Disney Around the World

As a worldwide corporation, the Walt Disney Company has many different publics that it needs to reach. According to their website, John Nicoletti and Paul Roeder are both Vice Presidents of Global Communications for the Walt Disney Company, proving that they realize the importance of this aspect of public relations. 

Walt Disney does a great job of thinking globally and acting locally.  With theme parks in the United States, China, Japan and Paris, it would be easy for Disney to pay little attention to the individual communities in which they are operating.  However, in their 2010 Community Reports, Disney proves that they are committed to being active community leaders.

For example, the Walt Disney World Resort contributed almost 28 million dollars in donations to charitable organizations.  In Paris, 15 percent of Disneyland Paris’ electricity comes from renewable sources- it’s enough to power the Eiffel Tower for almost four years.  In China, Hong Kong Disneyland’s 5,000 Cast Members donated around 4,000 volunteer hours.
  

After the tsunami in Japan, Disney committed 2.5 million dollars in humanitarian aid to victims, as well as saying they will match employee donations to the Red Cross and Save the Children up to one million dollars. Actions like this help to build trust and reputation in the local community. Corporate responsibility and other philanthropic programs that address genuine local needs are important investments to enhance global reputation. 

Disney is also good at making sure that information pertaining to all of the different countries that it operates in is disseminated via their corporate website.  Their most recent press release is “Disney and Partners Break 

Ground on Shanghai Disney Resort.”

At the end of the press releases are contacts, which shows that there a number of more local communicators who can get to know the country and area they are in.  For example, at the end of “Disney and Partners Break Ground on Shanghai Disney Resort,” it lists the United States contact, Asia Pacific contact and Hong Kong contact.

It appears that Disney’s global communication strategy is effective because with 15,405,000 visitors to the resort's Disneyland Park and Walt Disney Studios Park in the fiscal year of 2009, it is France's and Europe's most visited tourist site.

However, one problem with Disney’s global communication strategy may be that it is not aimed specifically enough at individual communities and countries.  When the idea of a Disney park in France first surfaced, it was criticized by many in France as “cultural imperialism.”

Euro Disney’s chairman at the time, Robert Fitzpatrick said, "We didn’t come in and say O.K., we’re going to put a beret and a baguette on Mickey Mouse. We are who we are.”

However, it seems that Disney may have learned from this.  At the recent groundbreaking for Hong Kong Disney, there was traditional Chinese drum music, a singer singing in Mandarin, and Mickey Mouse dressed in a traditional Chinese costume. 

By looking at the different Disney theme park websites, you can see that Disney does change it’s appearance based on the different countries it operates in.  For example, the drawings of Disney characters on the Japanese websites seem to be drawn in a different style, which kind of resembles the “anime” style popular in that country.  There is also a graphic of Mickey Mouse in traditional Japanese dress. And on the Hong Kong Disney website, most of the pictures are of Asian citizens.