Disney just merged its consumer products and interactive businesses.
Disney is a company that has embraced technology. Innovative ideas like Walt Disney World’s MagicBand system to having execs from Facebook and Twitter on its Board of Directors all stem itself in Disney CEO Bob Iger’s vision of growth. Today, that vision was made all the more clear with a major business announcement.
The Walt Disney Company will be merging two of its business segments, consumer products and interactive, into one. The new segment called Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media (DCPI) will utilize both strengths of each segment – Disney Consumer Products’ ability to translate Disney’s stories into tangible experiences, and Disney Interactive that can utilize the latest technology to improve those products.
“Both Disney Interactive and Disney Consumer Products have a strong track record of connecting people to their favorite stories and characters,” Tom Staggs, Chief Operating Officer of The Walt Disney Company said in a press release. “As technology and digital entertainment continue to evolve, a shared innovation strategy will enable this new segment to create unique and engaging products and experiences that exceed consumers’ expectations.”
We’ve already seen the results of this merger with the creation of Disney Infinity and most recently Playmation that utilize tech-infused toys to create playtime experiences. A new team was also formed with this merger that will be tasked with creating the next-generation experiences.
It’s a smart business decision for Disney because their long track record of performing synergistically across all its business segments (e.g. “Frozen” becoming a theme park attraction at Walt Disney World) has proven itself beneficial. It wasn’t too long ago that both Disney Interactive was on the verge of financial ruin. It wasn’t until Disney Infinity was created in partnership with Consumer Products that they were able to survive and now thrive.
That proven synergy will now extend even further in response to our consumer behavior. As more and more our culture of consumerism has favored more tech as a means of more fun. By putting together two very capable and experienced teams that already cater to that desire, we can expect to see much more Disney in our lives, and in turn much more revenue written into Disney’s financial statements.
We’ll be able to see if that really did occur when DCPI announces their first financial news at the beginning of the 2016 fiscal year.
