TEANECK, N.J. — As a promotion for the centennial of Walt Disney, the camera maker Leica Camera AG has released a special edition Leica Q2 “Disney 100 Years of Wonder” camera. The camera is decorated with sketches from early Mickey Mouse cartoons. The Leica company said in a press releaseMORE HERE
LAKE BUENA VISTA – If customers want it, then bring it back. That’s the lesson of Walt Disney World’s groovin’ treehouse cabins, which opened in 1975, and were demolished in 2002. They were simple structures, up one story in the trees, and were cousins to the raised treehouses at skiMORE HERE
Some random thoughts on assorted brands that we needed to express, because we could: Disney’s Youth Concern: Disney’s Robert Iger is quite worried about 14-year-old girls, and whether they can be taught to save energy. Or so he tells The Wall Street Journal. “When you have the unique opportunity thatMORE HERE
What makes us believe in brands, true brands, is that they are expressions of a dream made real. When a good one is lost, or screwed up, it’s sad, not because we care about the brand itself, but instead we care about the human component that made it happen. It’sMORE HERE
Amazingly, pieces of the 1964 New York World’s Fair are still around, and draw interest. Not only is the park there, with all its pieces (museum, marina) but pieces of the fair are scattered about the United States, still drawing attendance. This is proof that the idea of the parkMORE HERE
Rich Ross, President of Disney Channels Worldwide, reflects on 2009 and his goals. One of the goals is to program and create franchises for boys. That’s a good move for Disney ; with American Girl movies and the like there is plenty for girls but not enough for boys. HereMORE HERE
What’s returning? The House of the Future at Disneyland. No longer sponsored by Monsanto, a company perhaps too busy with corn licensing to find anything amusing about it, will re-open in May in Tomorowland. Knight Rider. NBC is bringing it back, without David Hasslehoff. What’s disappeared? Polaroid. The company willMORE HERE
The question for companies with long established brands is always how to keep a brand fresh for new consumers all the while keeping old consumers happy. That question is sometimes asked wrongly; sometimes it is better to keep a product fresh for current consumers who have grown tired of aMORE HERE
QUEENS – Egad. This is weird territory, but kind of fascinating. There was an elderly Brooklyn man who, in the 1980s, driving in a Mercedes coupe on the Grand Central Parkway, crashed and turned upside down. His distraction? He spied the Unisphere of the Queens World’s Fair, and was soMORE HERE