Dan
― Walt Disney, American animation film producer
Even the best in the business gets it wrong sometimes. (And wrong they did!)
When it comes to being a customer-centric company, Disney outperforms their competitors because of their holistic understanding of their “guests” to provide an exceptional, seamless customer experience (CX).
When Assumptions Lead You Astray
Walt Disney Company was feeling invincible after the successful launch of their first international park in Tokyo. Their market research and slight cultural adaptations paid off when the “American Dream Experience” is exactly what their Japanese customers wanted.
Disney wanted to reproduce this success in a new destination: Paris, France, to create a full American experience for all of their European customers. This time it was a disaster, or as the French movie director, Ariane Mnouchkine, called it: “a cultural Chernobyl”.
When designing Euro Disney, the Walt Disney Company had not prepared for a multicultural environment and initially believed that Europeans wanted an American product… which is far from reality.
They assumed Europeans would:
- View Euro Disney as a vacation spot for holidays
- Want fast food meals in a family-friendly (alcohol free) environment
- Embrace the “American Dream Experience”
- Navigate the park primarily in English
In actuality Europeans:
- Treated Euro Disney as a daytrip instead of a holiday destination
- Expected wine or beer with their sit-down, quality lunch
- Wanted a celebratory experience of Europe’s multiculturalism and contributions to cinema
- Preferred instructions in European languages, not English
Keep the Customer Central
Even the Walt Disney Company forgot to design for their customer in the making of Euro Disney. If the Disney can make this mistake, at least you can learn from it.
Adopting a customer-centric approach is increasing important as many CEOs in a 2017 survey recognized that “today, companies compete as much on CX as they do on product and price”.
One Solution is The Deliberate Salon: A Co-Creation Event
A starting point to becoming a more customer-centric company is simply by going to the source. In a Deliberate Salon, you learn DIRECTLY from your stakeholders to create and improve products and services far ahead of your competitors.
Now is your time to create a memorable event that enables learning and collaboration WITH your customer.
Create Yours Now!
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(P.S. If you thought Euro Disney couldn’t fail even more, watch this video of a Parisian Cast Member interrupting a proposal!)
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