How Disney's 'Woke' Turn and Financial Blunders Reveal the Power of Storytelling in Business

There’s a brand we love because it gave us magical moments in our childhoods. Whether it was Lion King, Shreck, Toy Story, Snow White or countless other animation films, Disney has touched our lives in one way or another. 

The golden days of the company under the leadership of legendary Film producer Jeffrey Katzenberg in the mid-80s to 1994, when he left after a feud with CEO Michael Eisner, are responsible for much of Disney unmatched catalogue to this day. 

But since then, much has changed: CEO Bob Iger followed a strategy of acquiring big studios such as Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel, producing more hits and expanding its multibillion dollar catalogue. Disney runs parks, makes movies and has also entered the sports-streaming market with the acquisition of ESPN. The company is a gigantic, complex puzzle of moving pieces and increasing complexity, struggling to make it all work.

And while the 2010s saw a revamp of old-time classics and a few more hits with Black Panther, Inside Out and the Avenger series to name a few, the company has struggled to re-engage its core consumer base, losing hundreds of millions of dollars.

2023 was the 100th anniversary of Disney’s movie-making magic. It also marked a disastrous year at the box office. Seven out of eight major theatrical releases significantly underperformed with audiences not just in the U.S. but overseas as well.

So what went wrong with this giant and what can you take from it as a seller / business owner?

The company has lost touch with what it does best — storytelling. The characters we loved and cherished were all masterfully crafted living in captivating imaginative worlds, providing us with an escape from our daily lives. But over time, the company let go of its best film-makers and many of the politically divisive themes covered in the 90s films had to be addressed in re-makes, only with a „woke“ twist.

Instead of entertaining the audience, the movies became about „woke“ virtue signaling, all to improve its CSR score, a rating system that tells investors how inclusive a company is. It revised park policies to eliminate gender-specific greetings, introducing anti-racism training for its staff, updating classic characters with a modern twist, and getting rid of culturally insensitive content from attractions and films. 

While there’s nothing wrong with these measures per se, the new characters just didn’t resonate enough. The focus of new movies became more about pushing an agenda, not entertaining. This is where the company went wrong — its best film makers left the studio and were replaced by agenda-setters. 

The focus on inclusivity and political correctness, while great for corporate social responsibility, appears to have overshadowed the core of Disney’s success: storytelling that captivates people. 

It’s a tragic tale of a media giant committing brand suicide, losing touch with its foundational strengths and becoming too big for its own good. Instead of learning from competing studios who find success, it acquires them, sucking them into their corporate media empire and inundating them with its own agenda. 

To me, the tale of Disney is about the importance of storytelling in business. Not just in media but in any industry. Do the stories you tell your customers really resonate with the audience? 

Companies that have captivating stories to tell sell more products. Of course, there’s a lot more to great businesses, but nailing their brand messaging, story-telling, all while staying in tune their constantly evolving audience is a great way to crush it — that’s why billion dollar brands hire expensive brand agencies, and conduct expensive studies to make sure they really understand who their selling to.

It’s a constant effort of adapting your narratives, but missing the pulse can be very costly, and Disney is a prime example. It now faces the challenge of re-engaging its audience and giving it the original magic every one craves – it will be interesting to watch CEO Bob Iger deals with these challenges in the coming years.

My call to Disney: get in touch with what made you good in the first place, and leave the identity politics out of it.

What stories are you telling your customers/prospects? Do they resonate? 

Let me know by shooting me a message at jmpwittig@gmail.com. Happy story-telling. Happy selling.