Parents Opps: Walt Disney taps first-ever CBO (Score 67)

Sales Lead: Asad Ayaz became the first-ever CBO at Walt Disney (we are still confirming Ayaz's email, but will update as we learn more)

• Ayaz joined the company in January 2005 and was most recently its president of marketing.
• He will continue in this role, overseeing all marketing and publicity for the Studios' films, the Studios' series, and Disney+.
• Ayaz will now also lead efforts to elevate Disney's global brand across all of its platforms and consumer experiences.
• He will specifically focus on creating "holistic" brand marketing campaigns via content, experiences, and external partnerships.
• Ayaz will align these with Disney's social media and digital strategy and presence.
• The company will likely:
  • Implement strategy shifts
  • Keep increasing national TV spend
  • Return to higher digital spend
  • Seek new agency partners
• Target demographic: 
  • Millennials and Gen-X, especially parents

Additional recent leadership shifts:

• Dan Cruz also named Dan Cruz as its global partnership marketing VP in November 2022.
  • Cruz was previously the marketing partnerships VP for Marvel.

Additional spending insights:

• Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: So far this year, Disney has allocated around $23.6k on national TV commercials.
  • Last year: This is the first time the company has utilized this channel since at least 2020.
  • 2023 ad programming: Disney's 2023 commercials have targeted male football fans watching NFL Football.
• Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance)
  • YTD spend: The company has spent approximately $96m on digital ads YTD, down 7% from the approximately $103.1m spent by this point last year.
  • YTD data: Since the beginning of 2023, Disney has earned ~12.6b digital impressions via Facebook (43%), Instagram (23%), YouTube (19%), desktop display (8%), Twitter (5%), mobile display (3%), and desktop video (2%) ads.
  • Last year: In 2022, the company spent roughly $406.7m on this channel, 10% less than the roughly $450.8m spent in 2021.
• Additional channel insights  
  • The company utilizes digital, local broadcast, radio, OOH, print, Google Ads, Facebook, and online video (via Youtube.com and Youtube IOS) ads.

Additional agency insights:

• Opportunity: Agency reviews often follow appointments like this one, so reach out soon to get on Ayaz's radar.
• Current agency roster:
  • Publicis North America: Media AOR
  • OMD Entertainment: Media AOR

Insight Sources: Broadcast insights estimated by iSpot; digital spend insights estimated by Pathmatics; additional channel insights estimated by Vivvix.