Foreword

by Sam Tuchman, Ph.D.

I was Lorraine Santoli’s first boss and mentor. I am honored that she asked me to write the foreword to this book, not only because we met at the beginning of her career and have remained friends for so many years, but because I feel my experience as a former NBC-TV Marketing, Research, and Strategic Planning executive qualifies me to say that Inside the Disney Marketing Machine: In the Era of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells is an important business book.

It was 1968. I was manager of Marketing and Management Studies in the NBC Research Department. Since NBC was owned at that time by RCA, our office was located in NBC’s corporate headquarters in the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center in midtown Manhattan. We had a prestigious address: 30 Rockefeller Plaza—made famous now by the TV series 30 Rock.

My main job was to develop new ways to segment network television audiences for advertisers beyond the standard Nielsen ratings—in particular, by the product and brand usage characteristics of these audiences. While most people probably believe that NBC’s product is its programming, in point of fact its product is the audience its programming garners. The audience is then marketed to advertisers and their agencies.

I had arrived at NBC four years earlier after working for several years at arguably the most iconic advertising agency of that “Mad Men” era: Doyle Dane Bernbach. Just as Michael Eisner and Frank Wells were a perfect fit in their era of running The Walt Disney Company, the same was true at DDB: Ned Doyle ran account management, Maxwell Dane supervised the business side, and Bill Bernbach was the creative genius. My more humble job in DDB’s Research Department was to supervise strategic marketing research for the agency’s fast-growing and diverse roster of clients, which included Volkswagen, Polaroid, and American Airlines. Our analysis of one client, Avis Rent-A-Car, led to the development of their famous slogan, “We’re #2/We Try Harder”.

While working at Doyle Dane Bernbach, I also earned a Ph.D. in Economics at New York University. Shortly after obtaining my Ph.D., I secured the position in the NBC Research Department that I described previously. Against this background, in 1968 I needed a new secretary and interviewed several applicants—one of whom was Lorraine Santoli. She was barely out of her teens at that time. I don’t remember the interview now. But inasmuch as I hired her, I obviously was impressed by her and liked her as a person.

Who could have predicted back then that Lorraine over the next few decades would not only advance from secretary at NBC to corporate director at Disney, but, more importantly, that she would play a key role in developing a major new tool of marketing management: internal corporate marketing? Who knew?

I stayed at NBC for most of the remainder of my business career, moving on to become director of Research Projects and a few years later assuming the role of director of Economic Planning. I eventually retired from NBC after 25 years of service, then worked for a few years in investment banking, and finally packed it in permanently.

After Lorraine left NBC, moved to California, and began working at Disney, we kept in touch, and I followed with pleasure her advancing career. Then, when I fully retired, my wife, Cynthia, and I decided to move to southern California ourselves. We ended up residing not far from Lorraine’s location and became good personal friends. My connection with her had moved full circle.

Why This Is a Must-Read Business Book

As I said in the opening of this foreword, Lorraine Santoli’s Inside the Disney Marketing Machine: In the Era of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells is an important business book.

Primarily, this book provides a unique behind-the-scenes account of how The Walt Disney Company marketed its properties not only outside the company to consumers (Part One: Marketing Outside the Company), but in the mid-1980s launching and implementing an internal marketing program (Part Two: Marketing Inside the Company).

While Marketing Outside the Company provides significant insight into Disney’s approach, Marketing Inside the Company, was indeed unique to the Disney company during the Eisner and Wells years. The purpose of this program was to keep all divisions and business units of the vast Disney organization informed about what was going on around the company, and more importantly, to motivate cross-promotion of what they were all doing. The ultimate goal was to achieve synergy, where the sum of all these interactions by different divisions (in revenues and profits) would be greater than each division could achieve on its own. As Michael Eisner succinctly put it, with synergy “1+1=3”.

A prerequisite but no guarantee for achieving synergy within any large corporation is the support of top management. Certainly, Disney’s effort at attaining synergy had the full and enthusiastic support of CEO Michael Eisner and his able partner, Frank Wells, who was president and chief operating officer.

A Corporate Synergy Department, where Lorraine worked as a manager and then director, was set up to implement the synergy program. This entailed recruiting synergy representatives from all areas of Disney, developing databases of these contacts, creating a slate of internal communications, distributing calendars, building relationships across business segments, and more, to keep all marketing and key company executives aware of ongoing business activities throughout the company. She also set up working groups at different levels of management, and scheduled frequent meetings and events where participants could bond with each other. In the mid-1990s, when the internet was still in its infancy, Disney’s Corporate Synergy Department actually launched an intranet to communicate with synergy representatives. Nearly 1,000 Disney marketing, entertainment, and creative executives were in the synergy loop.

The challenging task that Disney’s Corporate Synergy Department faced was to motivate people around the company to get on the synergy bandwagon, when they of course did not report to Corporate Synergy. (This will increasingly become the norm in American business and industry, as organizational structures flatten and hierarchical chains-of-command disappear. Successful managers will have to lead teams of people who don’t report to them. Motivational and collegial skills—building relationships —will be the key to success.)

Lorraine discovered unusual ways to motivate her synergy contacts, one of which was through food. She had regular 9 am breakfast synergy meetings. Before the meetings food would be available—but not just the usual coffee and Danish pastries. She arranged lavish buffets of bagels and lox, juices, muffins, cereals, etc. Not surprisingly, everybody got to the meetings early and had a chance to bond with each other. They were also in a very good mood (although perhaps a couple of pounds heavier) when the meetings started. (This is the kind of practical lesson that you are not likely to learn at even the most advanced marketing seminar at the Harvard Business School.)

How much did the synergy program contribute to Disney’s bottom-line during the Eisner/Wells era (1984-1994)? This was a golden period when everything seemed to be going right for the company, and they made enormous amounts of money. Probably, quite substantial shares of the growth in revenues and profits can be attributed to the synergy program.

More important, perhaps, than monetary gains, the synergy program fostered teamwork and the bonding of people across the many business units of Disney.

Final Thoughts

Lorraine Santoli’s achievements are especially remarkable when you realize that she entered the business world in 1968. While opportunities were beginning to open up for women—especially in industries like advertising, media, and entertainment—it was not likely that a woman who started her career as a secretary would get much farther up the ladder. Almost invariably, women in the same jobs as men were paid less. Barriers to entry and advancement also blocked people from minority groups and with different sexual orientations.

It is painful now to think of how many bright, creative, and talented people with great potential never had the opportunity to realize that potential—and what a waste that was for American business and the entire economy.

In today’s increasingly competitive global economy—and with disruptive new technologies and business models shaking up established industries—companies need every competitive advantage they can get. We can no longer afford to squander what economists call our “human capital”.

I’ve discussed previously the flattening of corporate organizational structures, where successful managers will be working with teams of people who don’t report to them. Motivational, relationship-building skills will be the key to personal and business success. Women, in particular, are apt to have these needed skills. It is more vital than ever that they have the opportunity to realize their full potential. Lorraine rose to the occasion, and with her book Inside the Disney Marketing Machine: In the Era of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells, shares a marketing wisdom that should be required reading for marketers everywhere.

Introduction

For years I’ve heard from people who wonder what it was like to be employed by The Walt Disney Company, especially from a marketing perspective since the organization has always been lauded for its genius in that discipline. Having worked inside the Disney marketing machine for over two decades, from 1978 to 2000, I decided to share my experiences through this book. It is part memoir, part “take-a-lesson”, and will provide a peek into what goes on behind the marketing doors of the Mouse House, specifically during my tenure.

Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. It is an umbrella term under which advertising, publicity and promotions reside. My perspective in writing this book is derived from my personal experiences working in marketing positions both at The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California (home of Disney filmmaking and the global headquarters for The Walt Disney Company) and at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California.

My Disney adventure started back in February 1978 when I relocated from New York City to Los Angeles on a whim after a decade-long career at NBC where I was headquartered at 30 Rock, an address quite well known today from the TV series of the same name. There, I worked my way up from secretary to Sam Tuchman, Ph.D., a TV research analysis executive (and my first mentor), to media analyst to camera person, becoming a crew member on such TV shows as The Today Show, Saturday Night Live, and an early Barbara Walters syndicated talk show called Not for Women Only.

But I was ready for a new adventure. I wanted to write for television, and Los Angeles was my target. Fortunately, I had an NBC co-worker, my good friend Suzy Hey, who was also ready for a change, so we packed up my car and headed west. Neither of us knew a soul in California. What we did know was that we both needed to get a job as quickly as possible once we arrived.

We settled in what was then the sleepy town of Burbank, renting a beautiful two-bedroom furnished apartment with a full spectrum of amenities including a pool, tennis courts, and game rooms. Having been born and bred in Brooklyn, New York, it was like I died and went to heaven. But to maintain my new L.A. lifestyle, job hunting was a number one priority.

Two weeks into my arrival I was well into applying for jobs all over town, mostly at TV stations. Then one day I came upon The Walt Disney Studios, also located in Burbank. Who knew? The only clue that this was Disney was a small sign affixed to chain link fence at the entry that read: Walt Disney Productions (the name was changed to The Walt Disney Company in 1986). Might as well put in an application there, too, I thought. I was hired that day.

Like most everyone, I grew up with Disney. I faithfully watched the Mickey Mouse Club as a child and I wanted to be a Mouseketeer. I was glued to the TV screen watching the weekly Disneyland show, especially enjoying Walt Disney’s glimpses into a new entertainment complex he was building in Anaheim, California, called Disneyland. And, of course, I enjoyed Disney animated and live-action films. While I was a Disney kid, I never specifically had my sights set on working for the company. But here I was, having been hired as an assistant in the market research area of the Publicity Department. I knew little about marketing, but what an education was ahead.

My tenure at Disney would span 22 years. In my journey, I first served as an assistant in the Publicity Department at The Walt Disney Studios, moved up to become a publicist in TV and Film Publicity, relocated to the Disneyland Resort as supervisor of Publicity and returned to the studio as manager of Corporate Marketing and finally director of Corporate Synergy in my final decade with the company. I lived deep inside the Disney marketing machine from day one to my final exit.

Part One of this book, “Marketing Outside the Company”, explores my early forays into that specialty for several years before Michael Eisner and Frank Wells took over the Disney reins. The book then moves forward with a deep dive into a new world of hyper-marketing when they came on board.

Part Two, “Marketing Inside the Company”, shines a light on the amazing revitalization of the Disney Company under the leadership of Eisner and Wells. The story will focus on how they brought a new energy to Disney marketing by incorporating a company-wide synergy strategy to make the most of every corporate asset. Synergy, of course, underscored an organizational “working together” mindset that would cross-divisional lines and eradicate silo-based thinking. It was a concept that was initiated by Walt Disney many decades ago.

From 1990 to 2000 I occupied the heart of the Disney synergy machine as director of Corporate Synergy. How the synergy team so successfully fostered that concept throughout the company, an often-asked question, will be brought to the forefront. Read carefully, it works!

Michael Eisner once explained, “We insisted that each division help the other fellow. For the Disney Company, ‘help the other fellow’ meant the movie division would create a film…that could become a theme park ride or attraction…that could become a consumer product…that could become a television show…that could become a film sequel…that could become a cable show…that could become an international attraction…that could become a musical on Broadway…it goes on and on. But to accomplish that, everybody had to cooperate with each other, with no place for jealousy, and no competition between divisions. That’s an unlikely reality in corporate America. But at Disney, we worked things differently.”

Indeed we did.

And, at that time, we did so without the power of the technology that exists today. We were not yet living in a digital world; we were just getting used to utilizing computers and mobile phones. Today, the masses believe that we need to know everything about everybody, and we need to know it right now. Social media websites are the binoculars through which we peer into people’s daily lives. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram, and others provide the landscape for sharing even the most intimate details of one’s life. But while the social arena thrives on connection, the business environment, where collaboration and information sharing is vital to profitability, is often not optimized. It’s like leaving money on the floor.

On social media platforms, people now let it all hang out. Perhaps it’s an ego inflator, the ultimate selfie or an emphatic shout-out to others to “notice me!” In any case, we can easily find out where our friends are at any given moment, learn what they like to eat and where they like to eat it, what their favorite TV shows are, the kind of music they listen to, how many times their baby cried last night, what they thought about a new movie, and everything else that anyone cares to discuss.

The digital devices we use to get connected—mobile phones, computers, tablets, and now even wrist watches—make it all possible at lightning speed whether through the use of email and texting, or visually through photos and video. It’s instantaneous communication all the time. Is there an advantage to being connected 24/7? From a social perspective having hundreds of friends worldwide can be informative and entertaining, although one must always be mindful of the internet’s darker side and tread carefully. However, if you need a new car, you can just poll your friends and get feedback; if you need a recommendation for a good plumber, you just need to put the word out; or if you’re seeking a new pet, just ask.

Michael Eisner and Frank Wells knew that communication and connection were the keys to elevating the Disney Company to a new level. They led a synergy charge that brought explosive growth, phenomenal success, and skyrocketing profits to Disney. Incorporating synergy into every corner of the corporation played a significant role in reaching those heights. In doing so, the Disney Company became a well-oiled marketing machine where no stone remained unturned when it came to fostering internal cross-promotion on priority projects.

In the process of writing Inside the Disney Marketing Machine, I had the opportunity to interview many former and current Disney executives with whom I worked during my time at the company. Although I have shined a light on those colleagues, certainly many, many more were instrumental in Disney’s success. We were all a team.

Today the Disney Company is the number one entertainment company in the world, employing vastly different strategies, tactics, and marketing approaches to energize the organization. The synergy processes and programs put into place during my tenure at the company, and described in this book, have long since been changed, and rightfully so, with current top management having successfully guided the organization into the 21st century.

In that regard my book is written from a historical perspective, covering marketing milestones during the tenure of the “dream team” of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells. It was a special moment in time when all the stars seemed to be perfectly aligned and everything turned to gold.

Marketing then was, in Disney jargon, an “E” ticket. (The phrase “E ticket” refers to the admission ticket system used at Disney theme parks before 1982 where the “E” ticket admitted the bearer to the newest and most advanced rides.)

Eisner and Wells charted a new course that reawakened and renewed the sleeping giant that was The Walt Disney Company in the mid-1980s and 1990s. That’s what this book is about. I hope you enjoy the ride.