New Bob Same as Old Bob?

Greetings, Readers! I have returned from my brief spring interlude, refreshed and ready to continue the Brew. I hope you all got on well without your weekly dose, but a break was in order with all the school spring breaks, doctor's checkups, and the like. Moving forward, the Brew will come to your inbox periodically because I want to ensure that the topics being discussed are done so in a unique way to ensure that the Brew continues to be an exciting start to your Thursday. Now to this week's Brew:

Is New Bob the Same as the Old Bob?

Late last week, we were greeted with the news that Asad Ayaz, current president of marketing at Walt Disney Studios, had been promoted to Disney's first-ever Chief Brand Officer (CBO). Kudos to Asad. While I have never worked with him, I have admired his work from afar, and several folks I know who have worked with him say that he lives up to that admiration. Although how he will do this new job while still holding on to his current gig is anyone's guess. As Sean McNulty recently discussed in a recent The Wake Up, it'd be nice if Hollywood would allow people to be promoted and not still have to do their old job. This was not, however, what I found interesting about this whole thing.

The Walt Disney Company is an amalgamation of several different brands and plays in many industries. From parks to movies, networks, and streaming, it's all over the map. Asad's promotion opens the question of how all of this will work. Will the team at Walt Disney World still be able to create its campaign materials, or will Asad have to sign off? With Asad reporting in his new role as CBO directly to Bob Iger, one wonders how Josh D'Amaro, the Parks and Experiences Division Chairman, feels about another kid in his sandbox (if that's how this will all work.) It opened up more questions than answers for me, and suddenly, I was reminded of another promotion not so long ago; that of Kareem Daniel.

When Chapek promoted Daniel to lead the now nearly shuttered Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution division, everyone wondered what it was and what Daniel's role would be at the company. Chapek, at the time, promised that it would all shake itself out as the division came together, which turned out now to be the case. The town needed more clarification at the end of Daniel's tenure than at the beginning. I realize a Chief Brand Officer comes with more obvious responsibilities than Daniel's role, but there are similarities in Iger's move here. Namely, the centralization of a segment of Disney's creative messaging and materials, and when you think about it, is it really that different from Chapek's move? Chapek sought to centralize the company's business side, which makes sense given his background. Now, it appears Iger wants to do something similar on the creative side, which makes sense given his insistence that creativity is the sole of the company. 

This shows that Iger has a way of getting things done that causes as little disruption as possible in the day-to-day. Whereas Chapek at times seemed like a bull in a china shop, Iger has returned to make some substantial changes but without all the broken glass, so to speak. It's also true that most folks inside and out of Disney like Iger much more than Chapek, but Iger is much more of a savvier executive in getting things done while keeping the company running smoothly. Only time will tell how much disruption Asad's new role creates, if any, but when you compare the two Bobs and their overall goals for the company, they're not that different after all.

The Air Up There

Let's discuss Amazon's latest theatrical release, Air. Ben Affleck's latest foray into the director's chair opened to a not-great $14.4 million this past weekend. The usual suspects (i.e., Variety, Hollywood Reporter, etc.) have all more or less proclaimed this a hit, which is pretty laughable when you get down into the details. Amazon dropped a cool $130 million (!!!) to make this flick, which doesn't include the sizeable marketing investments. Yes, these numbers are a drop in the bucket from the behemoth that is Amazon, but still, would we call this a hit if it were any other film? Matt Belloni has a great deep dive into this issue in his latest What I'm Hearing newsletter, which I encourage you to read, but there is a bigger issue here. Why was this released in theaters at all? 

Yes, I know, you're all thinking to yourselves, but Keith, you spend hours upon hours touting the importance of the theatrical experience both in this newsletter and on the podcast. How can you possibly say a movie doesn't belong in theaters? I'll tell you because the numbers don't add up. $130 million for a film about a shoe?! From my anecdotal research around Philly, most people were interested in seeing the movie but had no interest in paying to see it in a theater. Why? It doesn't exactly scream that I need to see this in the theater. Belloni said in his newsletter that "this is definitely the most expensive movie shot mostly in an office building" Exactly! To convince people to get off their butts and run to the theaters again, it must look enticing and like it needs to be seen in a theater. No one could watch the Super Mario Brothers materials and not think it should be seen on the big screen, but Air never had that look. It looked more like a made-for-TV movie than a film. Something that I could easily watch something in my living room than at a movie theater. 

Yet again, this goes to something I've brought up numerous times. Executives make movies that they know their friends would like, and a movie like Air is a perfect example. I can't imagine any executive looking rationally at the film and thinking this is a guaranteed money-maker. Still, it had cache with Affleck and Damon attached and was about a seminal moment in pop culture. I'm sure some of the executives at Amazon-owned Air Jordans at one point in time. I'm not saying that solid adult-type dramas such as this don't deserve a shot in the theater. They, of course, do, but at the end of the day, the economics need to make sense, and regardless of how many views it garners on Prime Video once it lands there, the juice was worth the squeeze on this one.

Pages from the Commonplace Book 

This week, we hear from noted author and cultural critic Ralph Waldo Emerson.

"Every man I meet is my master at some point, and in that I learn of him."

Short and sweet yet as profound as many of Commonplace Book selections are. Emerson endorses a concept of lifelong learning and the willingness to change your position, especially if a convincing case is presented to you. Of course, this also requires one to be humble, which we all know isn't quite prevalent these days.