Disney
Content Strategy, Positioning, Creative Leadership
roleS: Content Strategist
TEAM: Disney Interactive
I was recruited to join Disney Interactive Media, Disney’s innovative take on a communications, marketing and PR agency with the goal of reigniting the Disney brand for new and returning audiences. I rolled up my sleeves in the digital media lab and newsroom to create a diverse range of content for 1.15B across platforms, and became an expert at pulling off the impossible in 48 hours or less.
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Winning the internet every day.
SCOPE
Originally hired to pitch and write articles as a content strategist, I soon expanded into the roles of video producer, director, and interviewer—covering high-priority properties, campaigns, and live events.
stakeholders
Disney Entertainment, Experiences & Consumer Products, Lucasfilm, Marvel Studios, Pixar
PROPERTIES
Everything Disney, Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar—from Frozen to Finding Nemo, Captain Marvel to Moana
FOCUS
To reignite millennial and Gen Z fanship through the multimedia Oh My Disney platform and across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube
Editorial
Oh My Disney was incubated at Buzzfeed in the age of the listicle and the internet quiz. I pitched and wrote many—tying in current zeitgeist obsessions from Hamilton to hipsters to shine fresh light on IP at rapid speed.
Brand Partnerships
I concepted and directed ads for partnerships like this social video for Star Wars x Sphero, recruiting crews of freelance creatives from my network to make magic fast.
Here, we turned a dirty patch of Disney’s campus into the sandy terrain of Jakku with the help of some smart camera angles.
I frequently doctored ad copy, promos, and commercials with super tight turnarounds, like this one for Babble x Party City.
Original Content
Constantly experimenting with the latest social platform features to break through the noise, my colleages and I rapidly devised and tested original content.
Among them: Snap Tonight, a Snapchat comedy show with a miniature set, Wait, What Just Happened?, a daily YouTube news show, and many Facebook Live streams.
Working with limited resources and without a hiring budget for outside talent, I recruited fellow team members to come on camera during their lunch breaks, with many of them discovering new abilities.
Nyiko, a product producer, gamely agreed to play a giant chef in a BFG x Iron Chef spoof (note the tiny food).
Event Coverage
I covered premieres and press tours for lots of projects, including Moana, Pete’s Dragon, Alice Through The Looking Glass, Frozen: The Musical, The BFG, and Queen of Katwe.
I regularly interviewed members of the cast and creative teams like Stephen Spielberg, The Rock, and Lupita Nyong’o—often asking them to go beyond the traditional interview format in the spirit of our platform’s playful tone.
why yes i
Biked the Walt Disney World half marathon to get on-the-ground coverage for The Oh My Disney show
Convinced a Guinness World Record holder to drive to LA last-minute for a Facebook Live event
Interviewed the cast of Pete’s Dragon while dressed like a dragon
Recruited and directed a diverse team of talent to create all kinds of magic on a dime
impact
Millions of views for a previously disengaged audience exceeding 1B across channels
Rapid channel growth inspired a first-of-its-kind brand series, The Oh My Disney Show
Content diversification from written articles into a robust multimedia slate
Disney established as a true contender in the emerging digital media space with eventual acquisition by Disney News