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Author Archives: Derek Hoffman

Derek Hoffman

Derek Hoffman is the creator of DisneyMBA.com, a blog dedicated to the business lessons that can be learned from a trip to Walt Disney World and Disneyland. Derek writes business-themed posts for The Disney Driven Life.

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Contributed by Derek Hoffman (NDD #243) @TheDisneyMBA

The Force Is Strong With This One

By Derek Hoffman | Published: Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Source: The Walt Disney Company

Even though the news of Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm is a few weeks old, it seems like there’s still a lot of buzz about this deal. As expected, you can find people who are thrilled about this partnership, while others remain skeptical.

What do I think?

From a business perspective, I have to tip my hat to Bob Iger. I think this was a very smart move on his part and it shows that he is constantly on the lookout for other like-minded individuals that can help the Disney brand grow stronger. (Remember, he was responsible for the recent acquisition of Marvel Entertainment as well as another tiny company by the name of Pixar.)

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Posted in Business, Career | Tagged Bob Iger, George Lucas, Lucasfilm, Star Wars
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The Power of Brand Evangelism

By Derek Hoffman | Published: Monday, September 3, 2012

It’s been a few weeks since the untimely passing of Nolan Woodall. I never had the pleasure of meeting Nolan in person, but our paths did cross virtually (in the social media universe).

This may seem odd, but I still feel really sad about his passing. If Dr. Phil were to analyze my emotions, the one thing he’d probably gravitate toward is a common bond I shared with Nolan – our love for Disney.

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Posted in Business, Career | Tagged Brand Evangelist, Branding, community, Nolan Woodall
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Rolling the Dice on Dicey Language

By Derek Hoffman | Published: Tuesday, July 24, 2012

I’m familiar with the phrase, “Armchair Quarterback,” but I can’t recall ever hearing anyone use the phrase, “Armchair CEO.” I was thinking that if the phrase didn’t exist, it should be introduced because I’m constantly second-guessing corporate decisions and policies.

Just for fun, I decided to do a search on Google to see what came up for Armchair CEO. The first result was from the popular site Urban Dictionary. I thought to myself, “Oh boy, this is going to be good.”

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Posted in Business, Career | Tagged Bob Iger, The Muppets
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Now it’s time…to say goodbye…to foods that are fatty

By Derek Hoffman | Published: Thursday, June 21, 2012

[To all fans of the Mickey Mouse Club, I apologize for parodying the lyrics of the closing song!]

A few weeks ago, The Walt Disney Company took a bold stand on a growing problem that’s plaguing our country: childhood obesity. For being the first major media outlet to create standards for advertisers of food products, Disney received waves of praise, as well as criticism.

If you haven’t heard about this yet, click here for a link to Disney’s official press release.

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Posted in Business, Career, Disney Company, Food | Tagged Advertisements, Bob Iger, Junk Food
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Michael Eisner – A Disney Legend?

By Derek Hoffman | Published: Monday, May 21, 2012

Source: MichaelEisner.com

Receiving a “Disney Legend” award is a rare honor that’s bestowed upon actors, employees, Imagineers, and others who’ve made extraordinary contributions toward making The Walt Disney Company the magical organization that we all love.

A hot topic of debate for years has been whether Michael Eisner, former CEO of The Walt Disney Company, would be eligible for this prestigious honor.

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Posted in Business, Career, Disney Company, History | Tagged Disney Legends, Michael Eisner
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How To Be A Socialite (Part 1)

By Derek Hoffman | Published: Wednesday, April 4, 2012

As I was browsing the news this morning, I saw that the Disney Store is celebrating its 25th anniversary today (I’m writing this on March 28th). In the retail world, that’s quite a milestone!

While the Disney Store employs many business practices that I admire, there’s one thing in particular that really makes them stand out from other retail establishments – how social they are.

While the cast members in the actual stores are quite social, that’s not exactly what I was referring to. I’m talking about the Disney Store’s presence on social media; specifically Facebook and Twitter. Let me illustrate:

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Posted in Business, Career, Disney Company, Events, Shopping | Tagged Disney Store, Facebook, social media, Twitter
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Walt Disney: A Self-Made Success?

By Derek Hoffman | Published: Monday, March 26, 2012

Source: The Walt Disney Family Museum

Many people say Walt Disney epitomizes the American Dream because he was born into a family of modest means, found a calling in life that he passionately pursued, and created an empire the revolutionized an industry.

There’s no denying the fact that he enjoyed a tremendous amount of success in his life, but do you feel as if he was a “self-made” success?

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Posted in Business, Career, Marriage, Relationships | Tagged Lillian Disney, Walt Disney
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The Breadth of Disney’s Business

By Derek Hoffman | Published: Monday, March 19, 2012

Usually once a week, my daughter and I go for a train ride at a nearby shopping mall. It’s our hometown version of the Walt Disney World Railroad (or the Disneyland Railroad). It’s definitely not a substitute, but it helps us satisfy our train fix between Disney vacations.

After we take a couple of laps on the train, we usually trek through the mall so we can get a little exercise and see if there’s anything interesting in the stores. With over 2 million square feet in that mall, that’s a very tall order!

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Posted in Business, Career, Disney Company, Shopping | Tagged Disney digital books, Disney Mobile Magic, ESPN, John Carter, The Disney Store
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Ideas that Stick

By Derek Hoffman | Published: Monday, February 27, 2012

Photo Credit: Derek Hoffman (@TheDisneyMBA)

I recently downloaded an audiobook on iTunes titled “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath. Not only is the message fascinating, but the narrator reminds me of “The Most Interesting Man in the World” character from those Dos Equis commercials.

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Posted in Business, Career, Disney Channel | Tagged "Jake and the Never Lane Pirates" "Peter Pan", Advertising, Disney Junior
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The Good Ad

By Derek Hoffman | Published: Monday, February 13, 2012

Even though I’m a Disney fanatic, I can objectively say that The Walt Disney Company consistently develops some of the best advertising campaigns on television. From a technical standpoint, they could be used by any college-level marketing class as a road map for success in the industry.

While the ads they use across all business units (e.g. movies, consumer products, etc.) are tremendously effective, I think some of the best Disney commercials are the ones that promote their vacation destinations (e.g. the Walt Disney World Resort, the Disneyland Resort, the Disney Cruise Line, etc.). In those commercials, they understand how to create an emotional trigger without having a corny sales pitch.

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Posted in Business, Career, Vacation | Tagged Disney, Disneyland, OneRepublic, The Good LIfe, Walt Disney World
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Career Advice from a Rabbit

By Derek Hoffman | Published: Monday, January 30, 2012

I can’t believe it’s almost been 25 years since the movie Who Framed Roger Rabbit was released. It was funny, it was edgy, and some people would argue that it spurred a renewed interest in animated films.

Despite all of the accolades, there’s one legacy from that film that really interests me: “Bump the Lamp.”

You may recall a one-minute scene in the film where the characters Eddie Valiant and Roger Rabbit struggle to break free from the handcuffs that were keeping them attached at the wrists. As they struggled to saw off the handcuffs, an overhead lamp keeps getting bumped by the characters’ heads. No big deal, right?

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Posted in Business, Career | Tagged Bump the Lamp, Who Framed Roger Rabbit
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