks about each time he accepts an offer like this.
What do you think?
