Way back in college, our marketing professor told us about the epiphany that Xerox had one day– the day they decided they were in the Information business, and not the copier business. That small epiphany led them to a whole new level of business, and gave them an entry into well… what is now the 21st century. In some ways, it’s what stopped them from being Olivetti (the once ubiquitous typewriter that is now oh so quaint)
In a recent article in the Orlando papers (READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE.) about a shakeup at Disney Imagineering (for those of you who don’t know, Imagineers are the guys at Disney that do all of the thinking work) One of the corporate types is quoted as saying, “We are in the immersive experience business; it’s no longer the parks and resorts business.” She also promises that Disney will create more “immersive experiences”-
I like this as a redefinition of Disney as a whole– except that I would say they are in the Experiences Business. They provide experiences for people. Sometimes they can be a little too prepackaged, or not without adventure and excitement (that’s often the complaint about Disney-fying Times Square– they put their squeaky clean all over a place that is more exciting when it’s dirty)
Anyway, I thought this was worth mentioning. Immersive Experience.