Darkbeer
07-23-2003, 11:01 PM
M-I-C-K-E-Y: He's the Leader of the Brand (http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mickey23jul23001428,1,432166.story?coll=la-headlines-business-manual) - Los Angeles Times, 7/23/03
QuikQuote: Yet when Andy Mooney arrived at Disney a few years ago to rescue its merchandising division, he was stunned to find how much the Burbank entertainment giant was underutilizing its famous mouse. Mooney had been hired away from sneaker maker Nike Inc., where he had a front-row seat to the marketing power of celebrity endorsements. Think Michael Jordan.
But Mickey, he found, was sitting on the sidelines, tangled in a thicket of marketing do's and don'ts dating back decades. Mooney, chairman of Disney's consumer products unit, was determined to free the mouse, bucking a conservative corporate culture reluctant to tamper with the company's signature image, hand-drawn by Walt Disney himself.
"This is our swoosh," Mooney successfully argued, likening Mickey to Nike's trademark logo.
QuikQuote: Yet when Andy Mooney arrived at Disney a few years ago to rescue its merchandising division, he was stunned to find how much the Burbank entertainment giant was underutilizing its famous mouse. Mooney had been hired away from sneaker maker Nike Inc., where he had a front-row seat to the marketing power of celebrity endorsements. Think Michael Jordan.
But Mickey, he found, was sitting on the sidelines, tangled in a thicket of marketing do's and don'ts dating back decades. Mooney, chairman of Disney's consumer products unit, was determined to free the mouse, bucking a conservative corporate culture reluctant to tamper with the company's signature image, hand-drawn by Walt Disney himself.
"This is our swoosh," Mooney successfully argued, likening Mickey to Nike's trademark logo.