And also, creativity is still at the core of everything that we do. So we know people think of us for that, but that they understand the value is not only in the best storytelling in the business but also in the quality of the technology and data offering that we’re bringing forth, which is becoming more and more important as clients are thinking about how they’re going to activate their media in real-time, whether that’s direct or through programmatic channels, etc.
You were at the North Javits Center this year. What were your thoughts on the new venue, and will you be back next year?
We have it for a couple years. It was a great space. It’s a blank space, which is sometimes the best and sometimes the worst because you have to do so much work to it. But because it was a blank space, it allows us to create the exact intimate experience that we wanted. Even though it was enormous, you still felt surrounded in terms of the content and how we presented it. And I loved that. Then you just have to go upstairs to the after party and what a beautiful room that was. The teams reimagined that space: elegant, sophisticated and appropriate from an afterparty perspective of what it looked like and felt like in the room and gave you a great space to hang out at after the party. I love that we can do it in the same space.
You talked about the importance of doing things live. But obviously, not all presentations this week were in person. Was there ever a conversation to do it virtually?
We’ve done some virtual presentations. They’re fine when there isn’t an alternative, but there’s nothing like experiencing something live. The Walt Disney Company is an expert on events. We do them at a grand scale many times throughout the year. And the emotion that you feel, the ability to be part of a communal viewing experience like that where you get to see in real time a personalized presentation for that audience, it just is never going to be the same in a streaming environment.
And by the way, it was a very dynamic situation because we were going on Tuesday, and depending on what happened Monday, things would have had to change on Tuesday depending on how things responded or changes, etc. So the team did an extraordinary job, and our partners in putting it together did an extraordinary job. And I’m thrilled with all of it.
And to clarify, when you’re talking about things changing, would that be talent not being a part of it?
Yeah, or maybe people, based on going to the events on Monday, maybe customers were not comfortable passing through picket lines. You just don’t know. You don’t control these—there are uncontrollables, and you want it to be flexible, make sure people felt safe and that they were in no way going to be put in a position that was uncomfortable for them, whether that was talent or the audience attending the event.
Some other publishers didn’t have talent. But you had big names such as Serena Williams, Kathleen Kennedy and Kevin Feige. Why was that important? And how did you pull that off?
They love working at Disney, and they love what they do every day. Kevin Feige is a great example of one of the best storytellers who is the biggest Marvel fan. He gets to create content and franchises around property and characters in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that he loves as much as any fan in the audience. And when you have someone like that who can speak to the content, there’s nothing better, and we were thrilled to have him and Kathleen there. They are part of our, as we say, our cast, our employees, and so they were going to be committed to be there. But they are talents as much as they are parts of our company. So it was it’s thrilling to get the chance to have them on stage because Marvel and Star Wars are some of the most important pieces of Disney+ as a platform.
